‘Heartbreak... just one disaster after another’: Institute FC official reacts to overnight blaze – the latest catastrophe at the Irish League club’s old Riverside stadium in Londonderry’s Waterside

Andrew Russell, the club's vice-chairman, was reacting to the lastest fire at the ill-fated Riverside Stadium in Londonderry.

It lies to the far south-east of the city next to the river Faughan, in an area known as Drumahoe.

The club currently plays in the Championship (the second-level division of Irish League football) and traces its name back to the Presbyterian Working Men's Institute.

The club logo to this day is a burning bush and its motto is “ARDENS SED VIRENS” (burning yet flourishing) – the logo and motto of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Mr Russell – a former first-team footballer whose ties to the club go back to when he played for its under-13s squad – said it just seems to be "one disaster after another" for the club.

Fans were on a high in 2016, when the club won the intermediate championship.

But the stadium was flooded the following year, with river water from the burst Faughan going as high as the crossbars on the goalposts (about eight feet), wrecking the ground floor and basement electronics and boilers, as well as the pitch.

Mr Russell (who, coincidentally, is also a watch commander with the fire brigade) told the News Letter that almost immediately afterwards someone burned down the changing rooms.

Since then the stadium has gone to rack and ruin, its playing surface colonised by giant weeds.

Last July, Sam North - presenter of his own popular online show Footy Adventures - visited the ruined ground, which was just lying wide open, last summer.

"This is one of the best abandoned stadiums I think I've ever been to," he said.

"Look at where the pitch once was - there's grass in there that's taller than me!"

Mr Russell believes the part gutted by last night's fire was the control room, where the CCTV systems and PA were.

The club currently plays at the Brandywell (home of Derry City FC) but is trying to build a new stadium from scratch on government land at Clooney Park West in the Waterside.

"We're looking to reuse stuff from the old stadium," he said. "I don't know how much the fire will affect the re-using of what's there."

The team had played at Riverside since about 1980, and Mr Russell (now 48) said: "We'd some great days there.

"There's a lot of good memories there, and a lot of good work by a lot of good people, some of whom are sadly no longer with us.

"You wonder what brings people to do this [arson] at the end of the day.

"It's heartbreaking when you see something like this happening.

"No matter what they keep throwing at us, it just makes us stronger."

The fire brigade got the call at 8.24pm, and the incident was dealt with by 10.27pm.

They are treating it as deliberate.

The PSNI have asked anyone with information or dashcam footage to contact them on 101, quoting reference 1966 of 26/10/23.