The caravans are parked on a road alongside the rugby pitch

The club says players feel "threatened" and it will not re-open for business until the group have moved.

About 15 caravans were parked next to the pitch at the Anchorians Rugby Club in Gillingham, Kent, on Tuesday.

The local council has started legal action to have the travellers moved but warn it will be costly and may take 10 days.

Since they've arrived players have felt threatened Leon Simmonds, Anchorians Rugby Club

The travellers are believed to be the same group who had already been moved on from two other sites in the Gillingham area in the last two weeks, most recently from Pier Approach Road on Monday.

The club, which also runs hockey teams, has already called off a number of events and says it stands to suffer substantial financial losses.

Legal action taken

Spokesman Leon Simmonds said: "Since they've arrived players have felt threatened and for their safety we thought it in the interests of the club to stay shut until they leave.

"By the end of this week the costs to the club would be around �2,500, it's very frustrating.

"Obviously longer term they must be kept out."

Medway Council has begun county court action to have the travellers forcibly moved.

Liberal Democrat councillor Roger Shade said: "At the moment we have to go through a long bureaucratic process through the courts in order to remove them.

�30,000 clean-up operation

"The costs are quite considerable, not just in terms of legal costs, but also for cleaning up after they leave these sites.

"I think last time it was something like �30,000 so that's expensive.

"The first action is to get rid of them immediately which will take about 10 days and then after that, we've requested the chief executive instructs the legal department to take out an injunction to prevent it happening again on this site."

The BBC approached the travellers for a comment, but they refused.

However Emma Nuttall of the group Friends, Families and Travellers, said the rugby players' fears were unfounded and the council should try to find the travellers a permanent site.