Pests FC Basel training pitch closed due to Japanese beetle measures

The canton of Baselland has introduced measures to combat the Japanese beetle. The first team of FC Basel is affected. Its training ground in Münchenstein has been covered with plastic sheeting, as the authorities announced on Thursday.

The pitch will no longer be usable for the time being, Steve Beutler, Head of the Basel-Stadt Sports Office, told the media. When FCB returns from the training camp on Monday, the canton will work with the club to find a solution for a replacement surface.

After 38 Japanese beetles were found in the area last week, the canton issued a general order, as Christoph Böbner, head of the Ebenrain Center for Agriculture, said.

The areas around the site where the invasive pests were found in decoy traps have therefore been cleared and insulated with plastic sheeting. This destroys the pupae of the beetles and prevents any beetles from crawling out and dying. The area right next to the FCB training pitch, which is used to grow replacement turf in the canton of Basel-Stadt, was also covered, as Beutler went on to say.

The Japanese beetle was found last week in Münchenstein near the border with the city and in Rankhof in Basel. The pest can cause considerable damage to plants both in the larval stage as a grub and as an adult beetle.

SDA