Sale and District Bowling League

Minutes of the Pre Season and General Meeting held Wednesday 11 March 2020 at Brooklands

Present: chairman F Warburton, secretary R Kavanagh, treasurer G Tonge and delegates from all teams.

The chairman opened the meeting at 7.30 and welcomed all delegates, especially new members Urmston Men’s Club. He mentioned the BCGBA’s plans to develop a new web site and its efforts to communicate with bowlers. The latest newsletter describes the database they are building to record all bowlers.

Apologies:
None.

Minutes of previous meeting:
The secretary had forgotten to bring the minutes of the 2019 pre-season meeting, though they were available on the web site. There were no matters arising.

Secretary’s report:
The secretary reported that we were in the same position as at the start of the meeting the previous year, with 13 teams having 15 matches each. This year the programme would be as printed on the fixture cards.

Treasurer’s report:
The treasurer reported that there was little activity at this time of year. Club payments had been received and we had various expenses to cover (county affiliation, printing, insurance).

Proposed additional match rule:
As agreed at the AGM, the meeting had been convened as a general meeting to discuss a rule change permitting bowler(s) to play a second time in matches where their team was short.

Proposed additional match rule:

2a In league matches, if a team is short then its captain may ask the player with the worst score from the first four to play again. A team may do this a maximum of ten times in a season.

Notes

  1. If there are joint worst scores in the first four then their captain may choose amongst them.
  2. The player playing again should be shown on the score sheet with (2) after his name (eg “John Smith (2)”). The score in this game counts as normal except that it does not count to the wins or averages of the player playing again.
  3. Only one player may play again on each team. Further absences to be recorded as 21-0 walkovers.
  4. If (all of) the players(s) with the worst scores do not wish to play again then a 21-0 walkover to be recorded.
  5. The opponent of the player playing again may have a four-end practice before starting the game.
  6. Only one player in the whole match can play again, this player coming from the team with fewer players available. If both teams have the same number of players, neither of them can nominate a player to play again.

The secretary explained that he had based this proposal on the one used by Urmston Vets. It was one of the more restrictive versions. In other leagues the captain of the short team had a free choice of who would play again; often two players could play again. Some leagues imposed points deductions, or limited the number of times an individual bowler could play again in the season.

There was some discussion of how the rule would work in practice. It was emphasised that the expression “worst score” covered the possibility that all the first four players win. Also it was possible that two (or even three or four) of the first four players could have the same “worst score.” This was rare in practice, but the rule was phrased to cover all eventualities.

The sentence “A team may do this a maximum of ten times in a season” was queried. It had been copied from Urmston Vets, but their league had 22 matches in a season. Logically, if we had such a condition the limit should be lower in proportion.

Trinity proposed an amendment to delete this sentence. Passed unanimously.

The overall proposal was then passed unanimously.

It was also agreed that the use of the rule should be reviewed at the next AGM, with a suitable item on the agenda.

Any other business:
Amendments to contact details on the fixture cards were noted. Also that Urmston Men’s Club has floodlights (incorrectly shown on the green finder).

There was discussion of the possible effects of the corona virus epidemic. In a fast-moving situation, there seemed to be as yet no action we should take, apart from extra care over hygiene and possibly avoiding handshakes.

Some leagues now use “direct entry,” where clubs can enter their match results directly on the web site. There was general agreement that it should be adopted for the Sale league, and the secretary said he would put it in place. He would write to clubs in due course.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 8.30 pm