Winter League
How many bowlers do you need to run a Winter League team? Well there is no one answer fits all as many teams are run for different reasons.
There are those teams that want to play their strongest team every week and so will go for a smaller number of signed on bowlers. These teams are mainly found in the top two divisions of the League but are not unique to there by any means but it tends to be the more competitive teams that opt for the top team every week approach.
Then there are the social teams that have a number of bowlers at a similar level who can all beat each other on occasions. These teams exist by rotating selection on a weekly basis. Some of these teams will allow a bowler to retain their place in the team until they lose a game and then they are 'rested'. Some have rules about how many games you can win before being replaced. But they exist to share out the playing duties among the signed on members with the better bowlers bowling more frequently.
Then there are the absolute sharing out of playing duties. These are teams where your playing dates are sometimes worked out at the beginning of the season, have factored in all player holidays and regardless of form or opponents you know what days you will be playing right through the season.
The list here shows the number of bowlers that each team has signed on and registered with them alongside the number of bowlers that have actually played at least one match to date.
From this listing you can see that the minimum number that any 4-person team can survive on is 5 bowlers. There are 9 of the 64 teams that have only used 5 bowlers so far as we pass the halfway point of the season.
The signed on number sometimes reflects a bit of team history and contains bowlers that are unlikely to play for the team and maybe a bit of housekeeping is required to tidy up the player records.
Others show that the majority of signed on bowlers have actually played this season. The two teams that have used the most number of bowlers are both in Division 7. The host club of Huddersfield RUFC have the highest number of registered bowlers and the highest number of bowlers that have actually played at least once for the team this season. A truely rotating system to give all their bowlers a taste of winter bowling.
Maybe the time has come when these bowlers have decided that they like winter bowling or not and if they really do like it then maybe the time has come to play a little more frequently but this teams' approach doesn't lend itself to that. This isn't a criticism of their system it seems to suit a team playing on their own green and manning the hosting duties as well. Yet maybe the time has come for this team to decide that they can support another team?
The second biggest number of bowlers used are also from Division 7 where Kirkheaton Con B have used 11 different bowlers from the 14 registered with them and they have made the next step in declaring their interest in adding another team to the League for next season. This isn't a surprise as the League has a history of teams being set up to give bowlers a taste of winter bowling and then adding a second and then a third team at a later date.
It is therefore not surprising that the biggest number of number of bowlers that have played this seasom comes in Division 7 where a total of 68 different bowlers have played at least one match this season. Second in line is Division 8 where 66 different bowlers have played a match this season. All that adds up to an impressive total of 462 different bowlers that have played in the League halfway through the 2024-25 season. We also know that 256 bowlers (64 x 4) play every week throughout the season. These are big numbers and reflects the growing interest in bowling right through the year.
Another factor to take into account is the use of Guest Bowlers. From the second season of the League's existence Guest Bowlers have been allowed to join a team and bowl in the League. These are bowlers that are not members of the team they are joining and have not played the mandatory one match for that club in the previous summer season. They can join a team on a guest level basis and one team can register as many Guest Bowlers as they like. The one constraint being that only one Guest Bowler can play in any team fixture. There is no limit on the number of games Guest Bowlers allowed to play but only one Guest Bowler is allowed to be selected in any one match.
The thinking behind this concession was to encourage bowlers from clubs witout a Winter League team to taste the winter bowling experience and then be so taken up with it that they went back to their own clubs to form teams to enter the League the following season.
This approach was aimed at encouraging more teams to enter the League in the formative years. And it has worked, as Outlane springs to mind as one example of this working in the manner intended. However there is a feeling now among some that the League is now big enough not to need such concessions and there is likely to be a move to do away with Guest Bowlers in the future.
For now we continue to monitor the signing of new bowlers, the increasing number of new bowlers joining the League each season and the increase in demand from new teams to play in the League. The opposition to winter bowling is diminishing year on year and such opposition is now reaching the level of ridicule once reserved for the opponents of Sunday bowling which was a definite no-go situation for many many years. We move on and for the better as well.
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