We can now share with you the results of our survey into when local bowlers are looking to return to the green. With 134 responses in total it can be seen as fairly representative of how bowlers are probably viewing the current situation. Almost an identical total response to Survey 1 held at the beginning of February when we had 131 responses. The results of the first 4 questions are below along with a commentary on each.
Tomorrow we compare Survey 2 results with those submitted in Survey 1 to see how bowlers mindsets are changing (if they are) and by how much.
Survey 2 (Part 1 )
Q1: Which age bracket are you in? With 118 of the responses (90%) being completed by those aged 60 or over it is obviously biased towards the older bowlers. Maybe they are the most vulnerable and therefore the most cautious about returning to normality or maybe it is just indicative of the age balance of bowlers in total.
Q2: Which Leagues do you bowl in?
There were 91 responses from Veteran League bowlers which is no surprise. In total there were exactly 350 league places represented in the survey.
Q3: When are you currently prepared to stary bowling?
Exactly half of the entries indicated that they are ready to start bowling straight away. A significant number (29%) are not prepared to bowl until receiving their second vaccine injection whilst almost 10% say that it will be July before they would consider bowling again.
Q4: What is the earliest date you will be ready to bowl in a league match?
This is the real crunch question that will tell us the state of play as regards starting the season. If Leagues started at the beginning of April as normal then only 51.5% of bowlers expect to make themselves available for selection. By the beginning of May then the survey indicates that the number will have increased to 78.4% or alternative it says that almost 22% of all bowlers are not prepared to bowl until after the beginning of May at the earliest.
Survey 2 (Part 2) Tomorrow we compare Survey 2 results with those submitted in Survey 1 to see how bowlers mindsets are changing (if they are) and by how much.
The article was published 26th Feb. It certainly gives food for thought.
Copied from BB.
Well if that's an accurate forecast some leagues could be formulated into divisions of 10 with a start date 1st week June playing for 18 weeks up to end Sept or early Oct. At least by having a June start the majority of players will have had their 1st jab so will have a good level of protection. Another + is that clubs with bars will possibly be able to open is some capacity.