Shocking pink vandals strike at Oxford Utd stadium

11:00am Monday 24th January 2011 in News

Shocking pink vandals strike at Oxford Utd stadium Shocking pink vandals strike at Oxford Utd stadium

MYSTERY surrounds the defacing of the statue at Oxford United’s Kassam Stadium.

The £25,000 sculpture was covered in pink paint between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

The words “Gotta love art” and “RIP” were also daubed on its marble plinth. Police are appealing for witnesses and are keeping an open mind about the vandals’ motives, but it does not appear to be connected to football rivalry.

Blackbird Leys Neighbourhood Sergeant Rob Axe, pictured above left with Pc Kirk Rogers and Pc Sandra Timms, said officers were alerted to the damage at about 8am on Sunday as they arrived to police the stadium's car boot sale.

Sgt Axe said he believed it was the first time the statue had been vandalised since it was put up in February 2008.

He said CCTV footage revealed two figures walking past the stadium on Saturday night, but evidence is still being gathered.

United chairman Kelvin Thomas said: “We’ll do some work this week to see if we can get it back to its former glory, but it’s disappointing someone feels the need to express themselves in this way.”

Anyone with information should call Sgt Axe on 08458 505505 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Comments(27)

Oflife says...
11:09pm Sun 23 Jan 11

Well at least his testicles are now the right colour!

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Marina Morris says...
10:26am Mon 24 Jan 11

Another ****-up by the Fail! If it's got goolies how can it be described as an ox? What a load of bull!

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GRB says...
12:41pm Mon 24 Jan 11

I thought Oxen were only testicle-less due to castration. So, isn't it possible an Ox could still have conkers?

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GRB says...
12:45pm Mon 24 Jan 11

ps: I hope whoever painted the sculpture is caught quickly and then flown from the stadium flag pole by their testicles!!!! I've heard their is cctv footage of two lads committing the crime in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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Patrick in Devon says...
1:06pm Mon 24 Jan 11

An Ox is either a castrated male or a female. Thats no Ox, its a bull. Appropriate perhaps, Oxford is full of bull - the only sensible part is OUFC and its supporters.

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GRB says...
1:17pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Thank you Patrick. Well, I'd have been happy if someone had chopped the skulptures knackers off rather than painting it pink.

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britinpaus says...
1:32pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Best punishment I can think of is to catch the two little brats, buy them season tickets for Swindon and force them to travel to the County ground every Saturday !!

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Patrick in Devon says...
1:49pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Surely making them go to Swindon Town would be against human rights legislation. A cruel and unnatural punishment? Worse than painting them pink and putting them in the stocks.

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Patrick in Devon says...
1:59pm Mon 24 Jan 11

And another thing, bet there arent many crime scenes that merit the attendance of 3 cops!

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rickenback says...
2:06pm Mon 24 Jan 11

hav a breast cancer fund raiser next home game?turn it positive!

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BigAlBiker says...
2:28pm Mon 24 Jan 11

I agree with Rickenback, get the Breast Cancer people here tuesday night to pose with pics and publicise there cause, Oxford United can make this a publicy forum for this and the club, turn some mindless act into a positive.

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Arnold.Brewer says...
2:51pm Mon 24 Jan 11

The real point is the number of plod in attendance - three to look at a pink cow!! Incredible in this age of cutbacks we are safe with the knolwedge that plod carries on as before.............

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McDave says...
3:59pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Actually oxen aren't always castrated, but it makes it easier to use them (the oxen, not the testes) if they have been as they will be more docile.

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PT1 says...
4:44pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Catch the mindless idiots that did this then throw them into the Oxford Mail stand during a half time, see how confident they are then.

Lets hope the club can get all the paint off easliy enough - Would be nice if the Stadium Company could contribute towards the cleaning and re-painting of it but there's more chance of Swindon getting promoted this season than that happening LOL!

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shipscat says...
4:46pm Mon 24 Jan 11

I think some posters were not reading the article properly only looking at the pictures.
The police were there to supervise the stadiums carboot sale so I assume the police collected a fee as they do when the police matches.

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shipscat says...
4:50pm Mon 24 Jan 11

PT1. You could also tie them to the goalposts and flog to within an inch of their lifes.
LOL

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abingdonguy says...
5:12pm Mon 24 Jan 11

banksie strikes again.. I dunno looks ok. Not many pink male cows around that i know of. :) maybe they should cash in on it?
And no i dont like or watch any fooootball so no "team bias".

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Niko Bellic says...
7:23pm Mon 24 Jan 11

New Fathers For Justice owned up for it on the radio. Apparently they are also responsible for vandalising the Uffington white horse.
.
Their spokesman on the radio called it a protest but it looks like criminal damage to me. With a protest doesn't it usually involve telling people what you are protesting about?
.
Winkers

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Atomic says...
8:24pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Well who would believe we would be greatfull for the technology being used against O.U.F.C fans by TV police (cctv).
The police have been ultra succesfull in securing prosecutions against footie fans even knowing what swear words they are alleged to have said.
So it wont be long before those responsible for this act of criminal damage against the property of Oxford Utd will be caught.
We will now witness real police work.

Sorry did someone say they dont have the man power, stop it you old cynic.

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jf says...
9:30pm Mon 24 Jan 11

GRB wrote:
ps: I hope whoever painted the sculpture is caught quickly and then flown from the stadium flag pole by their testicles!!!! I've heard their is cctv footage of two lads committing the crime in the early hours of Sunday morning.
GRB-

The report says- and I quote,"CCTV footage revealed two figures walking past the stadium on Saturday night"

It didn't actually say they were seen defacing the sculpture.

Unless you are privvy to more info than the the rest of us?

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peterr Macvey says...
9:50pm Mon 24 Jan 11

Isn't is nice to see that PLOD are only about when they are being paid privately, what the f are they taking half of our council tax for? do they not patrol the area looking out for thugs coming out of the Ozone in the early hours?

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PT1 says...
8:06am Tue 25 Jan 11

Fathers for Justice have had their 5 minutes of fame for the defacing they have done.

Funny protest eh!

Time for them to come clean it up I think!

Not the best statue to target to be honest, I wouldn't want to cross a lot of the Oxford Fans.

Name and Shame!

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bodchris says...
11:58am Tue 25 Jan 11

I really like that, I think they should keep that scheme, especially on the dingily-danglies, I hadn't noticed them before. Maybe turn it into a yearly 'Paint the Bull/****' competition I sure there will be loads of aspiring Banksy's. What about painting the whole stadium? Make it an open season for Oxford's young chav population.

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YellowRose says...
12:33pm Tue 25 Jan 11

Footbull anyone?

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Porphyro says...
8:15pm Tue 25 Jan 11

Why is that every publicity-seeking act perpetrated by Fathers for Justice succeeds only in demonstrating their irresponsibility and their complete inability to articulate a clear argument that would encourage members of the public to support them? Their campaigns seem to me to be wholly counter-productive and make it less likely that courts will find in their favour in particular custody cases where these sorts of tactics have been used.

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shipscat says...
8:26pm Tue 25 Jan 11

peterr Macvey wrote:
Isn't is nice to see that PLOD are only about when they are being paid privately, what the f are they taking half of our council tax for? do they not patrol the area looking out for thugs coming out of the Ozone in the early hours?
Were they about when you got nicked??
LOL

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Laco says...
3:41pm Fri 28 Jan 11

peter macvey, you have no idea. Why comment on something you clearly have no understanding of? Ignorant mug.

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