ZESCO United Football Club’s week nine home game against Kalulushi Modern Stars initially scheduled for Levy Mwanawasa Stadium has been moved to Trade Fair Grounds officials have announced.
In a statement to fazfootball.com Zesco United FC Media and Public Relations Officer Katebe Chengo said the change had been necessited due to an invasion of grass eating caterpillars on the pitch in the 43,000 seater facility.
“As stated last week,we were scheduled to go back to Levy Mwanawasa after playing our past two our home games at Trade fair but we were informed on Tuesday by the Stadium management that the pitch had been attacked by caterpillars which had eaten some parts of the pitch,” said Chengo
Chengo added that Copperbelt Permanent Secretary Stanford Mschili had been to the stadium and agriculturalists from the Ministry of Health were already spraying pesticides on the pitch.
“As a club we are concerned about the safety of our players who have direct contact with the grass on the pitch. It will be risky for us to subject our players to play on a pitch that has recently been sprayed with a poisonous chemical that cause irritation on the skin,” she said
“The situation is unfortunate so we will have to play from Trade Fair and wait for the Stadium management to advise us on when it will be safe to move our matches back to Mwanawasa.”