New season build-up begins

Veterans League

Today we start the build-up to the new summer season by looking at the number of teams in some of the local leagues. A full table of 12 years of league numbers for 19 local leagues will appear in due course but as always we major on the Huddersfield Veterans League and this year is no different.

So starting with the two leagues we focus on throughout the summer in the two Huddersfield Veterans' Leagues. The 6-Man League (Monday afternoons) and the 10-Man League (Tuesday afternoons) have always featured in the websites I have run over the last 12 years.

This usually includes a preview of all the matches coming up during that week and then a report on all the results and updated tables and that is unlikley to change much over the new season.

In addition each year I produce a table of the number of teams in each of 19 local leagues to record the ups and downs of those leagues as the numbers tend to vary each year but the underlying changes are evident for all to see. The year 2020 was a year that decimated bowling nationally and locally with the COVID pandemic forcing summer seasons to be cancelled. There has been long-lasting evidence of the damage to our sport as team numbers dropped rapidly and very few leagues have recovered those missing numbers.

One that has is the Huddersfield Veterans 6-Man League with the pre-Covid year of 2019 peaking at 30 teams in three equal divisions of 10 teams. This coming season sees team numbers at a highest-ever total of 48 teams in four divisions with 12 teams in each. The big change in league rules in 2022 being totally responsible for the upsurge in demand for Monday afternoon bowling. The league rule change did away with the restrictions on eligible bowlers to bowl in the 6-Man League. The rule which stopped teams from recruiting bowlers from their 10-Man Tuesday teams opened the doors to a whole new generation of keen bowlers.

Previous to that time teams could not register 10-Man League top bowlers who had been designated Star Bowlers. Each 10-Man League teams in the top two divisions had three designated Star Bowlers solely based on playing records. As the League Secretary at that time I had campaigned to drop the Stab Bowler status as I maintained that any rule that stopped bowlers bowling was a stupid rule. With the Veterans League getting concerned about the drop in team numbers post-Covid the rule change was a welcome boost for teams and bowlers looking to get back on the green after the Covid pandemic.

This coming season there will be 48 teams in the 6-Man League with four divisions of 12 teams, the highest ever total in the history of the League. That total includes three new teams this season with Broad Oak B, Brockholes D and Golcar Lib B joining the League. The two B teams start life in Division 3 whilst the Brockholes D side will play in Division 4. Good luck to them all.

There is no change in the make-up of the 10-Man League as the same 60 teams that played last season have all signed up for the 2026 season with five divisions of 12 teams again the preferred format. The start dates for both the 6-Man and 10-Man leagues is week commencing Monday 12 April which is a week after the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

Meanwhile we continue the build-up to the new season with a more in-depth look at the likely winners and losers in each division of the 6-man and 10-man leagues along with all the team numbers in 19 local leagues compared over the last 12 years. All coming soon in your unsurpassed news service about crown green bowling in Huddersfield.