General News
9 June, 2021
Bowls restructure set for region
LOCAL bowls is currently in a transition phase, with the Corangamite, Far Western and Western District bowls divisions all in the process of being dissolved as Bowls Victoria (BV) places governance of competitions within the West Coast Region into one body this season.
LOCAL bowls is currently in a transition phase, with the Corangamite, Far Western and Western District bowls divisions all in the process of being dissolved as Bowls Victoria (BV) places governance of competitions within the West Coast Region into one body this season.
As part of a BV restructure, divisions across the state are being dissolved into 16 regions in a bid to centralise decision-making and administrative procedures.
The regions will all have streamlined boards which will oversee playing areas (formerly the divisions) in a move that is designed to improve governance, create new sponsorship opportunities and ease the administrative burden on the sport’s volunteers.
Chair of the BV appointed Boundary Review sub-committee tasked with reviewing and proposing alterations to the existing region boundaries and the future of the divisions within regions Ian Guymer said the move would be beneficial for bowlers across the state.
“We need to create more effective regions, with less duplication of board roles and divisional expenses,” he said.
“The ever-increasing demand on volunteer time combined with the decreasing number of administrative volunteers, not only at club level, but at divisional and region levels also, is the driving force behind this decision and how BV plans to ‘future-proof our sport’.”
Locally, the three playing areas will remain as Corangamite, Far Western and Western District, with little to change this season from a playing perspective.
The current pennant forms of the sport will still remain the same locally, with each club to be facing the same clubs as past seasons, but future changes to playing areas could be on the horizon.
However, sub-committees will be required in the three playing areas to oversee pennants and conditions of play.
BV president Peter Inglis, a member of the Simpson Bowling Club, welcomed the changes.
“There wouldn’t be a division that doesn’t have to find volunteers to do things,” he said.
“We’ve moved ahead slightly with advancing technology such as Zoom meetings which has allowed us efficiency gains, while the move allows the financial spread of three (divisions) into one.
“It also creates opportunities for umpires and match committees to come together with one another without everyone having different rules and regulations and the options of potential new competitions also create interest.”
Timboon’s Barry Bowen, a member of the Western District’s pennant committee, however, said he could not see any greater value to be gained in changing the governance of local bowls from three divisions to one.
“As far as I could see I think the (Western District) division was running very well and I can’t see any advantage doing what has been done,” he said.
“There was plenty of volunteers in Western District but I don’t know how the other two were going. I know a bit about Corangamite but Far Western I’m not too sure of.”
However, Bowen said the region would unite to ensure the move was fruitful for the sport’s future.
“Everybody on the committees will continue to work as though we’re back in the divisions, but I think everybody will work to make it (the change) the best they can,”he said.
“Each division (now playing area) will still run pennant the way they want to run it and each area will still have its own committees but they will report to a head within the region for those committees.”
Meanwhile, the Western District playing area is currently in the process of planning its pennant formats for the upcoming season.
Bowen said it was likely 21 ends would remain in the top division, while Saturday playing times were expected to revert back to solely afternoons after last year’s COVID change.
Bowls competitions across the state shifted to morning and afternoon timeslots to accommodate with the implementation and management of the COVID protocols imposed on community sport.
Bowen said Western District expected to have its pennant competitions finalised in the coming months.