ARSONISTS torched parts of the disused clubhouse at the recently-closed Civil Service Sports Club, in Boroughbridge Road, York.

Flames ripped through a garage adjoining the former club at about 4.30pm yesterday.

Children with matches are being blamed for starting the blaze.

It comes onlu months after travellers temporarily set up home in its car park after the locked entrance was smashed open.

The former clubhouse was also broken into before the travellers arrived and the cricket scorebox set on fire by local youths.

Hundreds of sportsmen and women expressed shock and outrage after they were forced to vacate the 14-acre ground last year because of dwindling numbers. Club members and nearby residents then predicted the ground would become an eyesore.

The fire wrecked about 60 per cent of the single-storey garage before emergency tenders left the scene at 5.30pm.

Crews from York and Acomb tackled the blaze and used one hose reel and two sets of breathing apparatus in the incident.

No one was injured.

A fire service spokeswoman confirmed that the cause was deliberate.

Police are investigating the incident.

Dennis Wray, whose cricket team used to play at the site, said today he was not surprised by the blaze. "I thought it would happen before now," he said.

"The ground just looks like a scrapyard now."

A major £7 million sports complex plan at Wigginton Road, Clifton Moor, to replace the Boroughbridge Road site was thrown out by planners as it was in the Green Belt.

The Civil Service Sports Council is currently appealing against the decision.

Updated: 10:43 Monday, March 15, 2004