General News
23 September, 2020
CBD pennant seasons delayed
CORANGAMITE Bowls Division clubs will have an extra six months to prepare for pennant campaigns after the CBD board opted to delay the season.
CORANGAMITE Bowls Division clubs will have an extra six months to prepare for pennant campaigns after the CBD board opted to delay the season.
Clubs were informed last week that the midweek and Saturday pennant competitions will not start until January, with further changes to occur to the Saturday competition.
Under the proposed changes, Saturday pennant will be split into a morning and afternoon session to allow all divisions to play under COVID-19 conditions.
Both competitions will play eight rounds, with two weeks of finals, with midweek to start on January 6 and Saturday pennant to begin on January 15.
Clubs will also be able to resubmit their pennant teams by November 20 as the pandemic may have impacted member numbers.
CBD chairman Gary Allen said the board and match committee met last Sunday via Zoom for what he said was a robust discussion regarding the season.
He said the consensus among those involved was to prioritise the health and safety of CBD’s members and delay the pennant season to next year.
“We’ve made what we think is a prudent decision to delay the pennant season until January and that we will hold the state and over 60s events in November and December,” Allen said.
“We will also encourage clubs to hold as many of their club championship games as possible before Christmas.
“It’s a difficult decision but we believe given the uncertainty (before the easing of restrictions) it was the prudent thing to do.”
Fixtures for an October start had been sent to clubs earlier this year, but Allen said they will now be re-configured to accommodate the changes.
He said there would also be a variation to some of the division’s playing conditions.
“What we’re proposing is that everything will be the same for midweek pennant with starting times and playing 25 ends,” Allen said.
“But for weekend pennant we have to stagger the starts – division three and four will start at 10am and play through and divisions one and two will start at 1.45pm.
“Divisions three and four will play 21 ends, while divisions ones and two will play the normal 25 ends and there will no breaks (in either session).
“Given a bit of tweaking of the playing conditions we believe we can accommodate all matches at any one club.”
Allen said the board was expecting state and region events to be popular this season as players look to return to the greens.
He said those events may be played across a number of venues to accommodate potentially higher numbers.
Club events will be played at the discretion of each individual club.
“We’ll try and involve as many clubs as possible,” Allen said.
“I would anticipate there would be perhaps an increased involvement in these competitions as people will be keen to bowl.”
The chairman praised the CBD’s match committee for its efforts in planning for the season during the period of uncertainty.
“I want to thank the match committee members because not only have they given us a fixture, they have also given us options to consider.
“It’s been a difficult process for them but I thank them for their work.”