Bowls Exclusion concerns Canty

Press, 11 July 1983, Page 26

Bowls Exclusion concerns Canty

The Christchurch Bowling Centre will express its deep concern at the exclusion of bowls from the programme for the proposed 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. The topic was raised at the annual meeting of the centre yesterday. On the motion of Mr P. H. Rose it was decided to write to the New Zealand Bowling Association “on behalf of the 6000 bowlers in Christchurch, expressing deep concern at the action.” The N.Z.B.A. will also be asked to pass on this concern to the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association, which last week substituted wrestling for bowls in its planned application.

There were 15 remits on the order paper, but more than half were withdrawn

or lost. Five of them related to the inter-club Manning Cup competition and nearly all were satisfied by the decision of the match committee to extend this competition to nine rounds, with the extra two being played after Christmas. The addition of two extra Manning Cup rounds is the major alteration to next season’s programme. The problems which occurred last summer in getting the open singles completed have been overcome by a decision to play the third day midweek, after eight rounds the previous week-end. The programme has still to be finalised, but a motion was passed that the open pairs begin as planned on the week-end of February 11 and 12. A shift had been contemplated, because of a

possible clash with the annual West Coast open fours. The Burnside club was successful with a remit calling for the Junior fours to be played in sections, with the section winners playing off to find an over-all winner, but it failed in a bid to have junior players eligible for Robinson Shield competition. Among the unsuccessful remits was one asking for six section rounds, instead of nine, in the centre’s major open team touranments. However, because of the way Christmas falls this year it was decided that next season there would be only six rounds for the Christmas fours. The national final of the Rothmans inter-centre tournament will be played in Christchurch on March 3

and 4 and the city will be also the venue for the national champion-of-cham-pions singles at the end of the season. Mr M. A. LeCren retired from the centre, after 35 years service. Mr LeCren has been a life member for some time and in recent years he has maintained an active interest as the centre’s advisory officer, especially in regard to rules and constitutional matters. Mr LeCren said that the framing of rules for clubs was now a major undertaking and in the interests of continuity he felt the job should go to a younger man. However, he would retain an interest in the affairs of the centre and his advice would be available if required. The outgoing president, Mr D. G. Bodger, paid

tribute to the work Mr LeCren had done for the centre over many years. “He has done a tremendous job, and his advice to those who have held office in recent years has been invaluable,” said Mr Bodger. Officers elected were:— President, Mr K. Perry; senior vice-president, Mr J. Gillespie; junior vice-presi-dent, Mr H. G. Smith; treasurer, Mr I. H. D. Ferguson; auditor, Mr A. H. McCormack; executive, Messrs D. E. Wood and A. E. Carson; match committee, Messrs A. G. Murray, Gillespie, D. G. Bodger, Carson and Smith; selectors, Messrs P. H. Rose and Bodger, plus one to be appointed by the executive; representative on the umpires’ association, Mr R. Forsyth; publicity officer, Mr D. Martin.