Veterans League
The publishing of the three team knock-out competitions by the Veterans League reveals a whole new handicap system which greatly favours the League's top teams.
For example the Bistro is the 5-Pairs KO competition open to all 60 league teams. The format coupled with the handicapping system has served the League well over many years with a smattering of shock results to retain that chance of a surprise that every lower-level team and knock-out competition craves.
The handicap system has served the League and the top teams well for many years with Division 1 teams winning the title every year for the past 25 years, maybe longer. So why the need is felt to tamper with the structure of the competition at all is beyond me. If anything it should be going the other way with an increase in the gap between the top and bottom handicaps. It is going to make it much harder for any of the lower division teams to make any real progress at all and certainly they will have no chance of ever lifting the trophy.
Here are the facts behind the headlines. This table shows the number of teams in the Bistro off each of the 10 handicap levels. It provides the number of teams at each level comparing the 2023 totals with the totals from last season.
NUMBER OF TEAMS AT EACH HANDICAP LEVEL IN THE BISTRO KO
Handicap | Season 2022 | Season 2023 |
Scratch | 7 | 14 |
+4 | 7 | 12 |
+8 | 7 | 12 |
+12 | 7 | 11 |
+16 | 6 | 11 |
+20 | 6 | 1 |
+24 | 6 | 0 |
+28 | 4 | 0 |
+32 | 5 | 0 |
+36 | 5 | 0 |
​ | Total teams = 60 | Total teams = 61 |
You may have noted that there are 61 teams listed in the table when there are only 60 teams in the League. That is because Almondbury BC 'B' have been given a +20 handicap in the Preliminary Round and that reverts to +12 in Round 1 according to the Veterans League Bowlsnet pages. I have taken the liberty of allocating a Scratch handicap to the four Division 1 teams in the listing that haven't been given a handicap at all for the purposes of this exercise.
What does it all mean? Well it reduces the handicap of the lower level teams making it much easier for the Division 1 teams to progress. Not sure why they needed that additional help having won the title for the last 25 years plus but in the absence of any explanation by the League it is difficult to understand the thinking behind this move.
The top handicap last year (and the previous 20 years!) was 36 and now the biggest handicap has become 16 (assuming that the Almondbury BC 'B' handicap should be +12) so more than halving the start historically afforded to the lower division sides. What is the rationale behind that change?
Of course there is no justification for such a dramatic shift to favouring the top teams. As a Division 1 team captain I am quite embarrassed that we are seen to need a helping hand to progress unfairly at the expense of other teams. I wouldn't blame any lower division team from withdrawing from the competition in disgust at this treatment.
It is not just the Bistro where the handicaps have been halved the other two team competition handicaps have also been dramatically slashed as well. The Team KO now has a maximum of a +10 handicap whilst last season it was +20. That means a Division 3 team is giving just 10 points start over a Division 1 team in a competition of 7 games. The Sub-Team KO has even more of a gap. Last year the gap between the top and bottom handicaps was 25 points - this season it is just 10 points. What is all this about?
Once again the league management deem to favour the higher division teams, this time with beneficial handicaps as well as the additional number of league matches they play.
As has been said by others, if the better teams have won the competitions for the last 25 years, why do the already established handicaps need changing ?
If a Division 1 team has won the Bistro every year for the last 25 years then there is no logic to make it easier for them and conversely no reason to make it harder for a lower Division team to ever win it.
Philip of Lindley