Plans for 'Premier' bowls divison knocked back
There will be no elite division of Shropshire's biggest league this year after revolutionary plans were given the elbow.
The management committee of the SPS Whitchurch League put proposals for a new 'Premier' Division and end of season play-off to their AGM.
But they failed to get approval for the dramatic changes from delegates at the Archibald Worthington Club, league secretary Alison Hine admitting: "Perhaps we tried to do too much all at once."
There will, however, be one radical change in the league this year as member clubs voted to cut fixtures in the bottom seventh division to 10-a-side from 12 to help smaller clubs struggling with player shortage.
Officers had wanted to see a new points scoring system in division one of one point per game (rather than matches being decided on aggregate as in other divisions); a £1 match fee in the top flight to massively boost prize money levels in it; and an end-of-season play-off to decide the second promotion-relegation place between the top two divisions.
Disappointed league competition secretary Phil Scott, the driving force behind the first division proposals, said: "We always knew it was going to be hard to get them through as people are scared of change.
"I only hope all the clubs asked the first division players what they wanted because, from the meeting, it didn't seem as if they had.
"The first division players need to voice their opinion or, as someone suggested at the end of the meeting, because all the clubs vote on the proposals when it doesn't affect them, maybe the first division should break away if they don't get what they want and have their own rules.
"There will always be some people who go against anything that is proposed – that's just how the cookie crumbles."
Set punishments for Code of Conduct infringements were approved at the AGM and Nantwich Barony Park were given permission to play their home games in division three on Thursdays rather than the normal Tuesday.
"Wem USC are putting in a new third team, which will go into the bottom division," added Hine, who was re-elected along with all other officers.
"We're still waiting to hear whether Hanmer will also be putting in a new team and whether Wem Albion will be withdrawing a team."
