Plug pulled on county bowls competitions
There will be no county competitions for Shropshire bowlers this year, writes Malcolm Fletcher.
Officers of the county association (SCGBA) took the decision to cancel for 2020 all the comps they usually run ahead of the slight easing of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on sport announced on Sunday night.
All affiliated clubs and leagues received the news that major events like the County Merit and County Cup will not be played this year as part of a long statement issued with their annual accounts.
“Because of the current unprecedented situation, unfortunately, it will not be possible to hold any county competitions during 2020,” confirmed county secretary Mo Corley in the statement.
And there is more bad news for clubs in that they will have to pay their full affiliation fee of £35 to the sport’s governing body, the BCGBA, despite being starved of income by the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, the BCGBA have informed us that they are unable to agree to our request for them to reconsider their request for payment by the clubs, for both the affiliation fee and handbooks,” added Corley. “We are sorry that we have been unsuccessful in our attempts on your behalf, to have these two items waived in these unprecedented and difficult times, but please be assured that it wasn’t for the want of trying!”
All clubs are also urged to renew the £2million public liability insurance cover required, a BCGBA spokesman stressing: “Insurance must be in place. The clubs still could have a potential claim even though technically closed, if green keepers are still cutting the green – and with some kind of practise being a possibility, then insurance is still required.”
The Shropshire affiliation fee for clubs to pay is just £5, but the £2 per player per club annual levy has not been included on the invoice and will be reviewed later in the year – “when hopefully circumstances will have changed and greens will be in use,” said Corley.
“And because of the current unprecedented situation, and its impact on SCGBA finances, unfortunately, it will not be possible to offer the Grant Award Scheme to affiliated clubs for the foreseeable future.”
