The wintry weather has wreaked havoc in sport and particularly rugby league, with four of the six round-four Betfred Super League matches postponed.
Thursday night’s televised fixture between Hull KR and Castleford at KCOM Craven Park was the first to be called off.
Although the pitch had been protected throughout the week, there were concerns over player welfare with temperatures predicted to reach minus six, with an additional wind-chill factor and it was felt there was a safety risk for spectators.
Arsenal vs Manchester City at the Emirates is still on despite the inclement weather
Heaters melt the snow at the Emirates, but other sports such as rugby have been hit worse
PRO14 Rugby have confirmed that tomorrow night’s game against Munster has been postponed until weekend of 16/17/18 March (exact date and time tbc).
Ticket holders are encouraged to retain their tickets as they will be valid for the rearranged fixture.
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— Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) March 1, 2018
The match between Wakefield and Huddersfield on Friday, which was also due to be shown live on Sky Sports, was postponed, along with Leeds’ home game against Catalans Dragons and St Helens’ clash with Salford.
Hull KR and Leeds have yet to re-arrange their fixtures but Wakefield and St Helens will both try again on Sunday and Sky will switch coverage on Friday night to Hull v Warrington.
Wigan are holding an inspection at the DW Stadium at 5pm on Thursday to determine whether their home game against Widnes on Friday can go ahead.
Leeds, who were hoping to play their first game at Headingley since the partial opening of the new south stand and installation of a temporary north stand, made their decision in time to prevent the Catalans boarding a flight to Yorkshire.
The adverse weather has taken its toll on Friday’s Guinness PRO14 Round 17 fixtures with three of the four scheduled matches postponed.
The match between Ulster and Glasgow was the first to go when a decision was made on Wednesday due to the travel implications for supporters, players and staff. It has been rearranged for the weekend of April 20-22.
Threats to travel and the potential of severe weather on the day of the game, which raised health and safety concerns for all those involved, were also cited as the reason for postponing the clash between Edinburgh and Munster at Murrayfield.
The match has been rescheduled for the weekend of March 16-18.
And it was a similar situation at Cardiff Arms Park, with Benetton also unable to travel to Wales from Italy after their flight was cancelled.
Ospreys’ PRO14 game against Zebre in Italy on Saturday also fell by the wayside.
A PRO14 Rugby spokesman said: the decision was made after it was established that Ospreys could not be guaranteed that their flight to Italy would go ahead as scheduled.
Saturday’s English football fixtures began to be affected as Gillingham postponed their Sky Bet League One home game against Rotherham.
The club said of the move to call off the Priestfield fixture: “Match officials inspected the pitch on Thursday morning where the decision was made to call the game off, with more snow predicted to fall in the next 24 hours.”
In racing, Thursday’s meeting at Newcastle was abandoned following further snow overnight and Newbury’s jumps meeting on Friday has been abandoned.
Both meetings at Doncaster on Friday and Saturday were abandoned as was the Irish fixture at Dundalk on Friday evening.
The Flat meeting on Friday at Chelmsford must pass an inspection on Thursday after four inches of snow overnight.
Even indoor sport was affected, with the Premier League darts event in Exeter on Thursday unable to go ahead.
The red weather warning also applied to the south-west and left organisers the Professional Darts Corporation obliged to call off the competition.
However, Arsenal’s Premier League fixture against Manchester City at the Emirates on Thursday evening is set to go ahead.
The Gunners posted a message to all fans urging them to travel in good time to avoid disappointment, reminding them that inclement weather could affect travel plans.
An Arsenal statement read: ‘We recommend everyone coming to the game keeps themselves up to date of the latest travel information and leaves extra time to get to the ground, where necessary.’