Weather is the winner as football is forced to take break

As thousands of football fans were left kicking their heels in frustration over the weekend, Richard Sutcliffe looks back to the last time the snow wreaked havoc across the game.

LEEDS UNITED supporters may beg to differ following their famous FA Cup triumph at Old Trafford but the true winner in Yorkshire football recently has to be Jack Frost.

Such has been the havoc wreaked on the county's senior clubs by the arctic weather that almost a third of their scheduled fixtures have fallen victim to the ice and snow that has left Britain shivering since before Christmas.

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Rotherham United have been the worst hit with all five of their games since December 19 having been postponed, but there are not too many of the White Rose clubs who have emerged unscathed from the cold snap.

In fact, only Leeds United have managed to fulfil all their fixtures to leave many of the region's managers fearing a fixtures log-jam in the coming weeks and months.

It is a similar story across the country with last week's postponements of games involving Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Manchester City having already led to fears in some quarters that England's World Cup hopes could be undermined by fatigue as clubs, and especially those still involved in European competition, are forced into a punishing schedule of games.

The scaremongers' argument was cranked up over the weekend as a host of Premier League games fell victim to the weather.

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But for anyone who genuinely believes the impact of the freezing weather will still be being felt come May, perhaps they should take a look at the last time English football suffered similar problems.

This football weekend is by no means the first to have been hit by freezing temperatures and heavy snow. A look through the record books and the Yorkshire Post picture files proves that football and snow rarely mix.

In 1946-47 there were 140 league games postponed and the 1962-63 season saw one Cup tie abandoned 15 times as clubs struggled to cope with the big freeze.

The 1981-82 season was also troublesome.

Much like the current campaign, it was a season where the wintry weather led to a swathe of postponements across English football. In fact, the month from December 12, 1981, saw only 40 of the 193 scheduled league games take place while the FA Cup soon descended into chaos with the fourth-round draw having been made despite the second round not having been completed.

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The snow had blown in on the penultimate weekend before Christmas to cause 17 of the scheduled 22 games in the top two divisions to be postponed. The following Saturday was even worse with only seven games surviving across all four divisions, while Boxing Day, traditionally the most well-attended afternoon of the season and, therefore, vital to clubs' bank balances, fared marginally better as eight of the 46 games went ahead.

It would have been one less but for Blackburn Rovers' home game against Oldham Athletic being switched to Boundary Park to take advantage of the under-soil heating, the Latics 'reward' being a 3-0 defeat.

The Football League estimated that the weather had cost their clubs 500,000, the widespread postponements that followed two days later subsequently taking the final bill up to 1m.

Yorkshire was particularly badly hit over the 1981 festive season with none of the county's sides playing on either December 19, 26 or 28 as the weather turned so cold that Christmas Day night was the first in three weeks where temperatures remained above freezing.

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At a time when under-soil heating and pitch covers were a rarity rather than the norm, it was no surprise the White Rose county should be starved of football during the festive season.

Middlesbrough were by far the worst hit, their fans denied any League action – home or away – for more than seven weeks. However, there was no mistaking the frustrations felt elsewhere in the county as the postponements mounted with no sign of the weather improving.

Huddersfield Town chairman Keith Longbottom was particularly scathing about referee Howard King leaving it until 90 minutes before kick-off to call off the Boxing Day game at Walsall, especially as several hundred Terriers fans had already arrived at Fellows Park. He said: "The referee took the easy way out. He should have called the match off in the morning.

"But when he turned up at mid-day and saw an army of volunteers still clearing the snow, he didn't have the heart to call it off there and then. It was obvious the pitch could not be fit by 3.0pm."

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Some clubs did manage to stay active during the big freeze with Leeds United getting round the postponement of their home game against Birmingham on Boxing Day and the trip to Middlesbrough two days later by hosting two behind-closed-doors friendlies against Chesterfield and Halifax Town. Both games were won 2-1 and manager Allan Clarke later claimed the run-outs, made possible by the under-soil heating at Elland Road, helped Leeds knock Wolves out of the FA Cup in their opening game of 1982.

United's Boxing Day game had been postponed due to the area around Elland Road being unsafe, costing the club a sizeable sum in gate receipts. Insult was added to financial injury in Yorkshire later that afternoon when the pools panel ruled that only Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday of the county's clubs would have won that festive afternoon along with promotion-chasing Bradford City, the latter's 'away win' coming at the expense of neighbours Halifax Town.

The melting of the snow in the New Year brought further problems to prompt a belated admission from the football authorities that the postponements could cause serious problems for England in a World Cup year.

FA chairman Bert Millichip was the first to break ranks, saying on January 9: "We must sit round the table and come up with something.

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"It could possibly mean extending the season and that would unfortunately see us running into the World Cup."

Graham Kelly, then secretary of the Football League, went even further two days later, admitting: "It looks certain there will have to be matches played after the last official Saturday of the season and that some may have to be played after the FA Cup final on May 22, even with clubs condemned to two matches a week once the weather clears up."

A suggestion was made by the League that, following the clubs having earlier agreed to move a full programme of fixtures to allow England to prepare for a World Cup qualifier against Hungary, the FA should repay the gesture by releasing players from forthcoming internationals.

In the end, however, no such concessions were needed as the League made light of an eventual 182 postponements by bringing the curtain down on their season just a few days after the planned May 15 finish.

The three big freezes

1946-47

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A total of 140 Football League matches were postponed with snow remaining in many areas from the month of January right the way through to March. The season finally ended on June 14 when Sheffield United beat Stoke City to allow Liverpool to pip the Potteries club to the league title.

1962-63

The 'Daddy' of the big freezes was so bad that Bolton Wanderers were unable to play at all between the dates of December 8 and February 16, and the FA Cup tie between Lincoln City and Coventry City had to be postponed a total of 15 times. The season then had to be extended by two weeks to accommodate the games.

1981-82

Temperatures dipped to minus 11 degrees Celsius in Yorkshire over Christmas and 182 games fell victim to the weather but the vast majority of clubs still finished their seasons, as planned, on May 15. Leeds United were, however, relegated after that date, the club's final eight games taking place in just 21 days.