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Soon the unfortunate bowlers of the country are again to be subjected to an outdated and unwanted format of playing in the national championships.
After the first attempt at playing it last year (2007) Bowls South Africa thought they had spoken to the right people when they announced the tournaments a success.
But did they talk to the right people? Have they got their ears to the ground, on the greens of bowling clubs throughout the country? Or have they just grabbed the thoughts of a chosen few and the converted and preached them to the masses?
A count of the number of entries for the coming events for this year (under the unwanted system) is discouraging, so what should we do about it?

You have nailed it once again. For more years than I can remember, I have said that BSA do not listen to what they are hearing, and only hear what they want to hear.
The current format is unacceptable. Take the format. Four players in the fours competition. Then three of the same team in the trips, with one playing singles. What if the team consists of say a team that is from Johannesburg Northern Suburbs, with two National players, both of whom are exponents of the singles format, and maybe the other two are Provincial players both capable of playing singles. Must they challenge each other to determine the singles entrant? Not in my book. What then? Who will play singles? Do they spin a coin? With the present format BSA is depriving a bowler of winning the National singles title, if not in a fours combination. Thereby also depriving that person of having a chance of representing SA in the World Bowls Champion of Champions, after winning the SA singles title.

Over the years I have the impression that the Administrators of the game have been more concerned about getting the hand book out, (smaller the better!), than running the tournament and growing the game.

Who decided to remove the Seniors and Pairs from the Nationals??

Go back to the old Pairs format where the Singles players who lost joined together, regardless of their Club affiliation. This built long term friendships which is a major part of bowls.

Finally, only a limited percentage of players, say 5%, aspire and practice to be the best they can be. These players are playing a sport, the rest a pastime/social event.

This must be taken into consideration when decisions are made and new formats created to make both factions happy.

Yes, and what if you happen to belong to a club where four players are not available or able to participate in the Nationals? Then you cannot participate at all ...

Good on you, Susan, it's great to see one of the country's top bowlers with us.

Hi Susan

You pose an difficult question. I believe that the same applies to District Tournaments and I have been advocating for some time that these smaller clubs should be given the latitude of twinning with other similar clubs, especially in the Leagues. This would help to stop players leaving clubs to be part of a "bigger" club.

This denudes these clubs of their better players and consequently the survival of the club.

Obviously, this could lead to other problems, however, if the objective is to promote bowls, none of these issues should matter.

Hi Guys,

Yes Susan, you are so right. I believe that bowls in any form must be open to any registered member of BSA. After all if your money from a very small club is good enough for BSA then your entry into any BSA tournament must be good enough.

Regards,

Emile in New Zealand

I certainly must agree to disagree with the new format. Coming from a relatively small club, we simply did not have the lady members that had the confidence to play on their own, once the skip had been removed to play the singles. It also left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, as those that were of the calibre, all wanted to play the singles themselves. A bone of contention to say the least. Subsequent to the changing of the format, the ladies have decided that rather than to support the Nationals, they would then really make the effort to enter the Spar Ladies Tournament instead. Here they ALL still have the opportunity of playing Fours, Pairs and most importantly the Singles. It also the allows the club to enter more teams even if on a more mediocre standard. EVERYONE gets the chance to pit themselves against players from all over the country.

Thanks John, your comment is much appreciated

Hi John,
As a recently-registered member of this forum, allow me to air my opinion about the format of the National Tournament. When this tournament changed last year, to a four-man team from one club, playing fours, trips and singles, it was well received by one and all, only because it meant less time off work for all concerned.
The previous format was outdated and had to be amended. Whoever thought of this new format, unfortunately overlooked the fact that pairs was not even included and that trips was to be played as a national event for the very first time. How bizarre was that?
Having played in this last year, I came away a little disgruntled and a tad disappointed. I played in the singles and it was not a game of 21 shots, which is what singles is all about. Instead we had to complete a certain number of ends and that was that.
My thoughts on the Nationals would be as follows :
Starting at district level, one would enter the singles, pairs, triples and fours, representing your club. So, in my case, it would be the Western Province events. You make up your own teams and then endeavour to win the Western Province ( or similar ) district title. Once you have won this district title, you have then qualified to play in the Nationals. The same system would apply in all four disciplines. Now, it will be seldom that one would win all four disciplines in the same year. These district winners must then travel to a central, convenient place, to contest the final stages of the Nationals, against the other district winners from all over South Africa.
This format will have certain advantages.......the main one being that teams will NOT be selected by club selection committees. One of the main reasons why players leave one club to join another is because of non-selection to either a National team, or the League teams. Secondly, teams should be more compatible, as they have been made up of competitive players and hopefully, compatible players WANTING to play together too.
All teams will understand, that upon winning their district title, they have automatically qualified to play in the National tournament. There should be some rule allowing one replacement in any of these teams, should a player not be available for the final event against the other districts.
This format is followed in the UK and Australia and I cannot understand why we in South Africa cannot do the same.
The playing time for the finals of all four events could be condensed into approximately 9 or 10 days. If one used two weekends and one full week, it would mean a maximum of 5 days' leave required for working persons.
There would be no need to have open and senior events any longer, as the teams formulated from within one's clubs should not take age into account either......it's an OPEN event and anyone would be allowed to enter.
Currently the National is a CLOSED affair, with access permitted to those selected by their clubs to play, with an additional entry ( or entries ) should anybody else want to enter their own teams. Once the chosen team is announced for the club, one would assume that the lesser players would have to "make do" with whoever was left.
Hopefully, with this new suggestion, all players will want to enter the district competitions again. Over the last few years, districts have seen a sharp decline in the entries for district events and perhaps this could be one way of incentivising ALL players to enter their district competitions?
In addition to this, there should be NO prizes given to the winners of their district titles, but instead the district should pay their representatives' travelling and accommodation costs to the National finals.
These are just my personal thoughts on this delicate issue, but maybe there is some sense in what I am suggesting?
Could this idea engender sufficient support to take this to our own districts for discussion at their AGM's and Council meetings?
It will be interesting to see what comments will be forthcoming.
Take care and keep smiling.;)
Your in bowls.
Kevin Campbell