"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing,
be nothing."
- Elbert Hubbard
Terry Sheridan
35 Canada Street Dianella 6059
Perth W.A
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BowlsWA have expressed
their intention to have State games to be played as sets play as was the case
with the recently completed Australian
Open series where the singles, pairs and triples were played in this format.
Best of three sets and each set has 9 ends, tiebreaker has 2 ends with a
third end if neccessary
This will be a dramatic step in my opinion, because the player who played best
in many cases, might not win.
Take the case of Roma Dunn in her game
of the Australian
open Singles final.
After the first set (9 ends) she lost 11--12 in the
second set
she won 14--2, then
she
won the tie break 2--0 which
consists of two ends, one each way, and if they are tied 1-1, they play one
more end only to decide
the outcome.
She has scored 25 shots to his opponents 14 in the first
two sets and still had to play a tie breaker to win the game--had she lost
the tie break her opponent would have won the final, scoring 16 shots to Roma
Dunn's 25.
There are other areas of the sets play game that are not good. If the jack
goes out of bounds it is respotted on the tee of the 6ft line , if that
position is taken up by a bowl it will be respotted a half a metre further
up the green,
and
so on, till there is a vacant place for it to be placed. Boy what a raffle!!!!!!
We have a similar game at Bedford during the off season in the Saturday pairs
where the jack is spotted on the tee if the jack goes out of bounds. This
was bought about in an endeavour to have the games finish at the same time
because some games were having too many dead ends and causing a huge delay
to start
the second round.
New tactics have to be employed whereby if you have a bowl close to the
spotting position
you
can
afford to drive
the jack out of bounds and it will placed very near to your bowl, making your
bowl shot.
Perhaps playing to the tee will be the way to go
for many, if sets play does come into vogue. I can see the full blooded drive
being eliminated from many players shot selection, however it is a skill that
would be sad to see eliminated from the kit bag of tricks that bowlers employ..
I like the way the game is played as it is
right now, It ain't broke, so there is nothing to fix.
More often than not the
player who plays the best wins the game under the current format with the exception
of the first days play in the State Singles.
We have seen the decline in the numbers nominating for the State Singles, due
to the way it is conducted on the first days play where there is three to a
section, and all taking a turn at marking. The format in this case is very
unfair.
The idea of having sets play in the Australian Open series from what i can
see was due to a huge number of games taking place and to try to make all games
finish around the same time. Also making it easier to manage and ensuring a
manageable timeframe
for
television
purposes.
Our
State
games don't have TV coverage and the fields are small these days, so for mine
we do not need sets play.
However BowlsWA is at least trying something and we must give credit for that,
The biggest plus going for sets play is that a player will get to play 18 ends
of bowls per game in most cases.
They will get an enormous amount of feedback
and I feel most of it will be against
sets
play.
I am sure
if the
feeling is
strongly
against
sets
play,
BowlsWA will revert to format we now have.
Sherro
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March 12, 2005:
Well another Interstate
Round Robin has come and gone and the "boys from the West" tried their best
but didn’t
fare so well, unfortunately their stats were down on last year.
Reports indicate the greens were running 12/13 seconds and may not have suited
the team. It didn’t seem to be a problem for the rink of Peter Harris
who finished third best performed rink in the series, not a bad effort considering
the stage they were playing on.
There were several changes made to the team from the last series in an effort
to close the gap on the professional States of N.S.W Victoria and Qld.
It would be hard to mount a case against having some of the new inclusions.
Performances in State and other top line events indicated they should be selected.
The selectors did what they thought was in the best interests of bowls in West
Australia, however on this years performance what would the players who were
dropped from last years team be thinking?
The selectors had to contend with two withdrawals from the selected side and
one of the dropped players,Trytsan Smallacombe was reinstated and was part
of the very successful rink of Peter Harris.
It would seem that W.A has well and truly lost the edge it once enjoyed and
are really up against it compared to the professional states of N.S.W VIC AND
QLD.
The question is whether W.A have hungrier players coming through the ranks,
there seems to be some indication that we have these players .
