'Game off' trends as Storm Bert chaos sees football matches cancelled across the UK

Storm Bert has hit the UK, and sports fans are feeling the full effect of the bad weather with football games being called off across the country.

It was forecast to bring heavy rain, strong winds and disruptive snow to large parts of the UK, and it has played out just as predicted.

Most northern parts of England, from Nottingham upwards, and Scotland have a yellow warning of rain and snow for most of the day on Saturday (23 November) and into Sunday (24 November), with some areas in the Highlands just north of Perth having an amber weather warning in place through most of Saturday.

For football fans, that means frozen surfaces, waterlogged pitches, snow and frost, and plenty of cancelled games.

Blackburn vs Portsmouth in the championship is the most high profile match to be called off at the time of writing, with Bradford’s League Two game against Accrington and Fleetwood’s match with MK Dons also off due to the conditions.

Blackburn called an 11am pitch inspection and a statement on their Twitter/X feed said: “Due to an unplayable pitch caused by torrential rain, today’s match against @Pompey at Ewood Park has been postponed by the match official.”

It’s a big blow to thousands of fans at professional and amateur level, particularly coming off the back of an international break with no domestic football, and people have shared their frustrations on social media.

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