Queen Elizabeth II, who is the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday at the age of 96, after reigning for 70 years
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Premier League has announced the postponement of this weekend’s fixtures as a way of honouring Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on Thursday. September 8.
Ten top-flight matches in the English Premier League(EPL) were scheduled across Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The games include Fulham vs Chelsea, Bournemouth vs Brighton, Leicester vs Aston Villa, Liverpool vs Wolves, Southampton vs Brentford and Manchester City vs Tottenham.
Others include Arsenal vs Everton West Ham vs Newcastle, Crystal Palace Vs Manchester United and Monday night’s fixture between Leeds and Nottingham Forest.
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Prior to this, the lower tier of the English football league, EFL had postponed the matches between Norwich and Tranmere on Friday evening following Her Majesty’s death.
Also on Friday, play at golf’s PGA Championship was called off, along with all British horse racing.
Other sporting events such as rugby and cricket’s Test between England and South Africa were also cancelled and suspended respectively as a mark of respect for the late monarch.
Queen Elizabeth II, who is the United Kingdom’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday at the age of 96, after reigning for 70 years.
The Premier League took the decision to honour the Queen’s “extraordinary life and contribution to the nation” and said updates on future fixtures during the period of mourning “will be provided in due course”.
The league’s chief executive Richard Masters said: “We and our clubs would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s long and unwavering service to our country.
“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.”
The government’s national mourning guidance advised that lead to the cancellation of the Premier League fixtures was not obligatory, leaving the decision up to individual sports.
All Northern Irish football and Scottish football professional has also been postponed this weekend to honour Queen Elizabeth II.