Winter League
The Winter League is scheduled to reopen its inaugural season next week after the Christmas break but it is right to do so? An announcement by the Government this afternoon will identify more areas that will be placed in Tier 4 with tighter restrictions. Indications are that this will not include West Yorkshire at the present time but with the pandemic sweeping northwards it may only be a matter of days before that changes.
Yesterday more than 53,000 new cases were confirmed and 414 people died due to COVID-19 infections. Both those numbers are on a rapid increase with the number of cases a record which passed the previous high recorded the day before. The Winter League season is due to reopen on Tuesday 5 January and conclude before the end of that month with teams playing another 6 matches in that time.
It seems inevitable that it is only a matter of time before Kirklees is placed in Tier 4 where bowling will be banned. Should we be considering pre-empting that inevitability by delaying the reopening of our bowling season that we may not be able to complete anyhow? Are all our teams comfortable with the safety arrangements in place and do they have enough bowlers willing to play to fulfil their remaining fixtures?
Are all those bowlers that have been confined to their homes over the Christmas period now willing to step outside to join in a bowling match? Should we be acting more responsibly? The vaccine is on its way. Not much further to go before we can all feel safer leaving our homes. The present guidance does allow us to continue competitive bowling but in the face of this new fast-infecting new variation of the virus should we be considering delaying the reopening of the season?
Tell us how you feel about the present situation and what you think the league should be considering at this worrying time. Add your comments below. You need to be a Site Member and logged in to do that. Become a Site member.
The snow may make the final decision at the end of the day
Happy new year to all bowlers and their families
Good morning all bowlers,
There would be no one more disappointed than i would be if we decide to cut short our first winter season. However is it really worth the risk, i have some close friends who have contracted the virus, thankfully they all survived but are suffering long term problems and complications. Make no mistake particularly in our age group the virus is a killer.
In two or three months time we should all have had the immunisation and be protected to a large degree. Hopefully we can then look forward to a great season of bowling, To date as far as i know there has been no transmission or any person in our league with Covid, perhaps…
A good question Philip of Lindley. Looking forward after the 5th and 7th Jan games all the main contenders for top spot at both greens will have played 10 games so if need be a straight comparison between them at that point should be possible.
On a different topic. If the League finishes early how will the top team be decided in each division ?
Does the League want an out and out winner in each division in its first season as opposed to just aborting the League positions? If so, then if the top team is clear then ok , no problem, but Milnsbridge looks like going to the last game. Does the League have a rule ?
If not, perhaps have a quick meeting to decide.
Obvious options -the winner is the team with the most wins ( if teams have not played the same number of games , then the team with the highest percentage of wins comes first),
or, make th…
While the figures announced today are high they are not being driven by Kirklees or West Yorkshire. The latest figures show us to be well below the national average and in fact our current rolling rate is lower than when we went back after the last lock down (160 as opposed to 196) and of the 149 UTLA's Kirklees is ranked as low as 135th in infection rate ( UTLA = Upper Tier Local Authority) when at one time it was ranked as high as 4th, it would seem that our prolonged stay in Tier 3 is doing its job.
Winter league Bowlers feel free to make your own mind up and talk to your captains.