Bowling News
Following closure of voting in our latest poll we can now share all the results with you. The poll was primarily to learn of bowler's experiences in returning to the green and competitive bowling. We wanted to learn if bowlers felt safe in this new environment and could their experiences influence others to return to our sport or maybe encourage new bowlers to look at the opportunities and benefits of bowling. Thank you to the 47 of you who took the time to respond to our 10 questions and then added some comments on your own.
The most important question of the 10 posed was 'Did you feel safe bowling this year?' No one indicated that they didn't feel safe with 80% positive that they felt safe on the bowling green in a competitive situation.
On top of the 10 questions we also offered the opportunity for responders to add any comments they may have on three areas and these responses are also included below. So working through each of the questions posed in turn with a short commentary on what the voting means.
Q1: Which age bracket are you in? 89% of respondents were aged 60 or over.
Q2: Which Leagues have you bowled in this year? Veterans League bowlers were by a long way the most active in responding to the survey.
Q3: Have you had the vaccination?
All respondents had received at least one of the two vaccination jabs available.
Q4: Did you use the NHS Track & Trace App to register your attendance at the green?
55% of respondents said that they used the App whenever it was available.
Q5: Did you or your team captain leave your contact details with the home club?
Over half of the respondents knew that their contact details had been passed on to the home club.
Q6: Did you think that the home club took your safety seriously? 60% of respondents thought that their safety was being taken seriously.
Q7: Did other bowlers respect social distancing and avoid physical contact? Just over half of respondents confirmed that social distancing was generally observed.
Q8: Are you happy to shake hands with your opponents before and after your match? The majority of bowlers were happy to shake hands.
Q9: Have your opponents been prepared to shake hands?
Variable responses to this question leads to uncertainty on how bowlers will react.
Q10: Did you generally feel safe bowling this year? No responses of anyone feeling unsafe at a match with 80% stating they felt safe.
Q11: What good practices have you seen this season?
All been fairly good so far.
Most people are doing their best to be safe and are glad lockdown is over.
Sanitisers near the green
Signage
people giving more space
offering hospitality with packaged products
Individually wrapped portions of sugar, milk and biscuits to enable hot drinks being served safely at Springwood
Distancing, well organised refreshments
Evidence of extra cleaning at some clubs.
Verbal instructions about in club regs communicated to all.
Cleaning of shared equipment.
Sanitizing
most venues adhering to social distancing
Sanitiser, good signage
Cleanliness of equipment and utensils better manners and friendliness
Generally ladies are wearing masks if going into clubs
Buckets used to sanitize mats/jacks before, between and after games.
Hand sanitizer provided around green/clubhouse.
List of contacts for track and trace provided by Captain of away teams
Lots of hand washing
Sanitisers, social distancing and toilets clearly marked for sanitising.
Q12: What examples of bad practice have you seen this season?
Social distancing has been difficult to maintain in wet weather due to lack of shelters or shelters not being big enough at some greens.
None related to bowling.
No face masks in the clubhouse
Not keeping to social distancing still see people not washing hands after using toilets
shaking hands, spitting into their hands when preparing to bowl
Lack of social distancing
Failure to abandon a match during a thunderstorm, other captain would not agree to stop
some bowlers don't seem to think the pandemic is still here
Occasionally too many in close proximity in club huts.
None, nothing serious
Men don’t seem to adhere to masks in the clubs!!
Too many people inside clubhouse at same time, most not wearing masks.
Jacks/mats not always seen to be sanitized between games.
Too many in clubhouse without masks
Not much, people are trying hard.
Q14: Any comments you would like to add?
Sadly this pandemic has affected people in many ways including their confidence to lead the life they had before Coronavirus.
Bowlers seem quite relaxed in the company of other vets bowlers probably because we’ve had both vaccinations and our age group have kept to Covid rules better than many other age groups.
good to be back and enjoy the camaraderie
As bowling is outdoors and we will have to learn to live with this virus forever we should just keep going and not stop/start.
overall most things bowling wise appear to be getting back to normal
Common sense please
I feel as safe around a green as anywhere in public especially in my own age group
We need to stay safe.
A bit concerned how well systems will work to notify teams if in contact with any person who has subsequently had a positive Covid Test.
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