SUB-zero temperatures once again wrought havoc among the weekend’s sporting fixtures.

SUB-zero temperatures once again wrought havoc among the weekend’s sporting fixtures.

Last week’s brief thaw allowed normal play to resume but the return of arctic conditions midweek left pitches frozen hard and made play all but impossible.

Many clubs will now have to reschedule as many as four cancelled matches, with possible fixture pile-up becoming a factor later on in the season.

Alan Alsop’s Ely City were scheduled to host strugglers Brantham Athletic at the Unwin Ground on Saturday but an early morning pitch inspection revealed a frozen pitch and the match was duly postponed. The Robins’ next match is scheduled for Monday, when, weather permitting, they will travel to Mildenhall Town.

Soham Town Rangers scheduled trip to Middlesex-based Uxbridge was also called off, with a deep covering of snow making both travel and play impossible. The Greens’ next match is also scheduled for Monday when they will play host to Biggleswade Town.

In the Cambridgeshire football leagues, more than 50 fixtures across 15 leagues were called off on Saturday with play not now resuming until January 8 as football takes a two-week break for Christmas.

Ely Tigers RUFC would have been hoping to bounce back from last week’s defeat at the hands of Vigo with victory at West Norfolk but their fixture succumbed to the weather late on Friday. Matches for the development XV against Sawston and the third XV against Shelford were also cancelled.

Both of Ely’s hockey teams were also out of action this week but their absence from the sporting arena was because of the league’s month-long Winter break and not the weather. The men’s team will resume hostilities again on January 15 when they take on Market Deeping while the ladies will start again against Louth on the same date.