FIREBUGS have been branded ‘mindless idiots’ after an early-hours arson attack at Weymouth Football Club.

They torched a caravan next to the main stand at the Wessex Stadium in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Firefighters had to break through gates of the stadium to get in and extinguish the flames just after 2am.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said that the cause of the fire was deliberate.

The disused caravan was 20 metres away from the main stand but the fire also damaged cabling which runs to one of the main floodlights.

Witness and Terras fan James Corbin, 24, said: “I was having a cigarette outside my house in Southill and was just about to go to bed.

“I saw smoke pouring across the Echo building over the road.”

Concerned the fire might be at his friend’s house close to the stadium James cycled down to the ground.

He said: “I woke my friends up and we could see the fire was in that back corner.

“It was quite a fire. There was an explosion too, maybe from a gas canister. We could see embers and bits of ash falling down by my friend’s house.”

Mark Coleman, one of the club directors, said that they would not know the extent of the damage until an electrician had been in to assess it today.

He added: “The damage was to a static caravan that wasn’t used for anything. I think it was empty.

“The police came round at 2.15am as they wanted to make sure there were no chemicals or gas bottles, but we don’t store that sort of thing.”

Mr Coleman called the arsonists ‘mindless idiots’ after heading to the ground on Sunday to assess the damage.

He said: “I left a charity fundraiser for breast cancer with decent people trying to make a difference and come here and find mindless idiots want to destroy things.”

Mr Coleman added that Dorset Police were investigating.

The arson attack is the second deliberate attack on the club in as many months.

On December 31 match-day organisers arrived to find a vandal had got in and slashed nets and footballs and had flooded the bar, cafe and toilets causing approximately £15,000 of damage.

Club secretary and director Nigel Biddlecombe said the club now had a week’s breathing space to fix the damage before Sat-urday’s game.

He added that he feared that the club may have been targeted.

He said: “It’s beyond a joke really. It seems to be extremely, shall we say, focused.”

Mr Biddlecombe sent a rallying cry to fans to support their club this weekend.

He said: “Please come down on Saturday. We need people to come through the door.

“If people out there can come down Saturday every penny will help us get things together and move on.”

'Blaze believed to be deliberate'

A SPOKESMAN for Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said: “Just before 2am two Weymouth crews were called to Weymouth Football Club on Radipole Lane.

“They were on scene within three minutes and found a caravan alight within the stadium grounds.

“It was extinguished using hose reel jets.

“The caravan was destroyed by the fire and there was damage to a metal container nearby.

“The cause of the fire is believed to be deliberate.”