Swarms of bugs have descended on World Cup, helicopters called in
The city of Stalingrad is under siege, with a battle in the skies between the air force and a determined invader.
OK, so today it’s called Volgograd and the “invaders” are a swarm of insects, but the England-Tunisia World Cup soccer match has come under siege.
Rob Harris of AP Sports demonstrated just how bad the infestation of flies and mosquitoes has become as he tried to do a live remote that was constantly interrupted by the six-legged monsters.
Flies & mosquitoes a problem in Volgograd … as experienced while trying to talk for TV. @AP_Sports
England-Tunisia here tonight #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/KEPvnG5Tsh— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) June 18, 2018
Natalie Pirks of the BBC had to keep plenty of bug spray around to be able to do her live remote from the stadium, as her camerawoman Rachel Price tweeted.
@Natpirks 1 – Mosquitoes 0. Lets hope they don’t come out tomorrow night for the #England game #WorldCup2018 pic.twitter.com/k8uS27XZMC
— Rachel Price (@NewsCamerawoman) June 17, 2018
And for some, the situation got so bad that they couldn’t even make it to air, like Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports.
First time for everything: Just had to abort going live on Sky Sports News with seconds to spare because of invasion of flies outside England team hotel. Big problem here in Volgograd. Helicopters have been spraying insecticide over the stadium this week
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) June 17, 2018
And as if things couldn’t be any more absurd, they had to call in helicopters to spray the stadium with insect repellent in hopes of keeping the bugs away for long enough to play some actual soccer. The match between England and Tunisia will be played Monday night local time in Russia.
Some fans of England, which has not won a World Cup since it was the host nation in 1966, poked fun at the team’s tendency to use any sort of difficulty as an excuse for losing at soccer’s greatest competition.
can see the excuses from here: We only lost due to a fly invasion ?!!
— Ty (@Sanchinho7) June 17, 2018
Solhekol got himself a great nickname out of the situation, “Lord of the Flies”:
https://twitter.com/SkyKaveh/status/1008703251343081472
The BBC brought in an expert in the field, bringing in an entomologist for expert commentary.
“It’s a regular occurrence and just bad timing with a World Cup on,” Hart said. “The good news is they don’t last long.”
The reason they don’t last long is because the swarm is actually the midges breeding. The aquatic insects emerge from the larval stage in the Volga River in late spring and fly around the nearby area, including the city, for the kind of midair mating that makes anyone nearby wish the young couples would just get a room.
If the word “midges” sounds familiar, it’s probably because this isn’t the first time the bugs have descended on a sporting event and caused merry mayhem.
In baseball’s American League Division Series in 2007, a bunch of midges descended on the field in Cleveland, where the Yankees were playing the Indians, and everyone in attendance had a very bad night.
And as in the baseball series, the bugs were gone as quickly as they’d arrived, allowing play to continue. The same should happen in Volgograd before the group stage is done, as the females land by the river, lay their now-fertilized eggs, and begin the cycle of life anew.
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