ALL football matches scheduled to take place on council-run pitches this weekend have today been postponed.Waveney District Council and operational partners Waveney Norse have confirmed the fixtures have been cancelled because of the lack of rain in recent months.

ALL football matches scheduled to take place on council-run pitches this weekend have today been postponed.

Waveney District Council and operational partners Waveney Norse have confirmed the fixtures have been cancelled because of the lack of rain in recent months.

After discussions with league secretaries and clubs it has been agreed that the unusually hard surfaces present a genuine risk to player safety, as well as longer-term damage to the pitches themselves. Therefore no games will go ahead until weather conditions change.

Following similar decisions made in Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Waveney Operations Manager Andy Wilson-Sutter said that the council had been left with no option.

'The surfaces are bare and bone hard and there is no question of games going ahead with conditions as they are,' he said. Player safety is a number one priority and just as matches are called off when pitches are frozen, we have little choice but to postpone all games for the time being.

'Naturally we are frustrated that we have been forced in to this decision and obviously we will work closely with the leagues to ensure any backlog of games are accommodated before the end of the season,' he added.