Bowling News
The BCGBA has notified its membership of a proposed rule change that will be supported by the BCGBA at the annual rules revision meeting to be held on 18 January 2025.
This proposal introduces a levy of £1 per bowler per year for an initial 3-year-cycle period to fund the BCGBA National Development Strategy 2025-2030. The cost in Year 1 of funding the strategy is estimated at £110,000. This National Strategy covers the next 5 years and there is no indication of any funding arrangements for years 4 and 5 of the Strategy implementation.
The county organisations are to be given the responsibility of collecting this levy from all the clubs under their jurisdiction. So each club will receive a bill from Yorkshire CCGBA of an extra £1 per registered bowler on their membership and that levy has to be paid by 31 May 2025. The wording in this rule change refers to an Annual Player Development Fee of £1 per player per club. So that suggests to me that if a player is a member of five different clubs then the BCGBA will seek £5 in total from the clubs that the bowler is a member of.
The national JustGo membership management system should be the tool to calculate such payments but roll-out of the system in Yorkshire is far from complete and I believe almost non-existent in Huddersfield. How many clubs have access to the system and had the training on how to use it and have updated the system with everyone of their member's details?
I have asked Yorkshire CCGBA to confirm that JustGo is the system to be used to identify membership numbers per club. I also asked them how many clubs in Huddersfield have received the JustGo training and have access to the system and what plans do they have to complete the roll-out of the system to all the other clubs in Huddersfield. A week after asking them that question I still await an acknowledgement of my question so I am not expecting a response anytime soon. So if you have had, or been offered, any JustGo training and have updated the system with your club membership details then I would be pleased to hear from you how you rate the system.
Below is the front page of the Rules Revision meeting papers which outlines the proposal to introduce the £1 levy. Yorkshire has vehemently opposed previous attempts to introduce levy charges associated with club memberships but I feel that is about to change. It is anticipated that this proposal will be quickly rubber-stamped by the counties as they have supported the introduction of the National Strategy and now have to 'bite the bullet' and fund it.
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