Severe rain lashing the district for the past 24 hours has resulted in a September washout of sporting fixtures not seen for for more than 30 years.

Amateur football and rugby matches on Bradford Council-owned grounds were cancelled yesterday as groundsmen feared any matches would ruin the water-logged pitches for the season.

And it follows the cancellation of major weekend outdoor events across Bradford, including the Keighley Show – only the second time in its history.

A spokesman for the Council’s parks and landscapes service, said the wholesale closure of its pitches in September had never happened before.

He said: “It is unprecedented in the experience of long standing parks and landscapes officers, some of whom have been involved with the maintenance of Council pitches for more than 30 years, to close pitches at this time of the year.

“There is standing water on pitches and the ground is so wet we are unable to get on them with the necessary equipment to cut and mark them. If the pitches, which are already muddy for the time of year, were to be played on this weekend, they would be unlikely to recover for the remainder of the season.

“In periods of inclement weather, parks and landscape staff keep checking the pitches across the district up to the deadline for advising users and the media, in order to ensure the cancellation decision, not lightly taken, is appropriate to the weather conditions.”

Across the district about 180 pitches will be affected by the closure, including Marley King George V Playing Fields in Keighley, where the Keighley Show had been due to take place today.

The show was cancelled after organisers tried to put up marquees earlier in the week. It is only the second time in its history that it has not taken place.

Severe weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office for the whole of the region. Yesterday’s heavy rain followed persistent rainfall the night before. The onslaught was predicted to continue through to early today. More than 15mm of rain in a single three-hour spell was expected.

Parts of the UK have been warned to expect more than two weeks of rainfall in 24 hours, and forecasters say there is a risk of localised flooding across the country.

Among the pitches closed down are those at Peel Park and at Avenue Road, East Bowling, as well as matches in the Bradford Sunday Alliance Football League.

Fixtures secretary Brian Goodall, said about 50 matches had been cancelled for tomorrow.

“To my knowledge it’s the first time ever we’ve lost games in September due to the weather. Unfortunately if it continues like this we will probably have difficulty completing the season. If a league can get 12 games in before Christmas we can usually get away with a poor stretch in the New Year and catch up in April.

“But if it’s already started we may have problems.”

He explained how last Sunday would have been the first match of the season for many clubs in the league and that about 80 per cent of their matches are played on Council-owned land, with the remainder on school or private grounds.

He said the league was informed of the pitch problems yesterday and had sent e-mails round to all clubs and referees by lunchtime.

“The Council has a good relationship with the leagues and normally leaves it up to the individual referee to make a decision on the pitch. In extreme cases, like this, they make a blanket cancellation on the Friday,” he added.

Golf courses across the district were also closed due to waterlogging yesterday and facing the prospect of being out of action over the weekend.

One of those was Cleckheaton who were expecting 160 visitors for a competition tomorrow which has been cancelled.

Secretary Richard Oakes said: “We were expecting 40 teams of four from all over Yorkshire so it’s been a big exercise telephoning round to tell people we’ve had to set a new date for it.

“You just don’t expect this sort of weather at this time of the year.”

Mr Oakes said the club would suffer losses as they had budgeted for visitors buying food and drink in the clubhouse.

He added that the course would be closed all weekend because it needed time to recover to ensure it remained in good condition.

The Bradford Union’s league match at Northcliffe against Teesside, also tomorrow, was called off yesterday.

The cancellations follow a dismal summer which has already led to other major events failing to take place.

Gargrave Show was cancelled last month, followed by Skipton Horse Trials.

Last weekend Bingley Music Live at Myrtle Park went ahead as planned but turned into something of a mud bath on the Sunday due to the rains.

Last night the Environment Agency issued flood watch warnings for the entire length of the River Aire including its length through the Bradford district from Skipton to Apperley Bridge. A further flood watch was put in place for the River Calder, including at Brighouse.