Weather hits UK sporting programme

Bad weather claimed its first victims of the festive sporting programme in the UK tonight as fog and freezing temperatures continued to affect large parts of country.

The highest-profile casualty of the evening was Gloucester’s Guinness Premiership encounter with Newcastle at Kingsholm, which was deemed unplayable due to dense fog.

The game was called off on grounds of safety just 25 minutes before kick-off by referee Rob Debney, with around 12,000 people already in the ground.

“We came down here ready to play, but given the conditions that was never going to happen,” said Newcastle director of rugby John Fletcher.

“The players were up for it but then that’s what you would expect no matter what the situation was.

“I’ve been out on to the pitch and from the centre spot I couldn’t even see The Shed, so from a player safety point of view it was just a no-brainer.

“The people I feel sorry for are the supporters, especially those who have come all the way down from Newcastle, but to be fair there was no way we could have played out there tonight.”

The match will now be rescheduled for some time in the new year. The five other fixtures in the Premiership went ahead as planned tonight but in Wales the Magners League clash between Llanelli Scarlets and Newport Gwent Dragons was also called off because of fog.

The Coca-Cola League Two football match between Mansfield and Chester was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Field Mill and the race meeting at Kempton was abandoned after four races because of poor visibility.

Of the events that went ahead, two were shown live on television, with Sky Sports’ coverage of Crystal Palace v Sunderland and Northampton v Wasps hardly enhanced by the fog.

The Llanelli match was called off following an inspection by Welsh Rugby Union referee Nigel Owens at 4pm, when the conditions were judged unfit.

Scarlets chief executive Stuart Gallacher said: “The fog is very bad and you couldn’t see the posts from the halfway line nor the four corners.

“At 2.30pm the game could have been played but the fog descended and it became impossible for the game to go ahead.

“It is very disappointing especially as this was our only home game over the Christmas period.”

The game is expected to be rearranged for the weekend of March 24-25.

All tomorrow’s football matches remained on this evening, but League One side Rotherham have given early warning that their Boxing Day clash against Oldham may have to be postponed.

Part of the Millmoor pitch is frozen and match officials will conduct a precautionary inspection of the pitch at 11am on Tuesday.