Crown Green Bowling, an Enjoyable and Easily Accessible Sport for All Ages.
By John Brookes, West Midlands Police Club Chairman and Captain.
It’s worthy of mention a little bit of history of the sport and to say that in the first instance Staffordshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire were founder members of the British Crown Green Bowling Association in 1907. It was then not until 1925 that the league was split into two. At this time Staffordshire joined the South section along with Shropshire and Warwick & Worcester, the league to which our current West Midlands Police team are affiliated.
Crown Green Bowls is a great sport for all the family to enjoy, from grandchildren to grandparents, male and female. The game is played mainly in the Midlands and the North and it's a different game to the flat green version that is played in the South of England and the Midlands. The flat green game tends to be a bit more formal than the Crown Green version with most teams playing in whites or greys. We are fortunate in the West Midlands Police to have both versions available alongside each other.
Crown Green Bowls is an outdoor sport played during the summer months, although there are now many indoor bowling centres offering league tournaments throughout the winter months also. It's inexpensive to play and a relatively easy game to pick up, to a certain extent!
The sport's governing body is the British Crown Green Bowling Association (BCGBA) and for more information about crown green bowling you can take a look at their website at www.bowls.org.
Here in the Warwick and Worcester league and in our West Midlands Police Team we are well represented at all levels of the game from the person who just wants to play bowls as a pastime hobby, to the likes of Andy Hinton, who has become a regular national league player and winner of major tournaments and Tina Gibson, a reasonable late starter in the sport, who now represents the ladies county team on a regular basis.
The modern day bowler in our area has a vast amount of venues to select from, whether it is in the local parks or at a private club like ours. There are various leagues for men, women, veterans, and juniors to take part in during the week and at weekends, in fact, now moving very much into the 21st century all leagues are now mixed gender.
Leagues
The West Midlands Police participate in several local leagues and members can chose their level of participation accordingly:
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Saturdays; Warwick & Worcester League (Premier Division 5).
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Sundays; Northfield & District League.
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Tuesdays; S. W. Birmingham O’60s League.
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Wednesdays; Yardley Wood & District League.
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Thursdays; Heart of England Friendly League.
Junior leagues
In its early days the sport used to be known as an "old man's game", however, the game is now a sport for all ages as the younger element have very much taken to the greens. Junior leagues around the country have become a real success story since they were launched with many of these players going on to be senior champions at all levels.
Come and Play
Just to sum up, we’d love to see anyone at the club who is interested in taking up the sport, or indeed, any experienced players wishing to take up a new challenge with some new faces. Remember, it’s never too late to take up bowling so have a look below on how to start.
Joining a Club
Once you've decided where you want to play, those who then decide to take up the game of bowls competitively must register with the relevant County Association Secretary and this can be done through your chosen club. At the West Midlands Police we are very keen to meet and recruit new players of all ages so should anyone be interested they can contact the club secretary, Alan Seager on 077 628 88998 or email him at alanseager@blueyonder.co.uk.
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