Weather plays havoc with UK sporting fixtures
The cold snap continued to wreak further havoc to the British sporting calendar today after the npower Championship clash between Peterborough and West Ham was postponed.
Posh announced this morning their game against the table-topping Hammers had been called off due to a frozen pitch.
It was the second Championship game to fall victim to the weather after Crystal Palace’s game with Doncaster was yesterday postponed because of frozen patches on the Selhurst Park pitch.
Leyton Orient’s game against League One high-flyers Huddersfield was also called off joining the matches between MK Dons and Bury, Brentford-Oldham, Stevenage-Carlisle, Walsall-Colchester and Rochdale-Notts County which were all postponed yesterday.
Eight League Two games will also have to be played at a later date with Crawley’s clash with Aldershot and Burton’s game against Gillingham called off today.
Accrington-Oxford, Barnet-Swindon, Macclesfield-Plymouth, Port Vale-Crewe, AFC Wimbledon-Bradford and Dagenham-Northampton were postponed yesterday.
The Blue Square Bet Premier League has also been badly affected with seven fixtures off so far.
The opening round of rugby league’s Northern Rail Cup will be affected tomorrow.
London Skolars’ home game against Toulouse has been called off because of snow and Swinton’s tie at York has been postponed due to the bad weather and pitch conditions.
The surface at the Huntington Stadium is covered by four inches of snow and, with temperatures not set to get much above freezing until tomorrow, the City Knights said there was no chance of the pitch being playable in time.
There were also three postponements in rugby union’s National League One.
The race meetings at Newbury, Uttoxeter and Warwick have also fallen victim to conditions.
Officials at the British Horseracing Authority have reached a deal to ensure the major races from the abandoned card at Newbury will be rescheduled next Friday.
Today’s ’Betfair Super Saturday’ fixture had been due to showcase the talents of Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Long Run, as well as exciting novices Sprinter Sacre, Cue Card and possibly Grands Crus.
Scottish circuit Musselburgh is frost-free and no problems are anticipated.
The picture is less positive at Hereford, who will check conditions at 11.30am today ahead of their scheduled Sunday card.
