Shropshire rugby faces midweek games to clear snow backlog

Shropshire's rugby teams could find themselves playing midweek matches in order to cope with an increasingly weighty fixture backlog.

There was a complete whiteout of games in the Midlands pyramid on Saturday - the third in four weeks for the county's sides.

And, with no more matches scheduled until Saturday, January 8, no prospect of an imminent end to the freezing weather and more snow forecast, the picture is bleak.

Rugby officials faced a similar headache back in the 2008-09 season, when a succession of postponements led to teams having to catch up later in the season.

And Midlands RFU spokesman Paul Bolton admits they are bracing themselves for similar problems this term.

"We had just this problem two years ago," he said.

"There are slip dates for clubs with the later rounds of the knockout competitions on Saturdays later in the season, and we should be able to catch-up a fair few games then.

"We may opt for playing games in midweek though, as we have before - and on neutral grounds if necessary for clubs that don't have floodlights.

"We've lost three weekends now and we have to think about all options to catch up."

Bolton revealed that some clubs may be given the option to play on Bank Holiday Monday, January 3 if they so choose - though no-one will be forced to do so.

The latest band of snow that hit on Saturday morning was heavier than forecast in many areas.

A number of clubs had hoped to be playing but saw their pitches swamped in a short space of time.

Bridgnorth were meant to be playing Stafford at home in Midlands Two West (North).

And chairman Peter Parkes revealed: "Until 10am on Saturday morning the game was still on.

"The referee had inspected the pitch on Friday and given it the okay to play, we just had to clear the lines.

"It was only when it started snowing heavily on Saturday morning that he agreed to call it off."

By CHRIS HUDSON