Good evening Forest Leaguers,
I do hope you’ve enjoyed this exceptional summer and are ready to get cracking with the Forest League.
Firstly, we’re very pleased to welcome Woolaston to our ranks. It’s always great to see a new club being formed and I’m sure we all wish them well in their endeavours.
The FL is all about playing bowls! It is not about filling in complicated forms, counting up rather dubious bonus points and time consuming, pointless measuring.
Now some housekeeping. The cost per team is being raised from £12 to £16 per team, £4 per player. The reason for this is quite simple; too many SMB clubs are running at a loss, especially on match days and no-one is confronting the problem. Costs for our venues are increasing inexorably and we cannot continue with our heads in the sand. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What can you buy in the real world for £4’? All monies from FL matches goes directly to the host club. The FL has no money, no bank account and any expenses are covered by our sponsors.
In the FL mats are marked ‘head and tails’ and the host team toss a coin to see which mat they will play on in each round.
Remember, in the FL there is no penalty for taking the jack off the mat, you just turn the scoreboard over and play on. If the jack is taken off in the last end it’s a 3 shot penalty; there is no option to replay the end.
Rule reminders: in the FL it’s 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, there are no bonus points and shot difference counts for NOTHING!
As shot difference is irrelevant, a game can be conceded at any time.
The most common complaint I receive is when players have to wait around while a slow mat plays out a game where the result is already decided. A protracted measuring session at the end of such a game is particularly frustrating.
If a game is conceded, just draw a line through the last end on the scorecard.
The last round of games must be underway by 9pm; host clubs please crack the whip on this one.
Also, please remember that no refreshments are supplied in the FL, so please bring your own; there’s a short break after the second round of games.
At the end of the season there will be playoffs for the Championship and the Plate competition. Details for this will follow in the new year.
Many thanks to Mike W for his work on the fixtures and to Julian for keeping everything updated on the website.
I hope all that makes sense.
Regards,
Mike E