Perhaps we need a new group of selectors with new thinking and new ideas, one
thing is most noticeable is the selectors went back to the past when they selected
this team, and this team did not deliver the goods.
The green speed was the same for all teams, as was the case last year.
Compared to the last Round Robin we lost ground where as N.S.W increased more
in 2005.
2004 N.S.W 12 points-----20 rink wins + 202 shots up.
2005 N.S.W 14 points---22.5 rink wins +164 shots up.
2004W.A -6 points--- 17.5 rink wins and a + 5 shots
up
2005W.A- 6 points---15.5 rink wins and a + 28 shots up.
The comparison of the last two series
2004Rooster
Wishart 5 wins + 13 shots 2004
2005 Rooster Wishart 3 wins + 4 shots
2004 Robbie Ball 4 wins - 3 shots
2005 Robbie Ball 4 wins - 13 shots
2004 Peter Harris 5 wins + 1 draw + 27
2005 Peter Harris 5 wins + 1 draw + 57
2004 Russell Hughes 3 wins – 9 shots
2005 Kyle McIlroy 3 wins – 42 shots
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March 3, 2005:
The State side leaves today to play in the Interstate
sides series, and I cannot remember a time when there has been so much attention
paid to the team
and the selectors.
There is a lot of pressure on the team and selectors to perform, brought about
by the dropping of seven players from a reasonably well performed side that
won
17.5
rinks in last years series. Also selecting the side to play in this series,
six months before the event.
Many have disagreed with doing this, and even
if
the team is succcessful, the next State side should not be selected until a
month before they are due to play.
They have also left the Ferari parked in the garage
for the series by not selecting the best bowler in W.A, Russell Hughes. If
there were some issues that needed to
be straightened out other
than his obvious bowling ability, from what I have heard, he has addressed
these issues.
With that knowledge it would have been better to let bygones
be bygones and have him in the team.
There has been suggestions that bowlers in the West don't get enough hard
match practise like the other states do. Fair enough, The selectors scrapped
having
a State
squad { a very disappointing move } and come up with having warm up matches
to give the team some solid games. This has opened
up a can
of worms,
because two of the teams selected to play the State team won their games.
.
The selectors have unwittlingly created a situation where by we can now have
two sides, or actually have a state squad of 32 that could play opposite schedules
next year. While one squad plays the northern zone the other squad could
play the southern zone, and visa versa, then meet in three matches against
one and other and select the side from all the these games.
The benefits would be obvious as it would encourage the fringe players onto
better things and keep the experienced players on their toes.
What could we say about expectations of the team,
The last years team had 17.5 rink wins and seven playes were dropped.
This new team we would expect to win 20 rink wins to justify what the selectors
have come up with. If the team comes home with less than that it would have
to be classed as a failure for me.
We would wish the team the very best, and it does contain many fine bowlers
who have performed very well in State events.
Lets go W.A !!!!!!
Sherro
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November 15, 2004: The pennant season has started off with a new sponsor and new stickers. The object of stickers is to allow for players and spectators to identify the bowls of each team. This used be the case with colours of bright green and bright red, it was so easy for spectators to see what the position was in relation to the head.
Naturally the sponsor would like colours that identify with
their company, Burswood Have red as their main color.
At the moment we have yellow and white stickers and what a bad choice of colours.
I have watched the past two games in One Red and there is no way that a person
can see who has the shot or what the situation is from the other end of the rink
and even up reasonably close it is difficult.
It will only get worse as the sun fades the yellow stickers. With all the past experience that BowlsWA have had with stickers surely some one could have made the right decision to have easy to identify colours, such as the Burswood red as one color providing it was bright red, and white, green, yellow, as preferred opposition colours.
It beats me as to how they arrived at these the two colours we have at the moment. It appears that it has not been thought through properly.
The colours need to be changed, and soon as possible.
