GROUND BREAKING DECISION BY BOWLS SOUTH AFRICA
The Executive of Bowls South Africa have considered the views and thoughts regarding the format of future South African Nationals developed through various meetings held with interested parties.
The following proposal is to be presented to Council for consideration at the Workshop on Saturday, 30 August 2008:
That from 2009 the format of the Men’s and Women’s National Championships be changed from the current format and not exceed nine days in duration.
Considering the proposals put forward by various interest groups, which have been widely published in the press and presented to Districts by way of circulars, the Executive recommend the following proposal.
FOURS
That the Fours consist of 15 end games to allow for three rounds to be completed each day.
PAIRS
That the Pairs are played over 15 end games and that the discipline is played with four bowls. Furthermore, that this discipline completes a minimum of three play-off rounds before starting the National Fours. This will allow for large numbers of bowlers to return home should they be only entered into the Pairs.
CLUB CHALLENGE
That the Tournament retains the Club challenge consisting of the Pairs and Fours only. The teams contesting this challenge would require the Fours team to split into two sets of Pairs.
It would not be compulsory for teams to enter the Club challenge which allows for participants to only enter one discipline at the Nationals.
SINGLES
The Singles are to be considered as the finals of the South African Singles and should be played over the last three days of the Championships. Players qualify for the Tournament by qualifying through their respective District Singles event. Allocations per District will be weighted according to total membership. The total entry into the finals shall not exceed 128 players. Eight entries are to be reserved as a Presidents Invitation. The format is to conform to the World Champion of Champions event.
In order to provide participants with an incentive to appear in the finals the first day should be arranged for sectional play of 32 sections of four entries. The second day will continue with knock-out play.
SENIOR SINGLES
The Executive wishes to re-introduce the Senior Singles to the Nationals and for players to qualify through their respective District Senior Singles event. The finals are to be restricted to 64 entries using the same system as the Open Singles.
Those Districts who do not provide a District Senior Singles event should consider doing so, or failing this withdraw from this discipline and therefore, provide for extra entries from other Districts.
In the Singles events, it is not the intention that should a qualifier not be able to attend the finals that substitutes be allowed. The organizers will be required to conduct a closed-up draw.
Motivation:
In order to expand the appeal of the National Championships and possibly increase entries the President has consulted widely to gain the views of players. The formats as detailed in the recommendation allow for a festival of bowls in the Pairs and Fours and provide for players to enjoy a minimum of 10 games at the National Championships. The event takes into account costs and is therefore restricted to a maximum of nine days.
As the winner of the National Singles Championship gains automatic entry to the World Champion of Champions event the new presentation of the Singles is proposed to attract the best Singles players in the country. All bowlers can qualify for the finals by entering and progressing through their respective District Singles.
Hi John, The issue of singles still concerns me. Not all those qualifying through their respective districts will have entered the Nationals, will this mean that teams who have entered the Nationals will have to leave once they have played the fours and pairs if for example, they do not have a "qualifying" singles player in their team? At whose expense will these "qualifying" singles players participate, I know of a few top singles players that have no intention of entering Nationals for financial reasons as well as due to working commitments. Could somebody clarify this please?
Greetings John and Susan
Firstly I like the format of the Pairs & Fours but would suggest that the Singles be played at District Level so that all players will have a chance to enter. Weight the 128 players by District entries and play of at a Central Venue. Play on a Saturday & Sunday in Sections of four on to the - last 32 through to the Finals on Sunday
Susan and Brian,
I understand that the singles is to be a separate competition at the end of the week and played by players who have qualified by either winning or reaching the later stages of their district competition. They may, or may not be included in the fours or pairs team from their club but the provision has been made that if they are there playing in the singles it will not interfere with their competition in the fours and pairs.
One of the ortiginal proposals made was that the singles should be played at a separate venue at a different time than the "festival of bowls" envisaged now.
Also there was a suggestion at some time that the pairs should be played through to its natural conclusion (the final) before the fours began and that the fours should be completed before the singles began.
Hi John,
OK, I understand. If all goes well I most certainly will be participating in the "festival of bowls" next year, and hopefully I will qualify through my district to play in the singles too. I also most certainly hope that somebody else from my team also qualifies because if we travel to Capetown as is planned, we will be using another team member's vehicle and if they are finished with pairs and fours I would hate to be stranded in Capetown without transport or accommodation should they decide to return to Rustenburg while I stay behind to play singles. We will just have to work out all the logistics properly.
