GIPSIES are hampering Swindon Rugby Club's pre-season training.

A 19-strong army of travellers arrived at the club's Greenbridge Road headquarters on Sunday night and set up camp next to the pitch.

During the summer the club spent more than £2,000 raking and tending the pitch surface in preparation for the new season.

Now vice-chairman Glyn Barrett is concerned that the travellers' cars, vans, roaming horses and dogs will render their work useless.

And tonight's training session is also in doubt unless the travellers move off the ground.

Mr Barrett, 47, said: "We have made it very clear that the gipsies are not welcome on our ground.

"The invasion means we can't cut the grass or train the way some of the guys like to, but more worrying is the amount of damage being caused to the playing surface.

"The horses are ripping the roots out of the ground. We spent thousands in the summer getting the pitch just right and now this happens."

The gipsies moved in on the ground in convoy at around 6pm on Sunday night and caught the club by surprise.

"We heard that gipsies might be on their way so tried to secure a lamp-post at the entrance on Friday night," said Mr Barrett.

"I was at the ground again yesterday morning, but they had already arrived.

"Horses and dogs are running around the field using the ground as a toilet, which is the last thing we want with the juniors training.

"Some of the caravans don't have toilet facilities and there is no running water, but we have made it plain that the clubhouse and facilities are out of bounds."

The club's junior section started pre-season training at the weekend, and for the seniors this stage of the summer is crucial in preparation for the start of the season in September.

A number of unauthorised encamp-ments have been set up in Swindon of late. The most recent includes a group that has set up camp at the Beranbuh Field in Wroughton.

In response, Swindon Council has set aside £75,000 for installing traveller-proof defences at the town's open spaces. It is also re-opening the notorious Chiseldon Firs site.

Traveller Helen Doyle, 25, who is living at the rugby club site with her four children, said: "This spot is great for the children because it's so fresh and open. They can run around to their hearts' content.

"We travel around that's our life but we don't bother anyone or do things that people would have you believe.

"It's not that we are not bothered about being on this ground, it's that we have nowhere else to go. We don't cause trouble or leave our litter here."

Nythe resident Margaret Kirk, 78, of Mayfield close, said: "The travellers leave such a disgusting mess and that's what gives them a bad name.

"It makes the place so untidy, but I don't suppose they care less."

The club has informed Swindon police of their training session, which starts at 7pm tonight.

Alvina Kumar, Swindon police spokeswoman, said: "Appropriate action will be taken in the event of any criminal offences."