Football

The postponements and changes which will take place to scheduled sport due to Queen Elizabeth II’s death

While football paused over the weekend as a mark of respect following the death of The Queen, other sporting events continued and paid their own tributes; EFL programme is set to recommence on Tuesday September 13 with National League fixtures restarting on Monday.

The Premier League and EFL postponed all games across English football’s top-four tiers this weekend as changes are made to scheduled sport following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Football

Following the death of the Queen on Thursday, the entire weekend’s Premier League and EFL schedule was postponed. The start of the new WSL season was also postponed, along with all non-League and grassroots fixtures, while the Scottish FA, SPFL, SWPL and Highland & Lowland Leagues were postponed as well.

Although the EFL is expected to recommence on Tuesday, Rangers’ Champions League match with Napoli has been moved to Wednesday and the Premier League are yet to confirm their schedule for the week ahead.

National League fixtures will go ahead as scheduled from Monday September 12 and Welsh football at all levels will resume on Tuesday.

Cricket

Following the cancellation of Friday’s cricket fixtures as a mark of respect on announcement of the Queen’s death, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed play would resume on Saturday including international, domestic, and recreational fixtures.

That meant the men’s Test match between England and South Africa at The Oval became a three-day Test.

Tributes were paid to the Queen on Saturday before the match at The Oval, where there was a minute’s silence followed by the national anthems, with God Save The King and then a round of continued applause from the crowd. Players and coaches from both sides, and the match officials are also wearing black armbands during the Test.

Boxing

As a mark of respect, the British Boxing Board of Control postponed all British boxing on the weekend which followed Her Majesty’s death, including Saturday’s event, BOXXER: Legacy – Claressa Shields versus Savannah Marshall.

In a statement, the BBBofC said: “Our sincere thoughts are with His Majesty King Charles III and the Royal Family during this profoundly sombre time. We are working with all parties to provisionally reschedule for Saturday, October 15 at The O2 in London.”

Golf

Golf’s BMW PGA Championship resumed on Saturday morning following the immediate suspension of play on Thursday evening and the complete cancellation of all day’s play on Friday. The event was reduced to 54 holes in order to finish on Sunday as scheduled.

Play restarted at 6.40am on Saturday with a two-minute period of silence.

The proclamation of King Charles III was also shown on the television screens in the Championship Village.

Horse racing

All racing was suspended for Friday and Saturday, with scheduled fixtures and racing events returning on Sunday.

An additional day of racing at Doncaster was also scheduled for Sunday, to ensure that the St Leger and other important races lost as a result of the postponements can take place.

The British Horseracing Authority confirmed that racing will continue up to the day of the Queen’s funeral, when meetings at Hamilton Park, Warwick, Wolverhampton and Leicester will be postponed.

Rugby Union

Following consultation with the RFU, DCMS and the PRL Board, Premiership Rugby rescheduled the two Friday matches for Saturday and Sunday.

The other matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday went ahead as scheduled, with Premiership clubs holding a one-minute silent tribute and all players and coaches invited to wear black armbands.

The Welsh Rugby Union suspended all senior rugby matches in Wales through the weekend as a mark of respect. The Scottish Rugby Union also announced the suspension of all competitive domestic matches under its jurisdiction.

Rugby League

Saturday’s Super League Eliminator between Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils was played as scheduled at 1pm.

Super League had already announced that Friday’s first Elimination Play-Off in Perpignan would go ahead as planned, with a minute’s silence before kick-off, and the players of Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos wearing black armbands.

The Championship fixture between Sheffield Eagles and Dewsbury Rams on Friday was postponed.

The Super League play-off semi-finals, scheduled for Friday 16 and Saturday 17 September, will proceed as arranged. The Super League Awards, scheduled to take place at Headingley Stadium on the evening of the Queen’s funeral will now take place at the same venue the following day.

Tennis

The US Open tennis tournament paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II with a moment of silence and a photo montage ahead of the first women’s semi-final on Thursday evening.

The LTA has confirmed that the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage hosted in Glasgow will go ahead on September 13-18.

There will be a minute’s silence at the start of each day’s play, the playing of the national anthem, and the Great Britain team will wear black armbands or ribbons ahead of matches against USA, Kazakhstan and Netherlands.

F1

The Italian Grand Prix went ahead this weekend with a minute’s silence followed by a round of applause for Queen Elizabeth II from both on the grid and in the grandstands ahead of Sunday’s race.

Cycling

The remainder of this week’s Tour of Britain was cancelled, with Friday’s stage six in Gloucestershire, Saturday’s stage seven in Dorset and Sunday’s stage nine on the Isle of Wight no longer taking place.

Athletics

The Great North Run went ahead as planned on Sunday. The event, which is estimated to raise £25m in charitable donations, was described by the Great Run Company as “a fitting tribute to the Queen”.

The Great North 5K and the UK Athletics 5K Road Championships, both scheduled to take place on Friday, were both cancelled, while the Junior and Mini Great North Run were also postponed.

Courtesy SKYSPORTS