Season Restart: who's in charge?

Bowling News

The 2021 summer bowling season gets underway today as the Mirfield League is the first of the local leagues to return to the greens and begin their fixture programme.

Like most leagues they are starting with a reduction in teams and no one really knows what the real impact of the pandemic has been on bowling for a while yet. Teams that are on the opening fixtures may find that some of their bowlers are more than a little reluctant to return to public life and the closeness that bowling can bring when we have all been used to respecting space around each other. How that affects bowler numbers has still to surface but those that are prepared to bowl will be grateful that someone is setting standards that clubs must comply with to improve the safety of everyone on and around the green.

One important element in clubs following those standards is the Risk Assessment that each club must undertake prior to matches being held on their green. Many bowlers will want that reassurance before putting themselves back in the position where they are sharing equipment, fittings, jacks, mugs and surroundings with others.

That is all well and good but I ask the question who is overseeing this whole process. Who is ensuring that clubs are complying with these new rules which are legally and morally binding? Who is in charge of checking, approving and monitoring clubs adherence to the safety standards that are being imposed on competitions?

The standards and process have been set by the BCGBA and in particular the Risk Assessment process is seen as an important part of protecting bowlers and ensuring that their health and safety are paramount in this return to bowling. The Yorkshire CCGBA are the agents of the BCGBA in guiding and advising clubs about the process but I detect a gap in this whole process.

Who do clubs submit their Risk Assessment to for approval? The Yorkshire CCGBA say that they should be submitted to them but don't provide an address or contact details of exactly where to send the paperwork to.

But the Yorkshire CCGBA have also got into print to say that Risk Assessments should be sent to their District Secretaries. I'm not sure that too many clubs know who their District Secretary is. When I asked the YCCGBA who was the District Secretary for Huddersfield I was given two names and different contact details. The Huddersfield League states that Risk Assessments should be submitted to 'League Officials'. Now I see that yesterday the Mirfield League has published the 20 clubs that haven't submitted their Risk Assessments yet and yesterday asked them to submit the paperwork by email to the League Treasurer.

So presumably someone has the master list of which clubs have submitted and received approval of their assessment plans. The problem comes when submitting to one of the numerous options named and not knowing if that is correct or not. Even worse is the danger is that no one really knows the current status of any club. Who is the keeper of that master list and shouldn't it be published so that visiting teams can be assured that the host clubs are doing everything possible to assure their health and safety? Who is managing this situation? Who is in charge? Who is at fault if a team refuses to play on an opponents green because that host club hasn't submitted or received approval of their Risk Assessment? So many questions remain unanswered.