Winter League warms up for the new season

Winter League

The Winter League continues to expand at an exponential rate but with a bit of a slide this year with team numbers only expanding by one team taking the total number up to 81 teams. That wasn't because of a lack of interest from Winter bowlers but is solely down to a shortage of host greens to satisfy the demand. We now have a waiting list of five teams that we have been unable to fit into our League structure this year. It could have been more but we stopped promoting the opening weeks before the usual deadline. This is the first time that we have had to turn teams away.

We have lost three host clubs from last season with Primrose Hill Lib, Paddock I&C and Lockwood Con all dropping out for various and differing reasons. Fortunately we have been able to attract three replacement hosts in Thorpe Green, Skel Central and at the 11th hour Hemplow. We are grateful to them all and hope that they realise all the benefits that hosting can bring to a club.

We have nine divisions of 8 teams and one division (Division 8 at Hemplow) of 9 teams. You may ask why we don't have more divisions of 9 teams if the demand is really there? The chart below shows that we did have three divisions with 9 teams in each in the 2021-22 season. You may not realise this but having just one extra team in a division turns the fully accepted 14-week model season of 8 teams in a division into an 18-week season.

Factor in the two extra fixtures each team has to play and then the two bye-weeks that come with having an odd number of teams make the season 18-weeks long. Our past experience is that an 18-week season impinges on the time that greenkeepers really need before and after the Winter League season starts and ends. Divisions of 8 playing a 14-week season has stood the test of time and is our preferred model. Don't forget we also have to include at least two days on each green for the qualifying rounds of our two knock-out competitions and then the weather isn't always kind to us and postponements eat into the free days that are available for rearranged fixtures.

All that adds up to a lot of days of bowling and provides a minimum of £3,500 profit for each host club. More if those clubs have a bar which is open and a magnet for after-match refreshments. We believe that the League brought over £40,000 in total into the clubs' coffers last Winter and will surpass that this coming season. A conservative conclusion that at least three clubs would have closed their doors for the last time over the last seven years without that additional Winter income brought them is not a fact to ignore.

Some of my colleagues have said that maintaining 10 divisions is good enough this year. That it is a time to consolidate our position and take a breather from our accelerated rise out of nowhere. I don't agree. I don't know what consolidate would look like. I think to stand still is really to go backwards and threatens the momentum that has driven the League from its humble beginnings. I am disappointed in our failure to attract at least one more host green and hope that will be addressed next year to once again satisfy the seemingly unquenched demand that exists to extend the playing season for so many bowlers.

For now we look forward to some wonderful days out. No doubt some of those days will be endured in awful weather but the over-60's have seen worse in their time and will carry on regardless. The social aspects outweigh the bad days and provide an outlet for many who may otherwise not have had any social interaction with anyone all day and the value in that should never be underestimated. Bowling is a wonderful sport for so many, and to limit it to only six months of the year is such a waste when there are so many good reasons to extend the playing period with the social and financial benefits that comes with it. Long may that continue.