Soccer off the agenda at Wimbledon

Tennis fans hoping to watch Euro 2004 while nibbling on strawberries at Wimbledon will be disappointed to learn England’s match against Croatia will not be shown at the grounds tonight.

Even if – as expected – the rain comes down during the tournament over the next two weeks, the exploits of Beckham and co will be strictly off the agenda.

The All England Club said the England matches would not be shown out of courtesy to the players and for reasons of crowd safety.

The policy is the same as that for the World Cup in 2002 in Japan and South Korea.

Chris Gorringe, chief executive of the club, said: “While we fully appreciate and understand that many of our visitors will be interested in Euro 2004, their safety and the tennis must remain our first priorities.

“As with the 2002 World Cup, it is therefore not our intention to show football matches on the large-screen TV, although we shall try to let people know the scores of the matches via the general information system.”