Veterans League
The Veterans League Over-70's KO Finals day is scheduled to take place on Thursday 12 September at Lowerhouses. Bowlsnet indicates that the intention is to play the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final all on that day.
I queried this with the League and asked that they consider the health risks to bowlers of potentially bowling for a continuous four-and-a-half hours. It is not unusual for pairs matches to take nearer 90 minutes than an hour and that would place a physical burden on some of our more elderly bowlers to their disadvantage.
The League's written response to me was that this format has been used in the past without incident and they saw no reason to change it. This seems to me to be a 'nobody has died yet' defence of such a move.
It is still possible to get hot weather of course in September when the Finals Day is due to be played. I can recall the first year that this competition was held in 2019 when there were 35 entries and I was the League Secretary. Finals Day consisted of the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final all being held on the same day in August at Brockholes. We recognised at that time that this was a mistake and were concerned for the safety of some of our bowlers. We vowed to reduce that workload on our bowlers in future years.
Covid intervened then and the competition was not run again until 2022 when Finals Day did consist of just the semi-finals and final. Then in 2023 the League reverted to a format of three matches on Finals Day but introduced an early 12.30pm start time in recognition of the extended time three rounds of pairs bowling is likely to take. Since then the League has introduced some Hot Weather Guidelines but they do not cover health risks at a time of a seasonal average temperature.
I am the only person concerned about the safety of our bowlers which the League seem unconcerned about. The rule of common sense no longer prevails. We are a group of men in our later years. Many have health conditions and limits on what they can undertake. Physical restrictions on some bowlers inevitably extends the length of their matches. The League is supposedly concerned about the reducing number of entries in many of their competitions. Maybe the deterrent to entering rests within the scope of the League's Management Committee.
My bowling pairs partner is 86 years old. We cannot risk being in a situation where his medical history is considered to be less of a priority than getting the competition completed in one day. We have reluctantly withdrawn from this year's competition.
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