Jack-hi article No. 5

December edition 2005

2 BLUES A “BLUE”

November 2, 2005
For this season Bowls WA has made changes to the structure of what was previously One Blue and One Gold regarding promotion and demotion.

Jim McKenzie from the Thornlie Bowling club put forward a plan that would avoid the bottom four teams of One Gold being relegated to Second division by having two divisions of equal strength, they being One Blue North and One Blue South. This replaced the One Gold Division.

At first glance Sherro was in favour of the new structure mainly because of the reduced travel benefits however he didn’t really look at the full implications of the changes. Had I been involved in the discussions that took place regarding this issue, I would have opposed it, considering the price that is to be paid for the move.

While acknowledging that the new structure was intended to benefit bowls generally and make it fairer for the two clubs in One Gold that finish in 7th and 8th positions that would otherwise be relegated, I disagree with the new structure.
To me, it appears to be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The problem is the way that Pennant divisions are structured.
Second division has four colours. The four teams finishing on top with the highest points, move into the previous One Gold division while the bottom four sides of One Gold are relegated to the various Second Division colours.

O.K, so what’s wrong with that? One Gold was the most exciting division to play in because every week there would be a game that had to be won to either avoid the relegation zone or to reach the promotion zone. To me, that makes for a great competition.
Now that we have two equal One Blue Divisions only one team from each gets promoted, that is the side that finishes on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away games.
As the season progresses, for some at the bottom or middle of the ladder, it will become a fruitless exercise as there will be no final four to aim for. Please don’t say to me that the sides that finish 1, 2, 3, 4 are still having a play off for the pennant. There is only one prize in this game – apart from One Red - and that is promotion. Who cares about winning a pennant flag if you don’t win the promotion.

Previous administrations at Bowls WA wanted to fast track things so that any club could progress through the divisions to the highest level of competition as quickly as possible.

The outcome of this change is that four sides don’t drop out of the Gold division at one time however; on the other hand, there will be only two promotions from twenty sides playing One Blue with no finals. I know which alternative players would prefer. I believe a poll would clearly show that players would prefer to have a final four and grand final with two promotions.

As an example in One White last season, Kalamunda; down and out and at the bottom of the table; staged a remarkable recovery to make it to the first semi-final final. They went on to play in the preliminary final and promotion was within their grasp (they had promotion to One Red in their grasp with one bowl to be played in their game against Leeming). Now this format kept the Kalamunda players focused on the season as they had something to aim for. Many sides will have nothing to aim for if there is only one spot that will earn promotion that of course is the side that finishes on top of the table. Boring boring boring.
I urge BowlsWA to scrap this new structure and change back to the previous format of last season.

Alternatively, better to have the top four finishing sides in second division compete in a round robin or have a final four play off and the top two finishing sides rewarded with the promotion to One Gold.

This will mean only two teams demoted from 1 Gold for 2 promotions from 2nd div. Over the past four seasons, 16 teams have been promoted from 2nd div to 1 Gold with ten of these teams immediately returning to 2nd Div the very next season. This supports the suggestion that only the two strongest teams from 2nd Div warrant promotion. The 2nd Div playoffs for the two promotions would be of great significance.

All codes of sport in Australia embrace a finals system. Even soccer has followed the AFL by having a finals play-off to decide which is the best team for the season instead having the team that finishes on top as is the case in the British Soccer League.
One Red is all the better since a final four was implemented. One White has a final four with the chance of promotion for two sides.
I would urge BowlsWA to revert back to the structure it had in place last season. One Blue, One Gold.

SHERRO