Football and Horse Racing Called Off Because of Storm Ciara

Football fixtures and horse racing on Sunday have been hit by Storm Ciara.

Arsenal’s sell-out Women’s Super League game against Tottenham has been called off, along with Birmingham against Brighton and Bristol City v Reading.

Sunday’s race meetings at Exeter, Southwell and Punchestown have all been abandoned.

Sheffield United expect their Premier League match against Bournemouth (14:00 GMT) to go ahead while Manchester City host West Ham (16:30).

Arsenal’s WSL match was postponed “on the grounds of crowd safety, due to extreme weather conditions,” said a club statement.

Exeter’s race meeting, where the 2019 Grand National runner-up Magic Of Light was due to run, was abandoned because of high winds.

• Sunday’s football fixtures
• Horse racing results and racecards
• Travel disruption as UK hit by severe gales

The fixture at Southwell, which has an ‘all-weather’ surface, was also cancelled, along with the Irish meeting at Punchestown which was hit by 27mm of rain and flash flooding.

“Wind speeds have reached unacceptable miles per hour gusts this morning and our localised forecast predicts this to continue for the remainder of today, affecting our racing operation, public safety and grandstand areas,” said an Exeter spokesperson.

All five fixtures in the Women’s Championship have been postponed, while the Dutch Eredivisie and Belgian Pro League and the Belgian second tier have postponed their fixtures.

Dutch champions Ajax were among the sides to have fixtures postponed, while Alan Pardew’s ADO Den Haag have also seen their trip to Sparta Rotterdam called off.

Cancelled fixtures:

HORSE RACING

Exeter

Punchestown

Southwell

FOOTBALL

Women’s Super League

Arsenal v Tottenham

Birmingham v Brighton

Bristol City v Reading

Women’s Championship

Durham v Aston Villa

Charlton v Sheffield United

Coventry v Blackburn

Crystal Palace v London Bees

Lewes v London City Lionesses

Dutch Eredivisie

FC Utrecht v Ajax

AZ Alkmaar v Feyenoord

Sparta Rotterdam v ADO Den Haag

FC Emmen v FC Twente

Belgian Pro League

Standard Liege v Club Brugges

Royal Antwerp v KRC Genk

Waasland-Beveren v KV Kortrijk