Waveney District Council has followed its neighbouring local authorities in calling off football fixtures due to the state of pitches resulting from a lack of rain.

Waveney District Council has followed its neighbouring local authorities in calling off football fixtures due to the state of pitches resulting from a lack of rain.

Yesterday, the EDP reported that matches on council pitches in Norwich and Yarmouth were postponed because of the prolonged dry spell.

Norwich City Council and Yarmouth Borough Council said that fears of players being exposed to unacceptable injury risks and damage to the pitches led them to make the decision.

Yesterday, Waveney District Council and operational partners Waveney Norse announced that all matches on council-run pitches in the area had been postponed.

A spokesman said that, following discussions with league secretaries and clubs, it had been agreed that the unusually hard surfaces presented a genuine risk to player safety, as well as longer-term damage to the pitches themselves, and that no games would go ahead until weather conditions changed.

Waveney operations manager Andy Wilson-Sutter said: “The surfaces are bare and bone hard and there is no question of games going ahead with conditions as they are.”