Readers back women in Shropshire bowling row

More than eight out of 10 believe female players should mix with their male counterparts.

It comes following a controversial decision by the Shropshire Premier Bowling League not to allow women to play with the men.

Burway Bowling Club today pledged to continue the fight for women in the game.

Wayne Rogers, vice president and greenkeeper at the club – which raised the motion to allow both sexes to play in the Shropshire Premier Bowling League – said he could not understand the opposition.

He said Claire Williams, Burway's 51-year-old star player, who helped them get to the premier league only to be barred from playing in it, had been overwhelmed by all the attention surrounding the controversial issue.

But despite her leaving the club, the subject was still one that affected many such clubs with female members, he said.

"It's just about giving the team captain the power to select any player good enough to play, whatever gender. That's the bottom line," he said. "As far as our club goes, we've done our best, the league doesn't want women in, so all we can do is leave it for now.

He said the only change would have been that a few of the teams could have female members.

"It's not like we were trying to say teams must consist of six men and six women or anything," he said.

Guidelines referring only to men were quoted at the meeting as evidence against including women

"But I don't believe for a minute that the guidelines are there to exclude women from bowling," Mr Rogers said.

John Coxhill, deputy chairman and competitions secretary at SPBL said the 10 to three vote was decisive.

"It's the second time Burway have tried this and the second time they've been denied.

"It was fair and democratic – that was the result, the league decided to stay as it was.

In an online poll, shropshirestar.com asked our readers whether women should be allowed to play in the Premier Bowling League?

An 81 per cent majority said that women should be allowed to play in the league, while 19 per cent said they should not.

A vote was taken among the 13 Shropshire clubs on Tuesday night present to delete the word "male" from the league's match rules for the make up of teams.

The amendment was proposed by Ludlow-based Burway Bowling Club, whose star player Claire Williams has been unable to play for the team in the two years since the club entered the county-wide premier league.

Next season it will be too late for Ms Williams to join the line-up of the SPBL team in Ludlow, as she is moving to the Telford area. But the principle of women being allowed to play in the competition was still worth fighting for, team members said.

Shropshire Star readers agree, letting us know online what they think.

Sarah Cartwright said: "How very old fashioned, obviously these men are scared of women beating them." Lynda Jones said: "Sadly we still have a few dinosaurs roaming around." Jayne Cowper said: "I'm surprised that it's legal to do that in 21st century."

Colin A said: "Anything in the way of public funding or support that they receive should be withdrawn."

One reader, who calls himself Lord Crocker online, agreed with the decision. He said: "f you want a mixed league why not set one up and not participate in the single sex leagues."

Duncan Pressley, captain of the Burway SPBL team last year, said there was no equivalent to the SPBL for women. "There are ladies' leagues, obviously, but just within localised areas as far as I know," he said.

But Mike Hinton, 73, outgoing president of the SPBL, said he was delighted the proposal to allow women in was voted out. Before the vote he predicted there was "no way" women would be allowed in.

He said: "I will be fighting vehemently to make sure women are not allowed to join our league. One of the middle leagues changed the rules and started putting women's names down on the team sheet before men – I couldn't believe it. I've been president for 13 years and I am standing down, but there's no way we will let this rule change pass. The simple reason is because men are generally better players than women."

The issue has made national headlines and even formed part of a discussion on Chris Evans' Radio 2 show.

But Ms Williams, who led her side to the top of the Flowfit Ludlow & District Bowls League last year, has made no comment throughout.