ROUND-UP AND PICTURES: It's Weather 1, Sport 0 in West Sussex

The Nyewood Lane carpet under snow / Picture by Adam Woods

All levels of sport have been affected, with this weekend’s Football League programme badly hit. Locally, varying amounts of snow and ice left pitches unplayable and early decisions were made to call off fixtures.

Among those who made a quick decision were the Rocks, who gave up hope on Friday morning of hosting St Albans in a vital National League South encounter on Saturday.

Club secretary Simon Cook said: “We have agreed this morning with St Albans City to postpone tomorrow’s National League South match.

Pagham's pitch shows off its winter look / Picture by Roger Smith

“The pitch is badly frozen and the terracing and approaches to the ground would also be unsafe for spectators. We are also conscious of the difficult travelling conditions for St Albans and their supporters.

“Both clubs are exploring new dates and we will advise as soon as a new date is agreed.”

They were not alone in National League South - by the end of Friday, all 11 planned fixtuees had been called off.

The Rocks are next in action at Concord Rangers next Saturday, March 10.

Snow at East Dean FC / Picture by Peter Kearvell

Crawley’s League Two game at home to Wycombe was also called off on Friday following an afternoon pitch inspection, one of many Football Leaue games to go.

The Southern Combination League programme was also badly hit.

Games involving Pagham - who were due to host Broadbridge Heath - and Bosham, who should have gone to Worthing Town, were among the early ones to be called off. Matches involvin Chichester City, Selsey and Sidlesham, plus others, soon followed.

League officials sent guidance to all clubs and match officials on Thursday advising that – in a break with tradition – fixtures could be called off ahead of Saturday morning if it makes sense for all parties.

A handful of SCFL games remained on ahead of Saturday morning checks on pitches.

Chichester City Ladies will at least have an extra day for the Oaklands Park pitch to recover from any snow. They are due to host Gillingham Ladies in a rearranged league game on Sunday afternoon.

A West Sussex League wipeout was also expected on Saturday.

Rugby is hit too. Chichester’s planned trip to London Cornish is off and will now be played on Saturday, March 17.

The Bognor-RFC Ventnor Hampshire League division-one game at Hampshire Avenue is also off, as are other Bognor RFC Saturday fixtures. The Bognor club have yet to make a decision on Sunday’s mini and junior action, with hopes this may be saved by an improving weather forecast.

And if you had ideas about going to watch Chichester’s men’s hockey first team in action with no other live local sport left on, sorry... a rare Saturday home game for the national Conference East team, was also called off with the Chi College surface under snow.

Also wiped out were Chichester and Bognor’s weekly Saturday parkruns.

Two early football casualties of the weather were planned Thursday-night games - the reserve clash between Midhurst and Chichester and the Felpham Colts-Sidlesham U18 game at Littlehampton.

These are the SCFL fixtures as they stand

These are the National League South fixtures as they stand