The postponement, due to a waterlogged pitch, followed the day after the Guinness Premiership rugby clash between Sale and Wasps, scheduled for the same venue, was also washed out.

Eltringham said: "To be fair, it became apparant as soon as you walked on the pitch that there was going to be some doubts, some problems.

"I looked at the pitch for 20 to 25 minutes and there was no way you could get a football on there.

"First and foremost it's players' safety and then you look at things like the game as a spectacle.

"We've had a football on the field and it wouldn't run more than four or five yards, it was getting stuck and that means players legs would get stuck. It's far too dangerous for players to commit themselves 100%."