DESPITE six weeks of virtual non-activity on football grounds across North Wales and Chester, one leading amateur football guru says there is no need to panic.
Terence Hewitt, one of the games top match officials in the 1960’s who later became league secretary in the Welsh National League and the Cymru Alliance League, insists winters have been a lot worse and sees no reason why all leagues won’t be able to complete their fixtures before the end of May.
“In 1962, heavy snow followed by severe frost on Boxing Day meant that no fixtures were played until early March,” recalled Hewitt.
“The season didn’t finished until early June when I refereed the Division One Cup final between Denbigh Town and Llay Welfare at Ruthin.
“It ended all square and we returned the following Saturday for the replay, causing Ruthin Cricket Club to finish their game early to accommodate the replay.
“Wrexham’s Racecourse pitch, in an attempt to get an FA Cup tie with Liverpool played, was heavily sanded and looked more like Rhyl beach than a football ground.
No league games were contested there until March.
“A full set of Welsh National League fixtures were played on the Saturday prior to Christmas 1978 but because of snow and ice, not one additional game was played until the last Saturday in February 1979.
“Then, believe it or not, a heavy snowfall in March caused further disruption but the season did manage to finish by late May due to some sterling work by club officials and referees.
“The eventual league and cup double winners, Brymbo, played eight games in 15 days, winning them all.”
This season, the Cymru Alliance may not have seen the highest number of postponements in its history but it has been the most severe of recent times.
The current total of postponements stands at 40, but with more wintry conditions forecast in the next 48 hours, who is to say there won’t be more.
In 2007/08, 35 matches were lost to the weather while 37 games fell foul last season, and the worrying trend of increased cancellations has continued elsewhere.
The Welsh Premier has also been hit hard by the wintry weather with over 30 matches postponed.
Fourteen weeks remain until the scheduled end of the campaign, although the FAW are looking into a proposal to extend the season by 10 days, allowing clubs to use the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Clubs in the Welsh Alliance could be forced to play three of four times a week with the constant bad weather conditions causing more than 30 matches to be postponed, while the Clwyd League saw 40 games cancelled this weekend alone.
The Welsh National League were not scheduled to play over the Christmas period but have seen three whole fixture programmes abandoned due to frozen pitches.
It is not just senior Welsh football that has been hit, the Wrexham and Clwyd Junior Leagues have seen numerous fixtures fall victim to the weather, while the West Cheshire League and Chester and District League programme has also been decimated.
The three local Sunday leagues - Deeside, Wrexham, and Chester - have also found matches tough to complete with frozen and waterlogged pitches causing a backlog.
Meanwhile, in-form Cymru Alliance side, Buckley Town, are at least looking on the positive side.
The self-enforced winter break has given their injured players time to recover.
Dean Hardstaffe, Julian Jones, Rees Darlington and Stuart Hayes are now all likely to be available for Town’s next match and ex-Druids striker, Anthony Williams, has started the road to recovery after having re-construction surgery on his knee.
"Anthony is doing well and just looking forward to get playing again. I am sure everyone who knows Anthony will be wishing him the best on the long road to recovery,” said Town chairman Stewart Roberts.