THE National League has fallen into line with English football’s other major leagues and suspended all its matches until at least April 3.

And last night the Grand National at Aintree was added to the list of cancelled events.

The three-day Aintree meeting, set for April 2, 3 and 4 is now off.

Renowned as the world’s greatest steeplechase and the biggest betting event on the racing calendar, this year’s race – the culmination of three days of racing on Merseyside –had been due to see Tiger Roll bid to join Red Rum as the only three-timer winner.

National League officials held a board meeting yesterday, and announced they would fall in line with other levels of the game at the same time as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was announcing a ban on all mass gatherings. As a result, Darlington’s scheduled match at Boston tonight will not take place.

The FA followed with guidance of its own, with the governing body advising that “all grassroots football in England is postponed for the foreseeable future”.

The lockdown of the sporting world is now all-but-complete, although horseracing intends to press on by staging its meetings behind-closed-doors. Today’s meetings at Taunton and Wetherby are both due to take place without spectators present.

Thursday’s Premier League Darts event at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena has been rescheduled for October 1, while the Sunderland City Run events scheduled to take place in May have been moved back to September.

There is still considerable uncertainty over when professional football will resume, although the future of the European game should become slightly clearer once UEFA have held an emergency meeting later today.

It is widely anticipated that this summer’s European Championships will be postponed for 12 months and rearranged in 2021.

The EFL will hold an emergency board meeting tomorrow to discuss plans for the Championship, League One and League Two, with the body’s chairman, Rick Parry, calling for “calm heads”.

The Premier League will stage its own emergency board meeting on Thursday.

Yesterday’s suspension of the National League affects several North-East clubs, with Hartlepool playing in the National League, and York, Gateshead, Blyth and Spennymoor joining Darlington in National League North.

Hartlepool, Darlington and Spennymoor were all involved in matches last weekend, with the National League having been heavily criticised for ploughing on while the professional game shut itself down.

A National League statement said: “At its board meeting on Friday, The National League decided to use its best endeavours to keep its season going in the face of unprecedented adversity. However, with the current coronavirus reaching global pandemic levels it has to accept the situation is now out of its control.

“In knowledge of the government measures now announced including not to support sporting events with emergency services workers it is clearly not practical for its fixtures to be fulfilled in the immediate future. In those circumstances and in line with The FA and the professional game, The National League has decided its competition is now suspended until at least 3rd April 2020.”