Bowling News

Some people will tell you that the Saturday Leagues in any area of the country are the barometer of how healthy bowling is in that patch. If that is true then we are in for some very rough weather as our trawl across Bowlsnet uncovered 11 Saturday Leagues that have released their 2021 fixtures and show dramatic falls in team numbers.
This week we have added Scarborough, Heavy Woollen Parks and Uttoxeter to that list and the Uttoxeter figures, in particular, are worrying as they represent a 27% drop in teams this season, the worse totals we have uncovered so far. That figure passed the previous worse of 25% that was credited against the Bradford Saturday League. How long before some of these leagues decide that they have insufficient teams to form a league at all?
We await with trepidation the release of the team numbers for more Saturday Leagues including Huddersfield and Barnsley. We have failed to find any Saturday League that has actually increased membership this year as the vapor trail of the pandemic continues to damage our sport.

Is the general reduction in teams simply the trend that has been ongoing for a number of years - albeit that the reductions are higher this year because of the pandemic? Is green green bowling a declining sport principally played by older people providing little attraction to young people?
Of the 60 or so Huddersfield Clubs how many have a junior team?
How is it that Flat Green Bowls, compared to Crown Green, seems to be thriving ? What can we learn from them ?
Does anybody care?
Philip of Lindley