Soccer and athletics were among sports to suffer wholesale cancellations in yesterday's severe gales.

Southend Junior League chairman Bernie Nicholls made an early morning decision to postpone the entire programme for the day.

He said: "It's impossible to play any kind of football out there. Apart from the dangers of youngsters being ferried about by road in these winds, it's my opinion that any matches that are played will be of a farcical nature with little if any skill involved.

"Any clubs that do manage to go ahead with action will have those matches counted only as friendlies with today's programme being replayed in its entirety at a later stage."

The Southend Junior League, South-East Essex Mini Soccer and Thundermite Leagues, also suffered disruption.

For adult players, several games in the Southend Sunday League were abandoned.

On the athletics front a number of local enthusiasts heard that the national AAA Road Relay Championships at Birmingham had been cancelled as they travelled up.

Published Monday October 28, 2002

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