Press here to..... VoteTerry Sheridan
October 27, 2004: The starting time for pennants would be better served if bowlers were able to start at 1.30 pm rather than the current time of 2.00 pm. It would allow just that extra bit more time for people who have Saturday evening activities. There are still some games that do drag on causing frustration to bowlers who may have had a prior function to attend. Not forgetting at times there is a long distance to travel to some venues. A 1.30 pm start would help alleviate these problems.
One of the reasons for a 2.00 pm start is that some bowlers may have to work on Saturday morning, it would be interesting to see how many actually do work, and if starting at 1.30 pm is still ok for them.
When Bowlswa changed the ends played for pennants from 25 ends to 21 ends, it was a great move, even though there was plenty of opposition to the change at the time. It allowed for people to get to functions on a Sat. night on time. Now 21 ends is the accepted format.
During the off season almost all games played on a Saturday start at 1.00 pm.
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Terry Sheridan
No television bowls show this year
October 20, 2004: The executive of BowlsWest, have decided
against having the program on the Access channel 31 T.V station, which is unfortunate,
lawn bowls needs this type of exposure. It can only help the sport. The program
did have an ideal time slot of 7. pm.
On the first couple of episodes last year, it was obvious that the panel was a
little green while they were finding their feet, as they became more experienced
they lifted their game to a standard that was acceptable, but the show would still
be in need of a tweak here and there. I found it enjoyable and one would have
thought it was a monty to get a start the following year.
It would seem that BowlsWest, having lost their major sponsor Home Building Society,
there may be a lack of funds to keep the show operating, hopefully there is a
sponsor who can assist in this regard to help promote the game. T.V. is the best
medium to do this.
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Terry Sheridan
October 10, 2004: The state selectors
have made a move in the right direction in naming three players, Trystan Smallacombe,
{winner 2004 Consistency singles} Charlie Slavich and brother John Slavich to
be on standby for a spot in the state team.
It is the right decision to put the already selected players on notice that they
have to shape up or ship out, if they wish to be onboard the flight to Melbourne,
It appears the selectors don’t see that there are any other players worthy
of being on the standby list, which is disappointing.
One replacement looks quite possible and that is John Rainoldi who has had a troublesome
knee for sometime now and has often pulled out of the state side many times because
of it. There is no doubt that this is the most talked about knee in the history
of the game.
The Slavich family is a bowling family and they would be over the moon about the
their boys selection.
I am unaware of what they have done or achieved to come up on the selectors radar,
I sure wish them well.
Because of the selection of the Slavich brothers, it indicates a new direction
is being taken by the selectors, it would appear that the careers of Kevin Beilby,
Neil Payne, Steve Withers, Maurice Crameri, Russell Hughes and Ross Dempsey who
have been good acheivers are all but over. Hopefully this is not the case for
these players.
Terry Sheridan
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Sad but true
September 23, 2004: We can now see the sad aspect
of the state selectors decision to select the team to represent W.A in the next
interstate series to be played next February so early, what was the rush?-- what
if a player that is in the team hasn't been playing well, will he still be on
the plane to Melbourne?
We see that Trystan Smallacombe who has been dropped from the state side after
only one appearance in a series, goes out and wins the Mt. Lawley Consistency
singles in a very strong field. These are not easy events to win, to win it he
had to overcome the brilliant Andrew Jones who had knocked over two state players
in Clive Adams and Kyle McIlroy on his way to the final, in a great contest.
So, where to now for Trystan Smallacombe ? There are some good tournaments ahead,
the state games and the Masters events, however what good will it be for him to
win any of these events in terms of getting a state birth as the team is already
booked to go, I hope he can win another big event to show the selectors they have
erred.
There should be a state squad and the team should be selected from that squad
around xmas / Feb. One would think Andrew Jones could make that squad, but there
ain’t one. Bad luck Andrew, and for any other budding state players.
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State side selection
August 20, 2004: We have a new state selection panel for the coming season. Ron Taylor, Rod Wishart and the only remaining selector from last season B Galloway. They have acted swiftly, axing seven players from the last team, they being Russel Hughes, Neil Payne, Steve Withers, Trystan Smallacombe, Maurice Crameri, Ross Dempsey, and Kevin Bielby.
