League News
The release of the Huddersfield League fixtures confirms another drop in team numbers with just 65 teams involved in the League this season compared with the 80 that played in 2019 which was the last full competitive season before the pandemic.
Couple that loss of 15 teams along with the reduction of the 12-man teams down to 10-man teams this season I make that a total loss of over 300 bowlers short of a game every Saturday.
Just looking at team numbers that represents a 21% drop (80 down to 65) over the pandemic period and over the longer term means that the League has lost 43% of its teams (97 down to 50) over the last 8 years. Anyone who doesn't recognise a crisis in our sport is in total denial and needs to get their heads out of the sand! The table below makes harsh reading for anyone really interested in the future of crown green bowling in Huddersfield.
My initial thought was a loss of 15 teams in the Huddersfield League would be somewhere in the region of 150 to 200 bowlers. I’m surprised that a reduction to 10 man teams could push the total number to 300.
Looking at the big picture of all the Leagues shows a reduction of 89 teams from 839 to 750 - just over 10%.
This doesn’t sound a lot but in terms of the number of bowlers but it could be in the region of 1,000 bowlers which is a staggering number . ( thats allowing 10 - 12 per team and before Jeff’s additional numbers due to 10 man teams )
Clearly the slow decline of crown green bowling ha…