The chairman of Camborne rugby club has expressed his sadness after a storage container holding thousands of pounds worth of equipment was torched by vandals.

A dismayed Trevor Harris said he was "gutted" after a steel container - one of two at the Crane Park clubground, Cranberry Road, Camborne - was broken into and had its contents set alight on Tuesday.

Mr Harris, who has been chairman for the past year, said the loss amounted to nearly a whole season's profits and was particularly unfair on a club which did so much for the community.

It was the second storage container to have been attacked there in a matter of weeks and would mean the club having to rebuild its entire stock of equipment from scratch.

"I just felt so gutted yesterday, when I thought of all the hard work that goes into this club," he said.

"This is an on-going problem. Last year we had to replace 300 seats in the main stand which were vandalised and stolen, we had damage to the changing room, smashed windows and doors, which we had to have replaced with metal ones. Just recently we've had to have 17 windows replaced.

"Last week we had a metal container that was broken into and set on fire and yesterday, most recently, all the training pads, tackle pads, post pads, corner flags - all the senior and youth equipment in the club which was stored in a steel container - was set on fire.

"When you think we provide all the facilities here, for all ages from six to 18-years-old, colts and seniors, when you work so hard for the whole year, when you see something like this - you've lost your whole year's profits in mindless vandalism."

Mr Harris estimated the value of the equipment destroyed by fire to be between £8,000 and £10,000.

That estimate included the club's scrummage machine, and pads and flags purchased through a grant from Kerrier district council which were still in their wrappers.

Besides the losses to the club Mr Harris was concerned whoever torched the steel container could easily have been hurt.

"They're lucky they didn't get burnt to death," he said, adding the smoke emitted from foam equipment would have been highly toxic.

The club's only hope now is that their insurance will cover the losses.

And Mr Harris prays they will not be blighted by vandals again.