In come Dennis Katunarich ( does this mean he doesn’t have to have dinner each day at the next series :>) ), Geoff Ellis ( no longer considered to old to represent W.A), Jon Sharp, John Rainoldi ( over knee problems ?), Gary Caffell and Lindsay Thorn. Bruce Urquhart
It is unusual to sack the players with 6/7 months to go before the next series starts, and even more unusual not to have a state squad, just the sixteen selected players. I am not sure the new game plan is all good, perhaps the down side of selecting the team so early, is what incentive is there for the sacked players and other players not selected, to perform above and beyond to catch the selectors eye. And not even a spot in a state squad to aim for. There should be a state squad
A couple of the new selections do raise the eyebrows somewhat. One player who skippers and from all reports had a poor season last year, There is a plus, in that he does engender great team spirit and enthusiasm, also is a real team man. Another player who had faded from the scene, going back to the country is suddenly selected--- on what basis, it is hard work out. Perhaps it is the experience factor being bought into play here.
When we look at the performance of the last state side in my opinion they did a good job with many of the players appearing for the first time in the state side. If the statistics i read are correct they show W.A came home with 17.5 rink wins with + 34, The winners N.S.W had 20 rink wins with a + 202. N.S.W has many professional players and could choose three or four state sides and you would hardly notice any change in strength..
G. Wishart with 5 / 2 win loss and out of that side go M. Crameri and R. Dempsey
and that is something to think about, considering the win/loss ratio. Are the
replacements going to be the difference needed to win the two extra games, to
make it 7/7 for the series for this rink.
R. Ball, S. Withers, D. Brown and K. Beilby with a 4/3 win loss, out go S. Withers
and K. Beilby. 4/3 is better than average.
R. Hughes, T. Smallacombe, C.Adams and N. Payne. 3 win 4 loss, out go R. Hughes,
T. Smallacome and N. Payne. Hard to say here as Neil Payne has a very good record
in interstate bowls and local bowls generally.
With the welcome availability of players Dennis Katunarich, John Rainoldi and
John Sharp they would automatically have to be placed in positions of the highest
order of responsibility, we could expect three players in the above list to drop
out or down the order to make way for them..
You would think Russel Hughes would make way for one of the above to skipper.
Steve Withers would make way for one of the above to play as a three and T. Smallacombe
would also have to make way for the same reasons. Which is a bit sad to be dropped
after their first series, however the experience gained will stand them in good
stead for the future. From memory Keith Doncan was dropped after his first series
and look how he developed. Also Jeff hall was one who struggled early on but has
matured into an extremely good bowler.
The selected side will play a series of matches in preparation for the next state
series against sides selected from local and country combinations. Are these teams
going be strong enough to provide the necessary competition? They would be better
off playing against other interstate teams. I guess money will be the problem
for this to occur.
While there is an issue with the selection of a couple of players, the side has
a good blend of youth and experience and would have to be about as strong as it
can be up to 13/14 players.
The pressure will be on the selectors and this team, to perform and come away
with more rink wins than the 17.5 the last side had, (this will be no easy task),
otherwise it will be a wasted exercise.
If they come back with the same tally or less, what will be the next selection
method the selectors come up with?
The general feeling around the the traps is there are only four needed replacements in this team.
All in all the side does have a good blend of youth and experience and we wish
them all the success possible.
Terry Sheridan
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Newspaper Coverage
August 10, 2004: One cant help noticing how the coverage of lawn bowls has diminished over the years. I can remember when we had Vern Lyall doing a weekly column in the West Australian while Rod White, Geoff Oakley and Reg Cribb were doing their thing in the now defunct daily news. Also Laurie Slater was writing for the Independent.
We have Neville Faulkner doing a column for the Sunday Times as he done so for many years, and yes, even that has been cut back. Once upon a time he had the bowls results page and a column, but now it’s just the bowls results in the summer jammed in with something he would like to comment on. Why his column was good at times, was that he covered local events, that way we all knew what was happening around the clubs. Now we find his winter column has been pushed back even further into the paper.
