IT was astonishing to see a professional football match, in the Champions League no less, being abandoned the other night because of snow.

The referee in the Galatasaray v Juventus game decided to call off the match after the snow fell in Istanbul and instead it was played on Wednesday afternoon – the the galling thing was that the snow was not really that bad.

A few years ago pro footballers wouldn’t have thought twice about playing on - and sadly it highlights claims that the game is going soft. It was bizarre.