Yorkshire Winter Leagues bucking the trend

Bowling News

A quick exercise to compare the 10 nearest Winter Leagues to Huddersfield by looking at growth over the last 5 years, number of bowlers per League and the matchday playing format of each. The only consistency seems to be that they are all bucking the trend of summer leagues with a growing number of leagues and increasing participation of bowlers and teams.

There are a number of indoor Winter Leagues which are not included in this report. According to Bowlsnet there are seven new leagues in the area for this season with four of them being in Halifax as well as at Tadcaster, Darton and Sheffield & Hallamshire.

There are numerous different formats from singles to pairs and four-hands. It doesn't appear to bother bowlers too much with a good take-up on the varying formats. Hove Edge and Shaw Lane are the two longest-established leagues but they are probably at their limits number-wise with constraints on green availability.