Many people would like to see the ladies have their own section so Nev could keep his comments to the men's side of things, however that is a newspaper decision that we have to live with, that Neville covers all areas of bowls. I am not against the women getting newspaper coverage, just wish they had their own space and writer, there was a lady, Pat Grice who was the ladies writer sometime ago. Since Neville returned to the Sunday times it seemed at times the ladies have received as much coverage as the men, if not more.
Colin Moore did the Sunday Times column for a while, but I felt he was a little disappointing for mine. His column didn’t seem to be in touch with the local bowling community. Often i found myself reading a quarter of the way down his column and stopped reading what was left of the column, It was a relief to see him go.
The West Australian has a reasonable coverage, however their cover of state and masters events is nowhere near as good as it used to be, and at times has been lamentable because of the lack of coverage. Steve Lague did a very good job when given the space to work with as does David Marsh.
What else are we left with? Neville Faulkner does a column for the community papers every couple of weeks, and that is where it all stops.
Where to from here with bowls coverage? If it keeps going on the slide as it has for the last few years, eventually there wont be any coverage at all. The answer lies in the internet. A dedicated bowls site to keep bowlers informed as to what is happening.
Terry Sheridan
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The rise and rise of Yokine
July 27, 2004: The Yokine bowling club (The sleeping
giant for many years and content to be more of a social club) has become the most
progressive club around at the moment. The action started three years ago with
the appointment of Syd McCann who was with Osborne Park. The club has never looked
back since. The most important issue with this appointment was that he could play
a bit, and is a bowling fanatic – goes to bed each night with his bowling
bag as his pillow.
He has led by example, guiding the club to pennant victories in One Blue and One
White in successive years, and now playing in the One red division. From where
I stand they do have a small chance of going all the way in this division in the
coming season if they succeed in getting the players they are pursuing to give
them that extra push.
We often hear bowlers in clubs say that they wont have a bar of players getting
paid to play. On the surface, it seems fair enough. Why should the club funds
be used for such things? However if the paid players were sponsored maybe we could
live with that. That seems to be the general feeling around the clubs.
Yokine have shown that paying players can have a good effect if the right people
are selected and the appointment of McCann is proof of that, Just by observing
the people that he has recruited from day one, to the present where all players
in the top side have come from other clubs. Not one home grown or long serving
Yokine player from three years ago is in the top team.
From what I have heard in the first or second year of his appointment the bar
turnover increased by around $50,000.00, (I cant substantiate this figure, it
was passed onto me unofficially) a very positive result for the club. so there
they go, winning everything in pennants, membership ever growing and from all
reports it is one big happy happy bowling club and with people/players getting
paid.
Will they become the next Cockburn, who dominated the competition for over 15
years or Doubleview who started in Gold division having done similar to what Yokine
are now doing ?
Yokine have a bit more going for them, than either of the previously mentioned,
in that they have the best facilities in the state (not the best greens but are
good standard) and are openly paying their players in an effort to get the best
available.
It shows that anything is possible if a club has the money to spend, unfortunately
there are many clubs who won’t or are not in a position to do what Yokine
are now doing.
At the end of the day it simply means that Yokine have bought their way into becoming
a top division club and with the success they have had so far, and more to come,
they would be more than happy with their investment.
The gap between the top and bottom sides widens even further, under the current
controls of BowlsWest this is not good for an even competition, however the example
of Yokine is almost certainly guaranteeing their survival as a bowling club for
the long term.
Terry Sheridan
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Do we need a super league?
July 8, 2004: Do we need a super
league? Does the average bowler care if there is a super league? My guess is,
they don’t, but if there were to be a super league, it would have to meld
into the current format of pennants be it 18 or 14 game seasons so as not to cut
across the current format of clubs, such as club events on Sunday’s. So
who is pushing the barrow on this issue? Can only be a very small group of people.
