Pre-Bowlsnet Results Reporting System

Memories

I was looking through some books for one on 'How to win the Perfect Interview', to pass on to a granddaughter, that I knew I had from many years ago, when I came across a pile of postcards as above.

For those not familiar with the pre-Bowlsnet results reporting system this is a copy of a postcard that was used and signed by both team captains to inform the Veterans League of match results. They had to be in the hands of the League Secretary by Thursday of each week. This was the only way of recording results, tables, and League Averages. Mags Emerson was the League and Competition Secretary at that time and manually transferred all this information into a spreadsheet that she had devised to produce all the League records.

I joined the League's Management Committee in 2014 and along with Mags we introduced a little-known computer-based system called 'All-But'. This was a forerunner to today's Bowlsnet system and collected all the data online as submitted by the home team and ratified by the visiting team captains. I believe that we were the first Huddersfield league to introduce computer-based results reporting.

The All-But system has developed year on year. Now renamed Bowlsnet and has over 200 Leagues nation-wide using the system all the year round. Results are usually online within minutes of the matches ending. There is something worrying about sitting in the clubhouse after the latest match waiting for results to appear on your phone with the league tables updated immediately. It becomes quite an addictive after-match routine to sit along with a pint of best bitter waiting to learn if your latest defeat has resulted in a drop into the relegation dropzone.

I looked at how many teams there are in the Veterans 6-Man and 10-Man Leagues. There are 60 in the 10-Man League and a further 48 in the 6-Man League making a total of 108 teams in total. That makes up a total of 54 matches played each week, with all 108 teams are in action. There are 26 weeks in a normal Veterans League season. If we were to be using the old results reporting system then that would result in 54 result cards being posted each week. I asked my Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, Gemini, how much it now costs to send a 2nd Class postcard. Gemini told me that a 2nd class stamp for a postcard now costs 91p. Yes 91p second class!! If we were still using the old system then that would result in a total of 54 postcards times 91p being used every week, which equates to £49.14. Multiply that by 26 weeks equates to an annual cost of £1,277.64. Multiply that by all the leagues in Huddersfield, then you are off the Richter Scale.

Comparison with the Bowlsnet system which now costs a League £10 a season (recently reduced from £20) makes a terrific difference to every club in Huddersfield. That is especially so when you remember that the results and tables are updated and available immediately compared with the old system where you had to wait 10 days for the Thursday Examiner to report on all or some of the activity. Not the 'Good Old Days then?'

As for the interview book I was looking for for my granddaughter, well I never did find it.