I've taken the liberty of placing my Citizen column of July4 on this forum to bring you up to date with this subject.
Below it are some clarifications from Bowls South Africa operations manager, John Ravenscroft that clear up some points:
Now that Bowls South Africa has published its plans for future national championships and it appears on the Bowls Discussion Forum, the chattering has already started. But it’s mostly positive with a few glitches needing to be sorted out.
If you have not seen the proposal it is at http://www.yourbowls.com/forum in full. Look under competitions and New Proposed National Tournaments.
Basically it follows very closely the original plan put forward some months back and after further discussion between the Bowls SA president, Piet Breitenbach and his consultation group of bowlers.
The fours is to be played over 15 ends with three rounds each day. It will only start at the completion of the pairs (also over 15 ends) and three rounds of that will be played before starting the fours.
Their motivation for this manner of playing is “This will allow for large numbers of bowlers to return home should they be only entered into the pairs.”
I read into this that the pairs will be divided into sections of four and after three rounds are completed one winner from each section will go forward to the play-off stages.
One question raised is whether the pairs is an ‘open’ event. In other words can local players and others who have not been chosen for their fours side, enter only the pairs?
However, the club challenge will be retained and consist of points gained in the fours and the pairs by the four players in the rinks event splitting into two pairs for the challenge.
Other pairs entries would then not be considered for the challenge.
Perhaps Bowls SA could give some clarification on this in the Bowls Forum as they say it would not be compulsory for teams to enter the Club challenge which allows for participants to only enter one discipline at the Nationals.
Players qualify for the singles by winning or finishing high up in their district singles. Allocations per district will be weighted according to total membership, says the proposal. Only 128 entries will be allowed with eight places being reserved for president’s invitations.
In order to provide players with an incentive to appear in the finals the first day should be arranged for sectional play of 32 sections of four entries. The second day will continue with knock-out play.
There will also be a senior singles – also by qualification in your district, but the finals will be restricted to 64 entries.
In the singles events, it is not the intention that should a qualifier not be able to attend the finals that substitutes be allowed. The organizers will be required to conduct a closed-up draw.
A comment I received this week asked: “One of the original proposals made was that the singles should be played at a separate venue at a different time than the "festival of bowls" envisaged now.
Also there was a suggestion at some time that the pairs should be played through to its natural conclusion (the final) before the fours began and that the fours should be completed before the singles began.
Another interested bowler said: “At the initial discussion about the format for the Nationals, it was suggested that both the fours and the pairs competitions would be open entries, to encourage as many teams as possible to participate. Now I notice that if there is a fours team entered, then it would be assumed that these four players would split and become two entries for the pairs?
The way to promote larger entries is to make it fully "open" -- as many teams as possible in the fours or pairs and it should not be restricted to only those players entering for the fours. The way it reads currently is that unless you're playing in the fours, you cannot enter the pairs. Is this correct?
What about players who have only three days leave and want to play in the pairs only? Are they entitled to an entry?
Another prominent bowler asked: “At whose expense will these "qualifying" singles players participate, I know of a few top singles players that have no intention of entering the nationals for financial reasons as well as due to working commitments. Could somebody clarify this please?
Interesting thoughts to mull over and wait for the answers to come now or at the workshop on the day before the annual meeting on August 30.
Better still, join the discussion at http://www.yourbowls.com/forum and state your own view.
John Ravenscroft tells me the intention is that the fours and pairs will be 'open' competitions, but teams wanting to qualify for entry in the Club Challenge must enter in the fours and then split into two pairs for the pairs event.
The pairs (15 ends and four bowls) will be played in sections of six (round robin) so ensuring players of at least five games over the weekend. Play will start on the Saturday (three rounds) and two rounds will be played on Sunday with the knockout stages on the that afternoon. Knock-out will continue on Monday and the fours will start on the Tuesday.
The fours (15 ends) will also have six teams in each section and the first knockout games will be played on the Wednesday afternoon and continue on the Thurday.
The issue of who pays the way of the singles entrants will probably rest with the districts themselves. Singles entrants will only have to report for play on the Friday with play through to the Sunday, when all three finals will be held.