Snow and sub-zero temperatures have caused major disruption to the sporting calendar in Britain and Ireland.
Saturday's Premier League games at Wigan, Hull, Fulham, Burnley and Sunderland and both games scheduled for Sunday were hit by the big freeze.
Seven Championship games were off, only two matches survived in League One, none in League Two while 10 Scottish Cup ties were postponed.
Horse racing meetings and rugby union matches were also called off.
Heavy snow and sub-zero temperatures caused problems for clubs and race courses around the UK.
The weather just caught us out in the end because we were confident that it could go ahead up until Thursday evening
Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson
In addition to safety issues for players and jockeys as a result of frozen ground, the cold spell caused travel chaos with road closures and widespread disruption to public transport.
England's Premier League programme has had seven postponements so far, with West Ham's match at home to Wolves on Sunday becoming the latest game to fall foul of the weather because of the conditions in the area surrounding Upton Park.
The game between Wigan and Aston Villa - scheduled for a 1500 GMT kick-off - failed an 0830 GMT inspection on Saturday after problems with the Latics' undersoil heating system.
Liverpool's game with Tottenham on Sunday has also been postponed.
A club spokesman said: "Although the Anfield pitch is perfectly playable for the game, the problem we face is the icy condition of the approach roads and paths in the immediate vicinity of the stadium."
Fulham were also concerned that the conditions around Craven Cottage were too dangerous for fans to get to the game with Portsmouth.
A club statement read: "The safety of supporters is of paramount importance and following an inspection of the areas surrounding Craven Cottage on Friday morning it was deemed unsafe for fans to travel."
Burnley's fixture with Stoke was the second top-flight game to go, with the Clarets stating the match had been postponed because of "safety reasons".
The question you can ask is, for the fairness of the Premier League, if there are two or three games postponed, should the whole day be re-scheduled?
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger
Sunderland's game with Bolton at the Stadium of Light was called off following a recommendation from the city's Safety Advisory Group, who met for a second time on Friday morning.
Safety Advisory Group chairman Ken Scott told the club's website: "Clearly the combination of a number of factors has led us to make this decision.
"The early timing has been deliberate in order to avoid many thousands of people embarking on unnecessary and potentially hazardous journeys."
Saturday's planned Hull versus Birmingham game was postponed on Friday evening.
The games at Arsenal and Birmingham were the only ones to go ahead in the top flight.
Before Arsenal's draw against Everton boss Arsene Wenger said he understood the reasons for the postponements, but added: "If one of 60,000 people has an accident, you feel very guilty and nobody accepts anymore that the slightest insecurity could exist in our society and that is why the games are postponed when there is no real need for it."
Wenger also argued that if more fixtures were called off, there was a case for the other matches on that day to go as well.
"The question you can ask is, for the fairness of the Premier League, if there are two or three games postponed, should the whole day be re-scheduled?," he said.
"Because if you play one team now who fights not to go down, and you play them again in May when they are already safe or already down, it is not the same game. That is where you can argue it is not fair sometimes for the competition."
With icy pavements and roads becoming a serious issue, Sheffield Wednesday decided to take the decision to call off their Championship game with Peterborough.
Preston also called off their game against Doncaster as did Watford for the visit of Sheffield United and Reading for the game with Championship leaders Newcastle, while Swansea's trip to Middlesbrough and QPR's home game against Plymouth were also postponed.
Crystal Palace called off their game with Bristol City because of a frozen pitch at Selhurst Park.
Ten games were off in League One, with only the matches at Leeds and Norwich making it, while none of the planned 10 League Two ties survived.
Sub-zero temperatures have followed days of heavy snow across the country, with UK-wide severe weather warnings of ice in place, with temperatures staying near freezing.
There will be no National Hunt racing until Wednesday at the earliest after Tuesday's card at Leicester became the latest meeting to be called off, following the earlier abandonment of Newcastle while Wednesday's card at Doncaster joined the list of abandonments.
