![Thieves target football netball clubs at the weekend Thieves target football netball clubs at the weekend](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Tom.OCallaghan/83825035-4b88-419c-a142-6156cdd8d5d4.jpg/r0_891_5568_3712_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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Three Bendigo sporting clubs were broken into at the weekend.
Golden Square Football Netball Club, Marong Football Netball Club and Maiden Gully YCW Eagles Junior Football Club were all targeted on Saturday night.
Golden Square president Brendan Stewart said the thieves took a laptop and a hard drive from the club office and broke a window getting in.
It appeared they were looking for cash, as draws in the office had been upended, Mr Stewart said.
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The club was broken into sometime after 1am on Sunday. Members discovered it about 9am or 10am that same day.
The club often has attempted break-ins, but it was the first time in some time thieves had been successful, Mr Stewart said.
He said the items stolen were not of a significant value, but the loss of work on the laptop would be inconvenient.
"It's just a real inconvenience for us as a club... rather than a financial burden," Mr Stewart said.
"It's just frustrating and it's disappointing. It's unnecessarily mindless. It undoes hard work."
Thieves at the Maiden Gully YCW Eagles Junior Football Club stole a bag of children's footballs and an air compressor overnight on Saturday.
President Paul Thomson believed the thieves were chasing alcohol.
The club shares the premises with Maiden Gully Marist Cricket Club.
The thieves broke three locks, shimmied over a steel gate and and got in via the change rooms. The theft was discovered at 9am on Sunday.
The items taken weren't worth a lot, but the thieves did some damage to the rooms, Mr Thomson said.
White Hills Football Netball Club was not targeted at the weekend, but has been broken into twice in the past month. Thieves took six slabs of beer and caused damage to the property.
President Tony Gellatly said damaged windows would cost the club more than $1000.
Earlier
A CLUB president is struggling to understand why someone would pinch 25 netballs from a sports shed in Marong.
The bag of brand new balls were among loot stolen from Marong Football Netball Club overnight Saturday.
"The annoying part is the inconvenience. We got these new balls just as we had things ticking along nicely. Netball at the club is as strong as it has been in ages," president Darren Turnbull said.
"We only got them last week and some had not been used."
Some of the netballs were bright pink and had "Marong" written on them.
The theft risked leaving the team with only four balls to train with and Mr Turnbull had been in touch with Bendigo store SportsPower to see if replacements could be rush-ordered for Tuesday.
"Really, though, it's not just our netballers who are affected," Mr Turnbull said.
"Everyone who has been through the local club, and the others in the Loddon Valley league, are volunteers.
"So when we went in Sunday and realised we would have to spend more money on netballs it was a real kick in the guts."
An esky, alcohol and a gazebo were also taken sometime Saturday night. The total value of everything stolen was still to be confirmed.
Mr Turnbull encouraged anyone with information to contact the Bendigo police station 5448 1300.
People could also contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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