Sport on TV today – The rugby, cricket, F1, golf and football which hasn't been cancelled – iNews

British sporting bodies had a snap decision to make on Friday when the Queen passed away. Scrap their weekend fixtures and send thousands of casual staff home, or carry on as planned and use sport as a platform to pay tribute to the late monarch.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport had said “there is no obligation to cancel or postpone events and sporting fixtures, or close entertainment venues during the national mourning period.”
Still, on Friday it seemed as thought governing bodies up and down the country were waiting to see who blinked first. Surely if one sport decided to call off their events, the rest would follow suit in a display of unity.
Or, if one decided playing out their fixtures – albeit perhaps in a sober, sombre way – then the rest would deem it fit to join in on what could have been a celebratory weekend to honour Her Majesty.
Well, the dominoes didn’t all fall the same way. While the likes of the ECB, DP World Tour and Premiership Rugby chose to scrap all action on Friday, but keep the weekend schedule untouched, the FA opted to close the entire football pyramid until Monday.
Saturday’s Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall mega fight was also postponed, while the remaining stages of the Tour of Britain have been cancelled.
And so, here are the sporting fixtures taking place this weekend:
England’s third Test with South Africa is back underway on Saturday after Friday’s hiatus. With day one a wash-out and day two cancelled, the ECB opened up the possibility of the Test match stretching into a sixth day, Tuesday.
i understands South Africa wouldn’t agree to the proposal because it posed a greater risk to them of losing the match, and therefore the series that currently stands at 1-1.
Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee opened the batting on Saturday, and less than two overs in Elgar was gone from Ollie Robinson’s beauty of a delivery. Perhaps three days is all that’s needed to see out this Test.
The cricket is being shown on Sky Sports Cricket all weekend.
Italian Grand Prix qualifying gets underway at 3pm on Saturday with no change to the schedule. Indeed, Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza is all set for the usual 2pm start. Sky Sports F1 will broadcast all sessions over the weekend.
F1’s drivers and teams marked the passing of the Queen with a minute’s silence on Friday.
British drivers Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon, George Russell and Lando Norris all paid tribute to the Queen.
President of the FIA Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “On behalf of the FIA community, I offer our sincere condolences to the Royal Family on the very sad news of the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. We pay tribute to her remarkable life of service. Our thoughts are with the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”
Premiership Rugby postponed Friday’s two games – Bristol vs Bath and Sale vs Northampton – but has moved them to the weekend, rather than postponing them to later in the season.
Bristol’s game with Bath now has a 5.30pm Saturday kick off, while Sale against Northampton gets underway at 3pm on Sunday. Neither game is being televised.
The rest of rugby union’s fixtures continue as planned, including Exeter vs Leicester Tigers, Saturday’s televised game, at 3pm on BT Sport 1. The broadcaster will also show Gloucester vvs Wasps live at 3pm on Sunday.
Action at Wentworth was cancelled on Thursday afternoon and through Friday, but returned on Saturday morning. There was a two-minute silence before play got underway at the weekend.
The PGA Championship has been shortened to 54 holes and will finish as scheduled on Sunday, rather than pushing into Monday.
“It is not possible to play the full 72 holes and finish on Monday as we cannot guarantee the staff, facilities or security of the venue on Monday due to the on-going plans for the state funeral,” a statement from the DP World Tour read.
Sky Sports Golf has live coverage of both Saturday and Sunday’s action.
The RFL decided to continue with its normal fixture schedule this weekend, saying “due respect will be paid to Her Majesty before all fixtures”.
And so, Leeds Rhinos were free to beat Catalan Dragons 20-10 in Perpignan on Friday evening, while the second play-off against Huddersfield and Salford gets underway on Saturday at 1pm. That is live on Sky Sports Arena.
The weekend’s Women’s Super League, Championship, and League One fixtures are also all being played as normal, with each game making a tribute to the late Queen.
Australia’s Australia’s National Rugby League games are also taking place as usual, again with a minute’s silence preceding play.
There is no football being played in the UK this weekend following the decision by the FA.
However, the football schedule continues as normal in Europe. Among the televised football fixtures include:
Saturday
Sunday
A full bill of men’s La Liga fixtures is available on Premier Sports and La Liga TV.
by Sam Cunningham, i‘s chief football correspondent
The Queen was, after all, a fan of sport. Not so keen on cricket, but she famously adored horse-racing, presented the 1966 World Cup to England’s heroes at Wembley, attended Wimbledon. And she liked the Olympics enough to parachute into the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games.
It feels as though it would’ve been more fitting to honour her legacy with the mass gatherings that take place at football stadiums almost every week of the year. There’s probably no other communal event that brings people together in such numbers so frequently than the national game.
Imagine the powerful imagery — the pics and clips and audios — of hundreds of thousands of people honouring the Queen across the country in renditions of God Save the Queen and a minute’s silence, when silence always feels that bit more chilling in a stadium filled with people.
How is denying all those people the chance to meet in large gatherings at their own personal places of worship to pay their respects together possibly more respectful than making them all stay away, to mourn at home?
And what of those now out-of-pocket? Who will refund the travel and, in some cases, accommodation expenses of supporters who prepared ahead of time for distant away trips? Who will reimburse the agency workers and contractors missing out on what could be a vital payday, during a cost of living crisis, on Saturday, Sunday or Monday?
Read Sam’s verdict of the FA’s decision to scrap the weekend football fixture list here
No racing will take place on Saturday, with all fixtures either cancelled for pushed back a day. Indeed, the St Ledger at Doncaster has been moved to Sunday.
Sunday racing runs as normal apart from at Musselburgh, where the meet has been cancelled out of respect of the Queen lying in rest in Edinburgh.
Julie Harrington, Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), said: “Her Majesty the Queen’s affinity and bond with British racing was enduring and unique, and a number of our sport’s participants have a close, direct relationship with her. It is out of respect for this, and in sympathy with her family including King Charles III, that the sport has taken the decision to continue our suspension of fixtures into Saturday.
“The return of racing on Sunday will see the running of the Cazoo St Leger, one of Britain’s five Classic races and a race which the Queen won with her filly Dunfermline in 1977. This will also provide an opportunity for the sport and its supporters to pay its respects to Her Majesty, for the contribution which she has made to the sport to be marked, and for racing to express its deep gratitude to her and sympathies to her family.”
Sky Sports Racing is showing all the action on Raceday Live from 12 noon on Sunday.
The remaining days of the Tour of Britain have been cancelled, but the Vuelta a Espana continues apace in Spain. TV coverage of the Vuelta is available on Eurosport.
The NFL regular season got underway on Thursday with the Bills beating the Rams 31-10. A full bill of televised games on Sky Sports awaits NFL fans on Sunday evening, starting at 6pm.
All rights reserved. © 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited.

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