Belfast World Cup qualfier postponed

Northern Ireland's World Cup football qualifying fixture against Russia due to be played at Windsor Park tonight (7.45) has been called off after the pitch was deemed unplayable following an inspection this afternoon. Heavy overnight snow was the culprit.

The Irish Football Association (IFA) confirmed the decision after an official pitch inspection of the South Belfast stadium later today. The match will now take place at the same venue tomorrow (3.0).

Question marks will naturally be raised over the likelihood of the game taking place tomorrow, with more bad weather expected through the night. The IFA announced a briefing for 10.30am tomorrow morning, during which more details will be provided.

IFA staff — including chief executive Patrick Nelson — did their best to salvage the situation today by shovelling snow from the pitch in grim conditions, but their efforts were in vain.

Windsor Park, home to Irish League outfit Linfield, is among the more basic on the international circuit and has little to no defence against the elements, such as under-soil heating. The delay is likely to cause additional problems, with Northern Ireland due to host Israel in the second match of the Group F double-header on Tuesday.

That match is now itself in some doubt, with the pitch highly unlikely to be in an acceptable condition should a game go ahead this weekend. Russia, meanwhile, are due to play Brazil in a friendly at Stamford Bridge on Monday but now face the prospect of a one-day break between games.

The inclement weather also forced the closure of the runway at George Best Belfast City Airport and the Association of Northern Ireland Supporters Clubs registered their concerns with the IFA over the safety of fans travelling to the match.

Horse racing has also been hit with Friday evening’s Dundalk card called off due to high winds.

The eight-race card was due to start at 5.50pm but officials have cancelled the fixture due to the inclement weather.

The track tweeted: “Both horse and greyhound racing has been cancelled this evening due to the very high winds; apologies for any inconvenience.”

Tomorrow’s race meeting at Gowran Park has been cancelled due to a waterlogged track. Officials at the Co Kilkenny circuit moved forward their 8.0am inspection as the situation became untenable overnight.

Heavy showers put paid to any hope of the meeting defeating the elements.

Horse Racing Ireland has announced that there will be a replacement national hunt meeting on Tuesday April 9th. The all flat card that was due to take place on that date has been moved back to Monday April 8th to form a two-day meeting.

Sunday’s meeting at Downpatrick has also been called off due to a waterlogged track, with a replacement card now scheduled to take place on Wednesday April 3rd.

The good news for Irish racegoers is that the Curragh has escaped the worst of the weather and although the going is expected to be heavy, Sunday’s meeting is likely to get the green light.

Although the fixture, the start of the Irish flat season, is not thought to be in doubt, further rain is forecast which will turn the ground heavy.

Across the Irish Sea, racing goes ahead at Doncaster tomorrow after the course passed an 11am inspection. The track has been raceable throughout the morning, but course officials needed to stay vigilant due to the threat of heavy snow.

Conditions have, however, now improved sufficiently to enable clerk of the course Roderick Duncan to give the first Flat fixture on turf this year the go-ahead at the third attempt, although he will still look at tomorrow’s racing.

Tomorrow’s race meeting at Stratford has already been scrubbed off, though, with course officials citing a waterlogged track. Although the course was raceable upon inspection at 6.45am this morning, another check at noon put paid to any chances of racing at the weekend.

There will be pitch inspections tomorrow morning on all Airtricity League games due to take place this weekend. A spokesperson for Leinster confirmed that they expected the RaboDirect Pro12 game against the Glasgow Warriors to go ahead tomorrow night as expected.

The following Ulster Bank League matches have been postponed: Clontarf v Dolphin; St Mary's v Shannon, Bruff v Dungannon; Malone v Blackrock; Banbridge v Seapoint, Instonians v Suttonians; Nenagh Ormond v Ards; Skerries v Sligo; Armagh v Rainey Old Boys; Dublin University v Ballynahinch; DLSP v QUB.