Veterans League fixtures fiasco - all change again!

Veterans League

If you printed out the Veterans League fixtures for your team when they were first published to a grand fanfare on 28 January and you still believe these to be correct let me tell you that you are at least two versions behind what is the latest copy now on the League's Bowlsnet pages.

That first version lasted less than 24 hours before it was taken down and replaced with Version 2 which was a completely different set of fixtures but still retained the four divisions format.

Version 3 appeared on Thursday this week (February 9) and has changed to a five-division format but not with the anticipated 12 teams per division format but with a lopsided balance of member teams. Divisions 1 & 2 will both be comprised of 13 teams; Division 3 will have 12 teams and Divisions 4 & 5 will have 11 teams each.

Version 3 does bow down to the club that threatened to withdraw their sponsorship of the League if they were relegated so they have bought themselves another year in that current division, so that's alright then!

However Version 3 has now been taken offline as well after a few hours of being freely available to all. Does this mean that there has been a reaction to this latest attempt and should we be preparing for Version 4?

THE STORY SO FAR

24 January 2023

Veterans League website

28 January 2023

Veterans 10-Man League Bowlsnet home page 2023 Fixture List of 4-division format published on Bowlsnet

29 January 2023

Veterans 10-Man League Bowlsnet home page 2023 Fixture List deleted and replaced with a completely different fixture list. No reason given for changes.

7 February 2023

Veterans 10-Man League Bowlsnet home page 2023 Fixture List taken down, no access available but the following notice was published instead

FACT: You don't need to take Bowlsnet off the air to sort out club registrations or to produce a calendar of events.

NOTE: This is a lie and members are being misinformed - why? All was revealed 2 days later.

9 February 2023 Veterans 10-Man League Bowlsnet pages 11.00am: Version 3 released: Completely new set of fixtures in a new five-division format. 4.00pm: Fixtures taken down again with this notice on the home page.

28 January - 9 February Veterans League website

No news, no explanation, and apparently no need to tell bowlers what is happening. No mention at all on their website of this basic upheaval. An email was circulated to club representatives explaining the thinking behind this third attempt to produce a fixture programme.but if they think that will be passed on to all bowlers then they are even further out of touch with how things work in their own community.

This serial is set to run longer than Downton Abbey and I wonder if this is the final episode or not. I am not going to print off our fixtures yet, I'll see if this is going to be a sequel first.

I was going to include a copy of the teams in each of the five divisions here, but then suddenly the League's Bowlsnet pages were closed down again and no access to the league or fixtures is available. No, not again surely? Version 4 anyone? UPDATE: 7.30am Friday 10 February 10-Man League fixtures back online.

Not sure what version this is but don't print your team fixture list just yet.