Dunedin City Council parks and recreation acting group manager Scott MacLean said council staff inspected the damage on Sunday, and had reported it to police.
"Our preference is to keep the Oval as natural-looking as possible, and fencing along Princes St would damage the roots of the street trees and create ongoing maintenance requirements."
Because of school holidays when less sport was played, the damage would not affect any sporting fixtures this weekend.
The damage was likely to come with a hefty price tag.
Incidents in the past had cost up to $4000 to fix, he said.
On Sunday, Football South chief executive Chris Wright said vandalism like this tended to happen a couple of times a year.
He called it frustrating.
"It’s a shame that because of one or two people out there, it’s ruined it for a large number of participants."
