Leeds United told to sit idle for a month as English football resumes after death of Queen Elizabeth II

On the day English football restarted after a weekend mourning the country's longest-serving monarch, the Whites discovered they will not play again until Aston Villa visit Elland Road on October 2.

Their previous match was a 5-2 defeat at Brentford on September 3.

English football got back up and running on Monday with Bradford (Park Avenue)'s Conference North match at home to Darlington amongst others but Leeds' game against Nottingham Forest was off because it was classed as one of the weekend Premier League fixtures postponed en masse along with all other British men's, women's and children's football. Many sports played on, leading to some stirring tributes such as at The Oval, where England played Test cricket at a venue owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

On Tuesday nine Yorkshire Football League clubs resume playing with the other, Rotherham United, hosting Blackpool in the Championship on Wednesday.

With the funeral scheduled for September 19, a high-risk match such as Leeds' at their historic rivals Manchester United was not deemed feasible with the resources of Greater Manchester Police too stretched. Many officers will be redeployed to the capital, where the queen’s coffin is due to arrive on Tuesday.

Chelsea's match at home to Liverpool, also on Sunday, is the only other top-flight game postponed for that reason, although some kick-off times have changed. Managerless Brighton and Hove Albion had already postponed their game against Crystal Palace on Saturday because of planned rail strikes.

Possibly reflecting it was too hasty wiping out last weekend's entire programme and with a difficult job rearranging matches in a heavily-congested calendar, the league's aim was to play as many matches as possible this weekend, and it looks as if seven out of ten will go ahead.

But once they are over, top-level club football goes on a two-week break to accommodate Nations League fixtures.

Arsenal's Europa League match against PSV Eindhoven on Thursday has also been postponed because of policing issues but other games, such as Chelsea's in the Champions League against Red Bull Salzburg the previous day, are on because they are deemed to require less staffing.

“Following extensive consultation with clubs, police, local safety advisory groups and other relevant authorities, there was no other option but to postpone the three fixtures,” said the Premier League.

All weekend Football League matches need the approval of the police and local safety advisory groups. This is normal practice, just in unusual circumstances.

The process of rearranging fixtures has begun, with the South Yorkshire derby between Sheffield United and Rotherham United moved to November 8, at 7.45pm.

Another Rotherham away match, at Coventry City, has been rearranged for October 25 (7.45pm). That was postponed when Coventry's pitch was deemed unsafe after two entire Commonwealth Games rugby sevens tournaments – men's and women's– were played on it the previous weekend.