My view is if the intended purpose is to make W.A strong in interstate bowls,
and to raise the standard of bowls generally, we probably do need a super league
with either 8 or 6 teams with three rinks. It would have to be done differently
to the way division One Red is run by BowlsWest. As things stand we have a very
lopsided competition in this division. Mainly because its open slather for the
best players to group into one team. Hopefully they are not the people complaining
about a lack of competition!!!
There are only so many top players to go around here in W.A.
In N.S.W alone there are probably six each of John Rainoldi’s , Dennis Katunarich’s
or any of the other top players here. This is not meant as a put down of these
players for whom I have the greatest respect for as bowlers.
We have to make sure there is an even spread of talent across the eight teams
or six teams, mainly because we wouldn’t want a repetition of what’s
happening in one red at the present time where many of the best players assemble
in the top couple of teams. These teams are defeating the purpose of good competition
because they are often playing against teams that haven’t the same depth.
It will be useless to have a super league if it will more of the same, of having
a couple have stacked top teams and the rest of the teams lacking depth. The talent
would have to spread over the eight sides or six sides for the super league to
be successful.
Issues to think about
What teams will be the first picked to play in the super league?
Will there be a promotion/relegation system or would it be static, meaning no
promotion/relegation? Can sponsorship be arranged to make it worth while to be
the premiership winner?
All teams would have to have a bank balance to fund their recruiting, and a salary
cap to boot.
Eight clubs using three rinks is the thinking generally, with a fourteen game
season.
Maybe eight teams are still to many and have six teams instead to ensure the competition
is even tighter. That would mean fifteen games per season with the sides finishing
1st and 2cond, playing the best of three at the end of the season to decide the
winner.
In conclusion this is a small summation, there is much more to add to these comments
than I have the time to put forward. The idea of a super league will have to be
thought through in great depth before it can proceed.
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Terry Sheridan
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The pennant season is to looooong !!
June 16, 2004:
Recently BowlsWest ran a poll asking the One Red players questions on certain
issues that are confronting lawn bowls at the moment, and they are to be commended
for that.
One of the questions being asked was if they thought the season was to long. Would they prefer a shorter season. Over 50% thought it was to long, I cant recall the exact figure, maybe 56%
While it is a good thing that BowlsWest ran a questionnaire like this, it would have been far better to allow all divisions to participate – especially about the season being to long, to have a better feeling of what all bowlers thought. However the people of BowlsWest do good job, and do it for no cost and may be lacking manpower for such a task, so we cant be to harsh here can we.
A lot of people start practicing/playing, from about the beginning of October. There are plenty of bowlers who dont want to commit themselves to such a long season that may end halfway or more through April. Pennants start first week in November and have a good run right up till Xmas without any breaks, fitting in 8/9 games.
In Victoria the pennant season starts the first week after the footy season ends ( late September ) and take into account they have a wetter climate than we do here. Why cant this be done here. there are plenty of clubs running events during October. I hear the green keepers saying that the greens wont be up to scratch if we start earlier. How come we now run the state fours before the pennant season? greens in general must be ok.
After the Xmas break it is terrible, as it is a stop start affair with too many breaks due to holiday long weekends occurring, then we run into Easter and sometimes have to play on after the easter break.
I read somewhere that this coming season there will be two games plus the finals to be played after the Easter break. ( help!! I don’t want to commit myself to that) On one occasion that i was involved in, Bedford one white played in the grand final at Thornlie mid to late April against Bassendean and finished the game around 6.30/7.PM, we couldn't see the head and the players had to light matches and cigarette lighters so we could see the head ( that is no exaggeration) , Hardly the way to run a competition is it ??
In the meantime the footy season has started and many of us
love our footy and would rather be watching the it than playing in some bowls
game that may have no interest to us, if you have no hope of making the finals.
My thoughts are that the season is far to long and should be reduced to 14 games.
I am usually hanging out for the season to end from the end of February/March
along with many others. There are plenty of clubs that run competitions after
the season ends and those that love their bowls, they are well catered for in
this area.
A shorter season may actually spark a new enthusiasm for the game. With people aware that they wont be tied down for so long would make themselves available to play a shorter season.
