Buckingham Palace confirmed on Thursday that Queen Elizabeth II had died, aged 96, at Balmoral. A statement from Buckingham Palace read: "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow." That meant the period of national mourning officially began on Friday.
Friday's sporting fixtures were postponed in the wake of the passing of the Queen and the Premier League confirmed before midday that the weekend's matches were also postponed. Manchester United were set to play Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.
It was always going to be a difficult decision to make in awful circumstances, but the Premier League were wrong to postpone the weekend's fixtures. Rugby, cricket and horse racing are all set to continue this weekend and yet football has been stopped.
