""It's something I've not seen in my 36 years at Cardiff City," said Cardiff City's head of operations Wayne Nash. "We've had a stray dog on the pitch but this was something new, a freak of nature.""
""The stadium is close to allotments and railway sidings and we know rats can be problematic," he said. "The railway bankings can be infested with rats. We know they are in the area and we do have the odd sighting of them. "But we work closely with our pest control partners and do everything we can to keep them away.""
""We pick up litter and food like half-eaten burgers straight after games. Everything is put away," added Nash, who also works as a security manager for the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and Uefa. "They say you are never too far from a rat, especially in cities, and this one managed to get in. "People have seen a rat on the pitch as quite funny, but it does have serious undertones. "If I was the ball boy or Brennan Johnson I would have run a mile.""
A rat appeared on the pitch at Cardiff City Stadium during the second half of Wales' World Cup qualifier against Belgium, briefly halting play. Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois attempted to catch the rodent without success while Wales substitute Brennan Johnson ushered it off the field. The animal slipped past a ball boy and disappeared behind the VAR monitor and advertising boards. Cardiff City cited the stadium's proximity to allotments and railway sidings as a likely cause. The club operates rat bait stations, works with pest control partners, and enforces stringent cleaning and litter-removal after games. Belgium won the match 4-2.
Read at www.bbc.com
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