Sunderland's Barclays Premier League game against Bolton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light, originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, has been postponed following a second meeting of the Safety Advisory Group today.

With extreme weather conditions across the country, severe concern was expressed for the safety of supporters, staff and essential personnel travelling to the Stadium. Many roads across the region are in a dangerous condition and there are major difficulties with the general transport infrastructure.

Sunderland's Safety Advisory Group met this morning to discuss concerns, after further snowfalls and sub-zero temperatures overnight affected conditions which have already worsened after almost three weeks of snow conditions in the region. The group discussed a comprehensive list of issues including:

General Safety Certificate Staffing Considerations:
• Staffing levels for safety stewards
• North East Ambulance Service attendance
• First Aid (St. Johns Ambulance) attendance
• Crowd doctors attendance
• Northumbria Police attendance

Condition of stadium and environs:
• Condition of pitch
• Conditions of seating deck
• Levels of snow/ice at roof level
• Condition of car parks
• Condition of emergency access routes
• Condition of coach parking area
• General access conditions of disabled supporters

Road network:
• Condition of 'blue light' emergency route to the stadium
• Condition of approach roads to stadium
• Conditions of roads across the county
• Conditions of routes for Bolton

Public transport:
• Availability of locals trains
• Availability of local buses
• Availability of Metro services
• Accessibility of Park & Ride facilities

Ken Scott of Sunderland City Council and Chair of the Safety Advisory Group said: "The responsibility of the Safety Advisory Group is to ensure the safety of supporters, staff and attendant emergency services and to protect and look after the well-being of those people, which includes consideration of their safe arrival and departure from the stadium. Our view is that the ability to do this would be severely compromised if we chose to go ahead with the game."

"Clearly the combination of a number of factors has led us to make this decision. The early timing has been deliberate in order to avoid many thousands of people embarking on unnecessary and potentially hazardous journeys and to also negate additional impact upon local authority resources and the emergency services in the North East region."

Superintendant Steve Neill of Northumbria Police said: "We have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the conditions, including coach parks, park and ride facilities, car parks and approach routes.

"Taking into consideration the poor weather conditions in the area and the strong likelihood of those conditions worsening in the next 24-36 hours across the north of the country we have expressed real concerns in relation to fans and personnel from both clubs being able to attend and leave the area safely."

Sunderland AFC Chief Executive Steve Walton added: "Whilst the Stadium of Light pitch is playable at present and the Stadium itself is also safe we must defer to the expertise of the Safety Advisory Group regarding other factors such as travel conditions.

"The consensus of the group is that it would present a significant safety risk to go ahead with the game and we are in full support of that judgement. There can be no compromise when the safety of supporters, staff and other personnel is at stake."

A revised date for the fixture will be announced in due course and supporters are advised that tickets will remain valid for the rearranged game.

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