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Terry Sheridan
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Time for action
May 12, 2004: The time and the opportunity has arrived whereby BowlsWA can change the system that allows any clubs to have two or more sides in the one division. This season past has seen Melville one Red B team demoted to One White, Osborne Park one white demoted to one Blue and Doubleveiw One white also to One Blue. Each of these clubs already has a side in One Red.
Having experienced playing against my own club when Bedford had two One White teams ( there was the A team against the B team, i was in the B team) fighting it out for the points, it is not a good system where a club will play itself and rob itself of vital points that may count against the club at the end of the season. And throwing games is obvious so as not to harm the top sides chances. Of course this unfair to the other eight teams in that division.
As skipper i had made up my mind that we would give the team we were playing as hard a game that we could up to the 17th--18th end and hopefully be leading. Then we would throw the game as it would harm our clubs chances of gaining promotion to the prestigious One Red if we ( the B side) were to win. Happy to say, we were beaten fair and square. But we shouldn't be in this position. should we????
What is the solution? for me it is very easy. No club that wins the grand final in any division lower than One Red will be promoted if that club already has a team in that division that it would be promoted to. The team that would have been demoted would stay in that division.
The argument that players play to win promotion and should be rewarded is a good system but not when it compromises the well being, integrity and health of the pennant system. We should not be catering to the well being of just 16 player in this instance. It is sheer luck that we haven't had two or three clubs with teams in the One Red division all the same time, and what a debacle if it were to be the case.
Now that this opportunity has come for BowlWA to have rules in place to stop teams having two or more teams in any division, we can only hope that they take it.
Terry Sheridan
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Sunday Times article
May 2, 2004: After reading the Sunday Times 26/4/2004, Have we seen anything as silly as what occurred at Yokine this season. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. here is a good example
In an endeavour to "save" their one gold side from relegation (the fourth grade of the pennant competition) when they dropped half of their One Red team for three games before the 14 game rule comes into effect, whereby a club can drop or promote any player or amount of players to another grade up to the 14th game, as things stand clubs are allowed to do this under the current rules. after the 14th game any player dropped to a lower division cannot be promoted to a higher grade.
At the time Yokine were in the top four of One Red (the highest pennant division in West Australia) and enjoying a lot of success in their first year of being in that division since the late seventies, In the process of doing this, for the next three games the weakened Yokine One Red team that consisted of half of the 4th grade players struggled to win points let alone games. Consequently they missed a place in the final four by 1/2 a point. Not to mention the impact this decision had on the other nine clubs playing in One Red. The Premier competition had become belittled some what.
The object of pennant bowls in all grades is to win the premiership, and to win the One Red premiership is the ultimate reward in lawn bowls. Because of the decision to" save" One Gold from relegation has cost the club and the players this opportunity, isn't this what the players play pennants for ? playing in finals--winning the premiership--- being the best you can be!!!!
Never would we see this occur in another sport --it appears as if
this decision has not been thought through properly and is amateur thinking at
its worst--And to think it is happening at the top level of lawn bowls.
The bottom line for Yokine resulted in, One Gold were relegated to 2cond division and Yokine One Red missed the finals..
Bassendean are also in the firing line --- their top team One Blue which is the third grade of pennants, was lying in second position and from all appearances looked to be just that --second best team in the division. Promotion to One White was looking more than a possibility, so why would any club choose this path.
They decided they would "save" their two Blue side which is a few grades lower, from relegation and moved their top side down and their second team up.
We have seen the consequences of this decision. the top side were almost relegated to One Gold -- the Kamikaze division, a division that no team likes to be relegated to because the bottom four at the end of the season get relegated instead of the normal two relegation's.
Bottom line for Bassendean resulted in One blue missing out on possible playoffs and promotion, while Two Blue finished 6th.
BowlsWA are right to put a stop to this misguided action from clubs that attempt to take this line in the future, and bring in rules that will stamp this practice out.
Terry Sheridan
(disclaimer: Bedford Bowling Club has no association with any of the above comments.)