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Thieves made off with the copper pipes and shower heads from a rugby league club in Riccarton after ripping the fittings from the wall.
Riccarton Knights president Shane Tamatea said Sunday morning’s theft was “not ideal” and “pretty inconvenient”.
The alleged thief was caught by security cameras, alongside a female accomplice, at the Crosbie Park clubhouse on Apsley Dr at 7.48am.
The pair were “snooping” around before they managed to find their way inside one of the club’s changing sheds, Tamatea said.
It is unclear how they got inside, with no obvious signs of a break-in, he said.
The missing pipes and shower heads were noticed when a club member went to fill some water bottles after training on Tuesday evening, he said.
“He went in and said: ‘Oh, I can’t fill them up, no water’s coming out’,” Tamatea said.
It was “hard to say” how much damage had been done, he said: “Could be thousands”.
Knights vice-president Tony Grenfell hopes police find the offenders before any club members do.
“There are some right w***ers out in this world,” Grenfell said of the offender.
“It’s bloody frustrating. I’m picking there are quite a few people in the club who would like to catch up with him.”
He said police were set to do a forensic examination of the clubrooms.
“But I don’t know whether they’re going to get much joy out of that,” Grenfell said.
“There’s a lot of people who use those rooms. We had four teams there on Saturday. But you never know, they might have their own little ways of narrowing things down.”
A police spokeswoman said they received a report about the burglary yesterday.
“The report is currently at the case assessment stage, where next steps are being determined,” the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, Tamatea said: “Hopefully we can get insurance to cover it and just move forward.”
A locksmith is due to change the locks on the clubrooms, he said. A plumber will also be needed to make sure the water can flow.