David Beckham’s planned visit to Salford City has been postponed as freezing conditions threaten to disrupt the sporting calendar this weekend.
Former England captain Beckham was due to watch the non-league club’s FA Trophy third-round tie with Maidstone on Saturday after his appointment as a director was formally approved by the Football Association on Thursday.
But the fixture has been rearranged for Tuesday because of the weather, and Press Association Sport understands Beckham will not be in attendance.
We are delighted to announce that The FA have approved David Beckham to become a director at the club!#WeAreSalford 🦁🔴 pic.twitter.com/PLBcDGZl2g — Salford City FC (@SalfordCityFC) January 31, 2019
The 43-year-old has purchased a 10 per cent stake in Salford and is a part-owner along with former Manchester United team-mates Gary and Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt as well as Singapore businessman Peter Lim.
Elsewhere, Saturday’s English Football League fixtures at Crewe and Port Vale have also fallen victim to the weather.
Crewe announced the pitch at Gresty Road is unplayable ahead of their scheduled game with Carlisle, while Vale’s home match against Tranmere has also been cancelled due to a frozen pitch.
📆 | REARRANGED: #CreweAlex will now host #cufc on Tuesday 12 February, 7:45pm KO ⚽ More info 👇https://t.co/aIJvEZWoEw — Crewe Alexandra F.C. (@crewealexfc) February 1, 2019
The Vanarama National League has also been affected, with Boreham Wood against Wrexham, Ebbsfleet’s home game with Hartlepool, and Dagenham & Redbridge’s trip to Maidenhead all postponed.
In Scotland, Stranraer have announced their Ladbrokes League One meeting with Stenhousemuir is off following a pitch inspection at Stair Park, while Edinburgh City versus Albion Rovers is the only one of five League Two fixtures still going ahead.
It is not just football that is struggling with the cold snap as Friday night’s Premiership Rugby Cup clash between Bath and Gloucester was called off.
A Bath statement said: “Despite huge efforts from our grounds team, it has not been possible to clear the volume of snow currently covering the pitch without causing substantial damage to the playing surface below.”
⚠️ MATCH POSTPONED | Following an earlier update, we regret to announce that our @premrugby Cup match against Gloucester Rugby scheduled for tomorrow at 14:30 has been postponed. Further information here ➡️ https://t.co/Y8ILV5V76B pic.twitter.com/bwF48PAGfz — Bath Rugby (@bathrugby) February 1, 2019
Several National Hunt races have also fallen to the cold weather.
Wetherby’s Towton Chase card was abandoned after an inspection on Friday morning while both of the day’s jumps fixtures, at Catterick and Chepstow, were called off on Thursday.
The cold weather has delivered a third successive blank day in the National Hunt calendar.
Today's outlook… very pretty, just not this weekend!! pic.twitter.com/sUSgQwVGbj — Wetherby Racecourse (@WetherbyRaces) February 1, 2019
Prospects for Sandown’s Saturday card appear more encouraging after an optimistic bulletin on Twitter. Despite overnight snow on Thursday into Friday, no inspection is yet planned.
Musselburgh abandoned their weekend Cheltenham Trials fixture after an inspection on Thursday with the track frozen solid, but racing is set to go ahead on the all-weather at Lingfield on Friday after early confirmation of no problems.
Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival is currently expected to beat the cold snap on Saturday and Sunday – during which eight Grade One races are set to take place.
