Snow: All Sussex County League football called off

Football, rugby and hockey will all be hit hard by the conditions, as forecasts of freezing temperatures until Saturday morning mean postponements across the board.

County League secretary Paul Beard said even if temperatures rise, it will be too late for many pitches.

He commented: “I have just sent a note to all the clubs to say every game is off on Saturday unless they tell us otherwise.

“It is forecast to get a bit warmer on Saturday but we are taking the view that even if it melts the pitches will be flooded anyway.

“We have also said the same for the mid-week games next week. This only applies to County League games, there are a couple of cup matches this Saturday but they are in the FA Vase so it’s an FA competition and not ours.”

A mixture of snow and large bouts of bad weather caused a backlog of fixtures towards the end of last season, with some County League clubs having to play three games a week.

But Mr Beard said they were not expecting the same problems this season.

“Only four Division One games went ahead last Saturday and several others were off but I think we are in pretty good shape because we usually lose a lot of games over the Autumn but that didn’t happen,” he said.

“All of the cup competitions are up to date and we have lost only a few games up to now. In Division One most of the teams have played almost half their games which is normally the case by the middle of January.

“So we are well up at the moment, the only problem will be if the cold weather continues into January and February, if we have to call a lot of games off then we could be in trouble.”