President’s Report 2022
In presenting my report to you for this year I do so in the hope that finally, after three seasons of disruption caused by the Coronavirus that we might at last be heading towards some form of normalisation, and that we can look forward to an uninterrupted pennant season in 2022-23.
At the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting in May, 2021, the Board commenced the year with vacant positions of Deputy President, Treasurer, and an ordinary Board member (male). This was the commencement of a very difficult year of operation for the Board, with a number of changes to the personnel on the Board occurring over the course of the year. It was very pleasing that, in the first instance, Deb Jeffrey accepted an invitation to perform the duties of Treasurer, a role that Deb has performed at a very high standard. Anne Mullavey did not remain long in her position on the Board, nominating for the position of Bowls Tasmania Elected Director (female-South) and then succeeding Liz Rickards in the position. Ailsa Milburn then accepted the role of Deputy President and Christine McGrath came onto the Board as Ailsa’s replacement as an ordinary Board member. Geoff Price was also invited to join the Board as an ordinary member.
The most significant change in personnel, though, was the resignation in September of our long serving Secretary, Rob McGuire, to take up his appointment of CEO, Bowls Tasmania. After a protracted search for a replacement Paul Matthews accepted the role of Secretary, stepping into the position just prior to the commencement of the pennant season. This has been a huge year of adjustment for Paul in the role but I am very pleased with the way in which he has adapted to the position.
During the year there were a number of resignations from the Board, firstly Ailsa before the Christmas break, then Christine who found that the responsibility of caring for her mother did not leave her time for her role on the Board. For personal and health reasons Leonie and Geoff Price made the difficult decision to resign from the Board, also. In the latter months of the year, with the number on the Board falling to six, the minimum required for a quorum, the two Geoff’s, Geoff Dannock and Geoff Price, accepted invitations to join the Board for the remainder of the year. I would thank, sincerely, the other members of the Board who have been constant throughout the year, Ross Bannister (Chair of the BTS Match Committee), Michael Andersch (BTS Officiating Panel nominee) and Paul Hoddy (BTS Statistician and Executive Assistant), all of whom made significant contributions to the Board’s operation and functioning.
Through all the disruption to the Board caused by the comings and goings of various members the Board has achieved significant outcomes in the review and updating of a number of policies, in particular the BTS Discipline, Uniform and Selectors, Coaches and Team Managers policies, as well as ratifying the new policies for Club Suspension of Players and Gender Identity Inclusion. In addition to this work the Board has been proactive in the development of policies and guidelines relating to governance issues in the ratification of policies for BTS Board of Management Code of Conduct, BTS Board of Management Conflict of Interest, and BTS Committees, guidelines for the BTS Finance Committee, and for the Recording of Minutes for Board Meetings, and protocols for the annual review of BTS Conditions of Play.
The most significant achievement of the Board, though, has been the adoption of a new method of calculating and charging annual affiliation fees to clubs. The ratification of the new procedures in December enabled the introduction of the new fee structure for the 2022-23 BTS financial year. With receipt late April of the affiliation fee Bowls Tasmania is charging BTS for the ensuing year the BTS Budget for 2022-23 was completed, enabling the calculation of affiliation fees to be charged by BTS to each club. An advice of the 2022-23 affiliation fee has been distributed to each club to assist in their budgeting processes for the new financial year.
A complex issue facing all organised sport is the gradual and annual decline in participation and bowls is no exception. The Board is very hopeful that the new affiliation fee structure will make it easier for clubs to introduce new players to pennant play, and thus grow their membership, by removing the significant cost of initial registration. The Board has recognised that there will be significant “start-up” costs and has determined to establish a fund from accumulated reserves which clubs can access to offset some of those costs. It is hoped that by providing financial assistance to clubs to aid their recruitment efforts will have positive results.
Similarly, we have a very small number of juniors in the South, and with a several of our current juniors soon to turn 18 it is possible that we may not have sufficient juniors to field a full Junior State Wide Challenge side. While many clubs make their facilities available for school groups to conduct either one-off or short-term bowls-related activities, the Board is interested in providing financial support to clubs that wish to conduct more formal activities, even junior competitions, to develop an interest in this cohort to take our sport competitively. To this end, another fund has been established for reserves for clubs to access on application. More details of both grant programs will be forwarded to clubs during the off-season to encourage the development of club-based programs, as well as to provide details on the application process.
The 2021 Australian Championships were held during April, postponed from October last year, and our 2021 state champions performed exceptionally well, gaining a medal in all but one of the events contested. Participants from southern Tasmania receiving a Silver Medal were Jorja and Isaac Maughan (Mixed Pairs), and Will Coad (member of the Men’s Triples team). Receiving a Bronze Medal were Crystal Brooks and Barbara Liddington, who were members of the composite Women’s Open Fours team.
Southern bowlers that experienced success during the season participating in Bowls Tasmania Gala Week championship events were: Lyn Triffett (State Women’s Open Singles Champion), Peri and Yvonne Buckley (members of the State Women’s Open Fours champions), Grant Wakefield (member of the State Men’s Open Pairs), Will Coad and Ryan Guy (members of the composite team that eon the State Men’s open Fours), Lyn Triffett and Sue Mann (State Senior Women’s Pairs Champions), Rosie Geeves, Lyn Page, Janet Rutherford and Anne Mullavey (State Senior Women’s Fours champions) and Roger Dale and Craig Griggs (State Men’s Open Pairs champions).
