Winter League change to Guest Bowlers

Winter League

At the Annual General Meeting of the Huddersfield Winter League there were a number of rule changes proposed by the Management Committee all of which were passed by the member teams. One involved changing the status of Guest Bowlers.

The League introduced Guest Bowlers in its second season as a way of introducing bowlers to Winter bowling in a move to extend the number of teams joining the League. And it worked, with a number of bowlers progressing from guests to applying to join the League with a new team from their own club.

The League believes that the purpose of Guest Bowlers has now run its course and the role of a Guest Bowler has now been scrapped. Instead, teams can only register bowlers who are members of their own club. They don't necessarily have to have had a history of playing for that club but are expected to have joined that club.

Bowlers that were Guest Bowlers last season are now regarded as bona fide and fully qualified members of that club and can play for any of that club's teams in the League.

There were some other rule changes as well. One was about providing guidance to teams about the handling of non-appearance of bowlers on matchdays. Whilst the League is keen not to interfere in the time limits on such issues, it was agreed that some guidance, rather than a stringent new rule, best suited the purpose and this again was approved by the member teams and is covered last in the full record below.

Below is the extract from the AGM papers which details all the proposed rule changes which were all passed by the member teams.

HUDDERSFIELD WINTER LEAGUE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2025

PROPOSED RULE CHANGES

All rule changes listed below are proposed by the Management Committee 

a) Match Play Rule 3 Except with the permission of the Management Committee a bowler for a club in a Winter League team must have played at least one match for that club in the previous Summer League season unless they have just become age-qualified to play in the Winter League. The only exception to this is a single guest bowler allowed under Match Play Rule 4

Rule Deleted

b) Match Play Rule 4 A maximum of one guest bowler who has joined a Winter League Club from another Winter League club or from a club that does not have a team in the Winter League will be allowed to play in any one match. More than one such bowler can be registered by a club.All bowlers including guest bowlers, must be members of the club they represent. All participating clubs must be registered with the BCGBA. Clubs must identify their guest bowlers when submitting information for registration purposes so that all guest bowlers can be identified on BowlsNet. 

Rule deleted and replace with All bowlers must be members of the club they represent and all participating clubs must be registered with the BCGBA. 

c) General Rule 15 

A host green team cannot be relegated from the division it plays in unless it opts to do so. In addition any team can elect not to be promoted but all its players will begin their games on minus 2 points in the following season. Should they again win promotion the following season then the handicap will be doubled to minus 4 points in each game and doubled each subsequent season.

Rule deleted

d) General Rule 14  Rule amended (changes underlined and marked in red)

The League to consist of the number of Divisions determined by the Management Committee. The number and make-up of teams in each division to be determined by the Management Committee. In the event of a points tie the season’s ‘Aggregate For’ scores will determine the outcome. In the event of teams still being level then the ‘Aggregate Difference’ (i.e. ‘Aggregate For’ minus ‘Aggregate Against’) will determine the positions. 

e) New Match Play Rule 14  New rule approved

In the event of any bowler not being available to bowl by 12noon on matchdays (or one hour after the appointed start time of the fixture) then the opposing team can be granted the points for that game with a 21-0 score to be recorded to the team score but no score to be recorded towards the winning bowlers Average scores. This is Guidance Only for the benefit of teams but it is hoped that such matters can be managed amicably between the teams rather than resorting to hard and fast rules.