Why doesn't the 50% rule apply to all teams?

Veterans league

I have just become aware that the 50% rule is not being applied to all teams in the 6-Man League. The League has told me that some teams are exempt from this controversial rule.

I am also aware that at least three Division 1 teams from the 6-Man League are being allowed to play bowlers who have played more than 12 (the 50% mark) matches in Division 1 of the 10-Man League. These bowlers were previously named on a list of banned bowlers which was published by the League on their Bowlsnet pages at the end of July but clubs are now selectively being allowed to ignore that notice.

The rule applies to bowlers who have played in the top two divisions of the 10-Man League and have played more than half of their team's season total number of matches. That makes them ineligible to play for any team in the 6-Man league or any of their club's lower teams in the 10-Man League. I thought that this was pretty straightforward although unpopular among many 6-Man League teams.

I now learn that the League is treating teams who play bowlers who do not play for the same club in the 10-Man League as exempt from this rule. I didn't know that and I don't think all teams are aware of that shift in the application of the rules.

Let me identify some of the teams from Division 1 of the 6-Man League who are allowed to play bowlers who have played more than 12 times in Division 1 in the 10-Man League.

Just looking at Division 1 of the 6-Man League that means that Crosland Moor, Golcar C&BC, and Honley Con are allowed to play bowlers from the 10-Man League top Division all season long. But the other 9 teams in the top Division of the 6-Man League are not. Why?

I don't think the League is entirely sure about this rule either. At the end of July the League published a list of bowlers team-by-team who were no longer eligible to bowl in the 6-Man League. That list was published on the front page of the League's Bowlsnet pages and included players from the three teams listed above who are now considered exempt from this rule. I'm not sure what has happened to change that application of the rule.

At least one team has been caught ignoring the rule and punished accordingly. Brockholes 'A' from Division 1 of the 6-Man League played a bowler in yesterday's match that had passed the 50% rule and they have seen that game score altered by the League to a 0-21 defeat. There were at least another 7 bowlers playing in Division 1 yesterday that would also have been ineligible if the rule had been applied fairly across all teams.

The reality is that some bowlers who have passed the 50% rule marker are being allowed to play every week for some teams in Division 1 of the 6-Man League.

Some clubs are adhering to this rule and they will feel aggrieved at this apparent double-standards application of this rule which allows some teams to have no limitations on which bowlers they can play.

Slaithwaite for example on Monday could only field 4 bowlers for the second successive week with the pool of eligible bowlers available to them decreasing all the time solely because of the 50% rule. They are following this rule which has severely dented their promotion hopes out of Division 2 but others teams are now considered exempt from the same ruling and this is greatly damaging the integrity of the League.

I have been told that this matter is to be discussed at the Management Committee meeting on 29 August. Whatever they decide will leave a shambles of their own making. The Management Committee invented this rule in 2021 which is causing a division among teams in the 6-Man League and is totally confusing, being randomly applied and clearly not fit for purpose. What a mess!