Saturday's meetings at Wincanton, Ffos Las and Sedgefield were also called off but the Flat meetings on the all-weather tracks at Lingfield and Kempton Park went ahead.
Saturday's Guinness Premiership rugby clash between Sale and top-of-the-table Saracens was postponed because of fears for fans' safety on their way to the stadium.
Tigers battle to prepare ground for Wasps
Saturday's games between Worcester and London Irish, Bath and Northampton and Leeds' trip to Harlequins, together with Sunday's match between Newcastle and Gloucester fell foul of the weather.
Worcester's match was called off on Friday afternoon with a Premier Rugby statement explaining: "Despite the pitch having been covered since the conclusion of Warriors' Boxing Day match against Northampton, the wind has picked up and got underneath the covers, causing areas of the pitch to freeze."
Leicester switched Saturday's kick-off time from 1730 to 1515 GMT for the visit of Wasps at the request of Premier Rugby.
Friday night's Magners League match between Ulster and the Ospreys was called off because of a frozen pitch, as was Connacht's game against Newport Gwent Dragons and the match between Leinster and Glasgow.
Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson said: "The weather just caught us out in the end because we were confident that it could go ahead up until Thursday evening.
"Following Garda and health and safety advice, we had to consider supporters travelling to the game from the far reaches of Leinster and beyond as well as the safety of the players as the roads and pathways around the ground are also treacherous."
Sunday's Magners League game between Munster and Scarlets at Musgrave Park has also been called off.
The rugby league pre-season friendly between Huddersfield and Halifax on Sunday, which was to be England forward Eorl Crabtree's testimonial match has also been called off.
There was some good news, however, as organisers of the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country, featuring Ethiopia's distance running superstar Kenenisa Bekele, with the event going ahead on Saturday.
Elsewhere the GB men's handball squad were nearly scuppered in their attempt to travel to France for the Marrane Cup in Paris.
The team were due to leave their London training camp on Wednesday but their coach failed to reach them in the snow, so they checked into a hotel in the capital and made plans to travel by Eurostar on Thursday morning instead.
Several trains from St Pancras were delayed but the team were finally on their way by 1230 GMT leaving them enough time to make it on to court in Paris at 2000 GMT to face Qatar.
Full list of sporting events off this weekend:
SATURDAY
Football:
Premier League Burnley v Stoke Fulham v Portsmouth Hull v Chelsea Sunderland v Bolton Wigan v Aston Villa
Championship Crystal Palace v Bristol City Middlesbrough v Swansea Preston v Doncaster QPR v Plymouth Reading v Newcastle Sheffield Wednesday v Peterborough Watford v Sheff Utd
League One Brighton v Brentford Bristol Rovers v Stockport Carlisle v Millwall Charlton v Hartlepool Gillingham v Tranmere MK Dons v Swindon Oldham v Leyton Orient Southampton v Huddersfield Southend v Walsall Yeovil v Colchester
League Two Aldershot v Rochdale Bury v Darlington Cheltenham v Hereford Crewe v Grimsby Lincoln City v Accrington Stanley Morecambe v Burton Albion Northampton v Chesterfield Notts County v Macclesfield Port Vale v Bradford Rotherham v Bournemouth Shrewsbury v Barnet Torquay v Dagenham & Redbridge
Scottish Cup Fourth Round Albion v Stirling Ayr v Brechin Edinburgh City v Montrose Forfar v St Johnstone Inverness CT v Motherwell Kilmarnock v Falkirk Livingston v Dundee Morton v Celtic Raith v Airdrie Utd Ross County v Inveruie Locos
Scottish Football League Championship Second Division Cowdenbeath v Arbroath
Scottish Football League Championship Third Division Berwick v Stranraer East Stirling v Queens Park
Rugby Union: Premiership Bath v Northampton Harlequins v Leeds Worcester v London Irish
Horse racing Ffos Las Punchestown Sedgefield Wincanton
SUNDAY
Football: Premier League Liverpool v Tottenham West Ham v Wolves
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~)
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
Bookmark with:
What are these?