Of the menagerie of animals to interrupt football matches over the years -- dogs, cats, owls, squirrels, etc. -- we think the Swiss Super League game on Sunday between FC Thun and FC Zurich may mark the first time a European pine marten has disrupted proceedings -- though, of course, citation is required there.

After the pine marten burst onto the pitch and caused chaos for several minutes, it was eventually bought to a temporary halt when Zurich defender Loris Benito dived on the little blighter and caught it, with the Swiss youngster losing a small chunk of his thumb flesh in the line of duty . . .



According to Reuters, the pine marten “slipped away but was eventually caught by goalkeeper David Da Costa, who handed it to stewards.”

We're sure the stewards were delighted.

In a halftime TV interview, Zurich's left back/in-house pest controller Benito said: “In hindsight, I was probably a little foolish [to dive on the pine marten]. You don’t know what sort of disease it might be carrying. It was painful.”

Note to self: Don't attempt to manually trap pine martens without proper medical supervision present.

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