Bowls Scotland 2021 National Competition's Announcement
Following the First Ministers' announcement on Tuesday 16th March, and as outlined in our subsequent holding statement, Bowls Scotland’s Board of Directors met yesterday to finalise the outcome of our national competition's COVID-19 scenario planning.
Over the last few months, we have explored a wide range of scenarios for our various national competitions. We have taken into consideration the Scottish Government’s updated timetable for easing restrictions as well as the progress made around vaccinations.
Above all else, our members’ safety, health and wellbeing remain the most important priority for everyone at Bowls Scotland. Whilst some significant relaxations were announced by the Scottish Government on Tuesday, we understand there are likely to be wide-ranging challenges with hosting large-scale events for some time to come.
We have therefore taken the extremely difficult decision to cancel the National Championships, the Andrew Hamilton Trophy and the Ladies Top 10 for the 2021 season.
We understand some of our members and clubs will be disappointed with these decisions and everyone at Bowls Scotland shares that disappointment. However, we have a duty of care to everyone in our bowling family.
As always, our clubs and members are at the heart of everything we do, and we understand many of our members missed competitive play last year. We will continue to review the Scottish Government’s forthcoming timetable for easing restrictions, and should the opportunity arise we will endeavour to run some form of competition later this season.
All competition fees already paid will be returned to clubs as soon as possible. We have produced some Frequently Asked Questions to provide further information; these can be found by clicking here.
Looking to the Future...
Bowls is a wonderful sport and our clubs have the opportunity and ability to help re-connect local communities and people across our country. Whether you are a player, coach, or volunteer, we all have a collective responsibility to encourage bowlers back on the green as well as opening our clubs to new members. Bowls Scotland is committed to supporting clubs on the journey to post-COVID recovery. We will continue to build on the support available to all our affiliated clubs to ensure we meet the needs and demands of our fantastic sport.
To this end, we continue to work closely with sportscotland in finalising our 2021 “Return to the Green COVID-19 Guidance”, and we aim to make this available to affiliated clubs next week. This will provide our clubs with the guidelines and procedures to allow members to return to the green safely.
In the meantime, if your club requires extra support, please contact your Bowls Scotland National Development Officer: