World bowls organisers expect record entry

Press, 24 April 1987, Page 32

World bowls organisers expect record entry

Next year’s BNZ world bowls championships at Henderson are expected to attract a record entry of 24 nations.

With a tournament still 10 months away, the organising committee, World Bowls New Zealand (1988) Limited, has already received 21 confirmed entries. This is only one fewer than the 22 countries at Aberdeen in 1984, the previous best attendance at the championships.

The secretary of the organising committee in Auckland, Ron Clare, is convinced that by the time the event starts on January 30, 1988, all 24 countries eligible to take part will be in attendance.

There are 25 nations affiliated to the International Bowling Board. Because of the New Zealand Government’s expressed opposition to

sporting contacts with South Africa, that country was not invited to the 1988 event. The 21 countries which have confirmed their entries are Argentina, Australia, Botswana, Canada, England, Fiji, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Israel, Jersey, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Swaziland, USA, Wales, Western Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

The three still to confirm are Spain, Kenya and Japan. However, Mr Clare is confident that they will be in Auckland. “They have written back to us stating that as far as they are concerned they want to take part,” he said. “It’s just a question of them tidying up a few details at their end. But at this stage it looks as if we’ll have all 24 countries here in Auckland.’’ Mr Clare said a letter to the 23 overseas nations

outlining travel and accommodation arrangements had been sent last month and he expected that it would help resolve some of the uncertainty. Of the 24 involved countries, the only two which missed Aberdeen were Japan and Spain. However, the latter has only recently affiliated, and it is awaiting official recognition by the Spanish Government before it can ratify its entry. The 1988 championships begin on January 30 with the opening ceremony followed by one round of triples and pairs. They will continue for the first week and be followed by the fours and singles with the final rounds of the latter on February 14.

Teams for the world championships, held every four years, consist of five players, plus a manager. The first cham-

pionships were staged in Sydney in 1966 with eight participants. Subsequent events, with the number of competing countries in parentheses have been: 1972: Worthing, England (eight); 1976: Johannesburg, South Africa (seven); 1980: Frankston, Australia (20); 1984: Aberdeen, Scotland (22). The championships are conducted under the auspices of the International Bowling Board, which was established in 1894. They were born in 1966 when it was decided that bowls would not be among the sports for the Commonwealth Games in Africa that year.

While bowls has been included at a number of subsequent Commonwealth Games, and is also one of the sports for Auckland in 1990, the world championships have grown in strength since 1966.

As well as providing four greens of international size, the site at Henderson for the 1988 championships will also feature:

• Parking for 300 cars within the grounds and a further 2000 carparks nearby. • Temporary stands around three sides of the greens which will provide tiered seating for up to 5000 spectators. • Post Office, banking and telephone facilities. • Separate player, VIP and spectator catering facilities.

• A tented village

offering a wide range of refreshment stalls, merchandising stands and souvenir items for sale.

The total cost of staging the event could reach $2 million. Mr Clare said that the projected figures for the total expenditure work out to “between $l.B and 1.9 M.” But this could increase depending on last minute extras and hidden costs.

Capital costs associated with the construction of the site at the Ratanui Reserve complex are the responsibility of the Henderson Bowling Club and the Henderson Borough Council. The organising committee is charged with costs of temporary facilities like stands and seating, building, scoreboards, tents, and toilets. It is also a requirement of the host country to meet half of the travel costs for all teams and officials and all accommodation charges. By the start of the tournament, World Bowls New Zealand, Limited, expects to have raised about $BOO,OOO from levies, raffles, general fund-rais-ing and interest on money accrued over the years. A further $1 million, says Mr Clare, is the target to be raised by way of sponsorship, merchandising, product endorsement and other related activities. It is estimated that accommodation and travel costs will exceed $420,000, while on-site facilities could cost as much as $700,000.