Bowls to Recommence

Posted Robin Staples

The NSW Government has announced the easing of restrictions on sport which will include Lawn Bowls.  This means that as from 1st July 2020 bowls will restart.  While there will of course be some restrictions, such as social distancing, bowls games will be allowed.  Great!!  In the mean time, the current restrictions have also been relaxed.  The main benifit is that 20 bowlers are now allowed on the green and the need to have an empty rink between roll ups has also been removed.  On our notice board is a copy of a Bowls NSW news release cofirming that bowls will resume on July 1 2020.  This is dated 10th June and a release which I will attach below dated 13th June gives details of the loosening of restrictions as mentioned above.  Depite the green time being limited to two hours many Bowral Bowling Club bowlers have been turning up for a roll up or informal game.  Twenty six players had their name down for Wednesday 10th June, though the number dwindled to sixteen due to the inclement weather.  On Saturday 13th June the greens hosted eighteen bowlers, so good to see our bowlers returning.   I mentioned the Clubs desire to get the Club Championships back under way so that zone events could take place.  I expected to see the Club Pairs entries date extended but this has not happened with the entries closed and the draw posted on the notice board.  Luckily a couple of extra teams slipped into the draw before it was finally closed.  The draw is available in Draws and Results section of this website.  Last year the Club Championship Pairs final was between Dan Ticehurst with Don Chapman against Mick Spong and Mick Armstrong.  Dan and Don had an excellent event with three good wins including beating Eric Willacy and Paul Leverett in the semi final 20-11.  Their good run ended in the hands of the two Micks who has a comfortable finals win 34-10.  The two Micks carried on and played great bowls to reach to final of the Zone Pairs where they were defeated 25-17 by Glen Robertson and Matt Lovett-Jeans from the Wallacia Club.  They will be a hard pair to beat again this year, but entries are up for this year and a few stronger teams present may make them work hard.

Joint Advice From Women’s Bowls NSW and Bowls NSW Regarding Easing of Commencing 13 June

 

THIS ADVICE SUPERSEDES ALL PREVIOUS ADVICE

The NSW State Government has announced further easing of restrictions commencing today, 13 June 2020. These changes have now been legislated.

The changes, from previous restrictions, include:

  • No more than 20 persons per green
  • This does NOT INCLUDE any staff or officials
  • Any persons on a bowling green ARE NOT to be counted in the total number of persons allowed on the premises of a licensed club, as long as the number is restricted to 20 persons per green (excluding staff & officials).

To comply with this regulation, all clubs, who allow use of greens, MUST keep a record of a person’s name and phone number who participate for a period of at least 4 weeks. They must provide a copy of that record to the Ministry of Health, if required, for the purposes of contact tracing.

Please, also note, that strict social distancing of at least 1.5m must be adhered to as well as all other requirements of the current Public Health Order.

WBNSW & BNSW further advise under NSW State Government guidelines from today, 13 June 2020, Lawn Bowls has been granted permission to participate in organised matches this includes social & competition matches.

Please note the following conditions:

  • No more than 20 persons are allowed per green (excluding any club staff or officials e.g. markers, umpires, coaches etc.)
  • Social Distancing of 1.5m per person must be strictly adhered to
  • Personal and Equipment hygiene protocols are in place
  • A record of attendees at all sessions of activity must be kept for a period, of at least, 4 weeks and given to Health or Government officials, if required.
  • Clubs must have a COVID-19 safety plan in place

It is up to individual clubs to ensure they comply with all restrictions prior to commencing any organised matches (social and/or competition).

Please note that licensed clubs have their own set of restrictions, under Public Health Orders, that apply to the capacity of persons allowed internally within the club house and it may be the case that some clubs may not have the capacity to cater for bowlers prior to and/or after any organised matches. Each club should consider their internal capacity when scheduling any organised social/competition matches.

WBNSW & BNSW continue to strongly recommend that in order to comply with restrictions that no more than 4 persons per rink participate at any one time.

Both WBNSW & BNSW welcome this new easing of restrictions, prior to the full re-start of all community sports from 1 July 2020. When specific details of restrictions, if any, are announced by government for the 1 July 2020 restart, a new updated circular/memo will be issued.

To help clubs ensure they meet the requirements prior to commencing organised matches, WBNSW & BNSW have provided the following:

  • A Club COVID-19 Safety Plan & Checklist, which will be updated and re-issued as further announcements are made – Click here
  • An Attendee Register – Click here

To view the current Public Health Orders, as legislated, click here.

To view the requirements for resuming organised matches, click here.

If you have any general enquiries, please contact:

Women’s Bowls NSW on 02 9267 7155 or generalmanager@womensbowlsnsw.org

Bowls NSW (David Ellis – Head of Sport & Operations) on 0450 956 485 or david@bowlsnsw.com.au