IT'S been a long time since the weather took quite the grip it did on the local fixtures this weekend.

IT'S been a long time since the weather took quite the grip it did on the local fixtures this weekend.

On Saturday every Blue Square, Ridgeons, Ryman and SIL, as well as many other Saturday leagues in the Eastern area saw all their games postponed.

Indeed only a few games survived.

It will mean a headache for fixture planners as they begin to pick up the pieces of the recent cold snap.

A thaw is now setting in, but forecasters haven't ruled out a return to colder weather again by the weekend.