Veterans League
The Veterans League Management Committee met at Meltham last week to discuss the format of the divisions in the 10-man and 6-man leagues. However they failed to finalise the breakdown of the 60 teams in the 10-Man League and the 36 teams in the 6-Man League.
Seems straight-forward to me with 8 divisions all of 12 teams. Five in the 10-Man League and three in the 6-Man League. Never missing the chance for holding another meeting, the League Secretary was asked to go away and present some alternative formats.
It seems that there is some support for the 10-Man League to be formed of four divisions with fifteen teams in each divisions. My maths makes that a 30-week season which would take the competition to the end of October using every Tuesday for 7 months. Hands up all those who want to break that news to their greenkeepers. I cannot believe that this is ever going to be seriously considered.
It would appear that the Management Committee are looking for a way not to address the imbalance in the divisions with 14 teams in some and 10 in some others, with all numbers in between as well. It was this format that saw some teams go 5 weeks without bowling at all last mid-summer.
That prospect is supported by a discussion by the meeting around the option for reducing league fees for the teams in divisions of 10 teams. They don't seem to understand that teams in the lower divisions want to bowl, not have their fees reduced, that's why they joined a bowling league!
Not sure if the Management Committee are scared of the backlash of teams that get moved divisions to enable that reorganisation to happen but the backlash from teams having to sit the summer out again could signal an exodus of teams to a league that listens to their member teams.
Come on Management Committee do the decent thing, treat all teams as equals and stop dithering any longer and get the job sorted.
I’m confident that the 10 man league will be 5 divisions of 12 teams in each. The only downside is that , in order to adhere to the promotions teams achieved last year, then there will have to be more teams moving divisions. Some of us might actually enjoy playing at a different green plus if a team is relegated “unfairly “ then there’s the challenge of getting promoted next season.
Also if our enjoyment is all about playing then I’m sure we’ll accept it. The main advantage of 5 divisions of 12 teams is that we will have fairness insofar as we all pay the same fees.
Philip of Lindley
I suppose that an alternative to playing until the end of October would be to play four rounds of matches on a Thursday. Not sure how that would fit in with cup matches and individual competitions but it is an option if a fifteen team league is wanted. I can understand that some teams that play in Halifax Vets would not like Thursday matches.