Wharfedale made the long journey south on Friday night only to have their National One game at Esher called off on Saturday.

The Esher pitch was inspected by a league referee on Friday, 24 hours before the kick-off, and it was declared playable.

So the Wharfedale party set off from Skipton at 6pm en route for their hotel, notwithstanding the forecast of dire winter weather.

Saturday dawned after a night of deep frost, but Esher were understandably very keen to get the match played, as a win against the injury-hit Greens would have distanced them even further from their nearest rivals London Scottish, whose match at Blackheath had already been called off.

So Wharfedale continued on their journey, as they were obliged to do, only to find on their arrival that the pitch was too dangerous.

The match was finally called off at 2.15pm, and Wharfedale began the long journey home.

The match must be replayed on the first available date, which is February 6.

That date is scheduled for Wharfedale’s Yorkshire Cup tie at Middlesbrough, who will now also have to replay a league match on that day.

Deep snow on the pitches at Wharfedale also forced the match between the Wharfedale Foresters and Harrogate Georgians to be called off.

The Foresters face local rivals North Ribblesdale on Boxing Day, with a 2pm kick-off. Ribb, who are having a great season topping their league, had their game at Hullensians on Saturday called off.

This has now been provisionally scheduled for Saturday, January 2.

North Ribblesdale’s second team game against Wharfedale Thirds was also called off.

Another fixture to bite the proverbial dust was Skipton’s home game with Selby.

The Reds’ next game is at home to West Leeds in the Yorkshire Shield on Saturday, January 2, when the kick-off will be at 2.15pm.