A rapper has been arrested after a children's skatepark and football pitch were wrecked by motorbikes and off-road vehicles used to shoot a music video.

Dight 23, a rapper based in south Wales, put out a call on social media for people with dirt bikes and other vehicles to help shoot his latest music video at a sports field in Cwm on February 5.

But a football pitch and skate park were both wrecked by the vehicles as footage emerged of dozens riding across the wet grass.

Sports clubs, many of which include hundreds of child members, say Betterment Park suffered significant damage and have had to launch a £3,500 appeal as part of an attempt to repair it.

Alex Price, from local football team RTB Ebbw Vale Junior FC, told of how the club is devastated.

She said: 'The area is a skatepark and a park. It’s for kids. Why would you target an area which is specifically for children to use and enjoy?

'They’ve not only destroyed the pitch, all the grass around the skatepark is destroyed as well so they’ve just completely ruined the whole area and it just spoils it for the children.

'It’s not fair because Ebbw Vale is a quite rundown area and there isn’t a lot as it is for the children. That’s why it’s so important to have these grassroots clubs for these kids to have somewhere to spend their time and to have somewhere to look forward to.' 

The field, which is rented from the local council, is maintained by a group of volunteers.

Ms Price added: 'They work really hard to get the pitch to where it is today. To see that be destroyed so quickly, it was really disheartening.'

She also explained that the pitch now has to be re-turfed and and the weekend’s football matches had to be rearranged.

It comes after a dog walker took photos and videos of the bikes on the pitch and posted it online. 

Ms Price continued: 'A lot of our income is from selling teas and coffees at our home matches which we can’t do now. We can’t even recuperate that now because we can’t use those facilities.

'A few young kids in the area had been telling their parents it was a rapper who was doing a music video and videos started circulating of the event that had taken place down there.'

Meanwhile, Dight 23 insists the damage was done before he arrived for the shoot and has offered to pay a contribution toward the repairs.

The rapper is popular locally with 341 followers on Facebook.

But he said when he and a photographer turned up at the location, the damage had already been done to the field.

He said he was 'shocked and disappointed' at the behaviour.

'It ruined things for me in a way because by the time we got there, there was already a mess there', the rapper added.

He also said the football pitch had been torn up by local children on quad bikes.

Dight 23 added: 'They were all there for me, there’s no denying that. I’ve been made to look the villain.

'But they’ve all got their own brains and they were all told to behave and I didn’t tell them to do anything.”

'They’re targeting me because they don’t have anyone else to target. It’s been blown right out of proportion and I’ve been made to look like the villain.'

The rapper also said he is happy to 'donate a couple hundred pounds to help'.

Gwent Police says a 23-year-old man, of Ebbw Vale, was in custody and being questioned after fields were damaged.

He was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intentionally or recklessly cause a public nuisance. The force said investigations were continuing.