MELROSE turned into a “war zone” following the town’s sevens tournament, residents have claimed.

Angry locals say they are fed up after yobs defecated and urinated outside their homes following last month’s event at the Greenyards.

Chris John told last Wednesday’s meeting of the town’s community council that some fans’ alcohol-fuelled behaviour was “out of hand” and called for more action to be taken.

Mr John said: “The sevens is a terrific tournament, but the behaviour after it gets worse every year. We have had people defecating in front of our house and had people urinating against the porch. 

“They cause hundreds of pounds worth of damage and its the residents who suffer. We all want to see Melrose sevens as the best tournament in the UK, but the town is like a war zone after 8pm.

“I have watched the behaviour go from reasonable to unreasonable. Now it is out of hand.”

Mr John asked councillors whether an alcohol by-law could be enforced in an attempt to reduce rowdy behaviour.

Police figures show 21 youths had alcohol confiscated by police at this year’s tournament.

But councillor David Parker said introducing a by-law was not an option.

“The club has done a lot of work to reduce these incidents,” he said.

“I remember when you could each take a rucksack of beer in and sit and drink it. You can’t do that now. As for by-laws, there are none in the Borders. 

“I remember there was one introduced in Galashiels many years ago, but when the council tried to introduce them about six years ago and the universal decision made by the public was a resounding ‘no’.”

Local officer Calum Wilson added: “There were 111 calls in total in the Melrose area over the last month and a half [between April 1 and May 13].

“This is a wee bit higher than normal as we had the major sevens event. 

“From a police perspective we have a number of officers out on duty and we try our best to stop this [behaviour].

“One of the problems is, when there is a big event on like the sevens, it attracts a lot of people to the town – even people who are not necessarily going anywhere near the event.”