Last August, Cr Davis said the council would resort to a “heavy-handed” approach to deal with offenders if attempts to reach out to the young perpetrators failed.

But seven months on Cr Davis said the move to engage community leaders to help deal with the youth did not eventuate because the council was unaware problems at the centre had continued.

“I’m still of the same view that we should be talking to the community leaders in that area, but I didn’t think there was a need to,” he said.

“We’ll be talking to people out there involved with young people to try and get rid of the boredom and get them on the right track.”

Last week, Orange Hockey Incorporated president Michelle Stevenson said vandals were continuing to threaten and intimidate players and volunteers, and was concerned the city would miss out on future state events.

Cr Davis said replacing the repeatedly vandalised fence with a more secure option would go some way to solving the problems, but said the costs of the work would affect the provision of facilities for young people.

He urged users of the centre to contact the police if the problems continued.

“We know generally who is involved, but you can’t do anything about it if you’re not told,” he said. 

“I agree with [Ms Stevenson], it’s unacceptable and there probably has to be a bit more liaison between the hockey, council and the police. 

“We thought it was satisfactory ... we’ll be talking to police about more patrols.”