Geelong bowls’ chance to make positive change

WHAT’S next for Geelong’s best?

With the decision that the curtain will come down on the Geelong-Ballarat Premier Division at season’s end, one can only wonder what’s next.

There are many comments flying around the region: will the season be reduced in weeks or will it be sides of 12 or 16?

Seriously, are they our only choices to reintroduce a Geelong-only competition?

The Geelong Bowls Region now has the chance to fully restructure our competition and make it more attractive to not only our current players but potential new players.

Does our current structure entice new players to play pennant?

Let’s think about that. Three to four weeks of practice matches, 18 rounds of pennant, three weeks of finals and the expectation to practise twice a week to be a top-level player. It’s a huge commitment. Could there be an option to run multiple competitions inside an 18-week season?

Other states run short pennant seasons and also run premier league, super challenges, club challenges and so on that offer a different com- petition for their clubs and players.

Does it always have to be fours that we play?

We have other disciplines that we could expose to the non-bowling public that would be spectator-friendly and not as boring as watching fours.

Metropolitan Pennant will again prove enticing for our region’s better players as they want to challenge themselves at the highest level.

We had a competition that was close to that level, if not just as good, and coming off a season last year that I would consider the most exciting and competitive in recent years.

Geelong’s decision to turn the lights off on this competition might not have been the wisest for our region in providing the best possible competition for our players.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what’s next.