Pictures taken at Odd Down's Lew Hill Memorial Ground this afternoon

This week’s weather has seen all games on grass pitches postponed in the league, both last Saturday and also in midweek in the Veterans’ and Under 18 Divisions, due to frozen pitches, many of which are still covered in snow.

Whilst the forecast for Saturday is better for a short period from mid-morning, with temperatures tonight set to fall as low as -7° C and then forecast to only get as high as 1° C on Friday before once again going negative overnight, realistically it is extremely unlikely that pitches will thaw out to enable games to be played. This is particularly the case where grounds have areas of the pitch do not get the sun due to stands and/or trees surrounding the pitch.

Given we are just over a week away from Christmas and given the circumstances set out above, the League will permit home clubs to make a self-assessment of their pitches first thing Friday morning and where the ground is still frozen allow the game to be postponed earlier than would normally be the case. This will enable players and club volunteers to make alternative arrangements for their weekend if there is to be no game. Whilst we would prefer games to be played, we need to be realistic about the likelihood of games going ahead this weekend.

Postponing clubs must follow normal notification procedure for postponements, notifying the Fixture Secretary, the Referee Appointments Secretary (by telephone), opponents and the Match Officials.

15 December 2022