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LONDON. — The English Premier League and English Football League have postponed this weekend’s fixtures following the death of the Queen despite the UK government stating they were under no obligation to do so.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport held a call with all major sports at 9:30am yesterday to determine the plan of action for the rest of this weekend’s calendar and said there was no obligation to cancel or postpone sporting fixtures during the National Mourning period.
However, the English Premier League and EFL released a statement saying they had made the decision to postpone this weekend’s fixtures to honour Queen Elizabeth’s ”extraordinary life and contribution to the nation”. The English Premier League yesterday released the following statement: ”At a meeting this morning (Friday), Premier League clubs paid tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. ”To honour her extraordinary life and contribution to the nation, and as a mark of respect, this weekend’s Premier League match round will be postponed, including Monday evening’s game.”
Richard Masters, Premier League Chief Executive, added: ”We and our clubs would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s long and unwavering service to our country.
”As our longest-serving monarch, she has been an inspiration and leaves behind an incredible legacy following a life of dedication.
”This is a tremendously sad time for not just the nation but also for the millions of people around the world who admired her, and we join together with all those in mourning her passing.”
There were also concerns that policing issues would affect the games if they were to go ahead as planned on the weekend.
The English Premier League have said that further updates regarding the postponed fixtures during the period of mourning will be provided in due course.
However, the postponement of the entire programme could create fixture congestion later in the season as there are no free midweeks between now and the mid-winter break for the World Cup – which begins in Qatar just seven days after the English Premier League pauses. The English Premier League and EFL’s decision to postpone this weekend’s fixtures comes shortly after the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport issued their guidance. The UK government said there was no obligation to cancel or postpone events and sporting fixtures, or close entertainment venues during the National Mourning period.
However, they said that the decision was left at the discretion of individual organisations and hinted that they should ”hold a period of silence and/or play the National Anthem at the start of events or sporting fixtures” if they decide to go ahead.
Despite being down to individual governing bodies, the chair of the DCMS Select Committee Julian Knight told TalkSPORT that no sporting events should take place out of respect for Queen Elizabeth II – who passed away peacefully at Balmoral on Thursday afternoon. — Mailonline.
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