There was a clean sweep by southern bowlers in BTAS Men’s B Grade Championship events with Matthew Gregg (Singles), Brad Johns and Duncan Carey (Pairs), and Owen O’Driscoll, Paul McCann, Neville Riseley and Barrie Cranwell (Fours) successful in their respective events. In the BTAS Women’s B Grade Championships the team of Judy Reeve, Dellis Voss, Kristy Harrison and Emma Burgess won the fours event.
Further individual success in state level competitions were achieved by Lyn Triffett (BTAS Champion of Champions Women’s Open Singles), and Isaac Maughan and Denise Tanner (winners of the Australian Indoor Singles Qualifiers held at the Howrah Indoor Centre recently). Congratulations, everyone, on your individual and team successes at both state and national level.
Congratulations to Jeanette Lane (Women’s Open), Val Gregg (Women’s B Grade), Peter Bannister (Men’s Open) and Duncan Carey (Men’s B Grade) for achieving the personal accolade of being named BTS Bowler of the Year for 2021-22. Consistency over all BTS events, singles, pairs, triples and fours contributed to the success of the four bowlers named and it hoped that more bowlers take up the challenge of participating in BTS championship events in 2022-23.
Due to the amount of adverse comment in regard to Thursday State Pennant Finals, and the withdrawal of support for this event by both Bowls Tasmania South and Bowls North West, the Bowls Tasmania Board made the decision not to conduct this competition in 2021-22, but decided to persist with Saturday State Pennant Finals in the same three-rink format as in previous years. It is noted that the winners of the BTS Saturday Pennants for Premier to Division 6 all accepted BTAS’s invitation to participate, with three sides, Sandy Bay (Premier Division), New Norfolk (Division 1) and Cremorne (Division 4) winning the State Pennant in their divisions. Particular mention must be made of Cremorne which achieved its first-ever State Pennant in the club’s history. Congratulations for the completion of a very successful season!
I take particular interest in the progress of individual clubs and have always taken the opportunity to make special mention in my annual reports of standout performances during the season, and this year is no exception. During the season just concluded I have been most impressed by the performance of the Claremont Bowls Club across all pennant competitions, and I have come to understand that much of this is due to the amount of effort put into player development across all divisions. Experienced players providing support and encouragement to beginning bowlers, and to those progressing through the lower grades is an excellent model for all clubs to adopt, and Claremont appears to have been able to do this in a very supportive and empathetic environment. Therefore, it is not surprising that the club had so many of its sides participating in the finals series of all three BTS pennant competitions and won the pennant in Division 4 of Women’s Thursday Pennant, Division 2, Division 3, Division 5, Division 6, and Division 7 (Claremont 2 defeated Claremont 1 in the Grand Final) of Saturday Open Gender Pennant. As a result, Claremont was justly rewarded for a magnificent season when awarded the Fitzgerald Trophy for the best-performed club for 2021-22. Congratulations, Claremont!
Although sometimes the scourge of participants it is impossible to conduct any organised sports competition without a set of rules (or laws) to govern the game, and someone is required to adjudicate those rules or laws during play to ensure that the game proceeds in an orderly fashion. The sport of bowls is no different and we in the South of the state are fortunate to have a well-organised group of officials who are led in excellent fashion by the BTS Officiating Panel. I commend the diligent manner in which the panel prepares our officials through workshops and seminars at the commencement of each season, providing both practical and law-related activities to ensure that our officials can perform at a high standard. I also commend the panel for the manner in which officials are developed through mentoring activities during BTAS Gala Weeks and BTS Championship events.
In regard to our officials, I would make special mention of our two International Technical Officers (ITO’s), Leonie Price and Michael Andersch, who have attained the pinnacle of officiating in World Bowls, and are the only ITO’s in the state. This is an excellent personal achievement and is testament to a high level of understanding and application of the laws of bowls, but what is more important is that both Leonie and Michael spend much of their time imparting their knowledge, expertise and experience on to our National Umpires. We are very fortunate to have such quality officials in our ranks and has ensured that the umpiring group in the South are the best available anywhere in the state.
A growing phenomenon is the steady increase in the number of clubs in the South that have either converted their single grass green to synthetic or have a mix of grass and synthetic greens. By the commencement of the 2022-23 BTS pennant season 15 clubs in the South will have a synthetic surface, including the two clubs with indoor bowls centres, and a further two will be in the process of converting a grass green to synthetic. The reasoning behind the change is understandable as the high cost associated with maintaining a grass green to a satisfactory standard can be prohibitive for smaller clubs, and the ability to provide social bowls activities during the off-season, and the additional revenue that this can generate for a bowls club, can be too attractive to forgo the installation of a synthetic surface. No doubt there will be increasing pressure to ensure that there truly is no distinction or bias between a natural or synthetic surface and that the playing of major regional and state events on a synthetic surface is more likely than not. It behoves us all to change our attitude to the possibility.
During the past nine months or so we have witnessed a seismic shift in our state body, Bowls Tasmania, with the resignation of the previous CEO, Rebecca van Asch, to take up a position with Bowls Australia and her replacement, Rob McGuire, being appointed. While this caused a major shakeup of administrative structures for BTS it has resulted in the move of BTAS office facilities from its former base at the Invermay Bowls Club in Launceston to Sport and Recreation House, Cornelian Bay. With the recent retirement of Graham Hay from the position of President, BTAS, and the election of our male Elected Director on the BTAS Board, Bernard Knight, to that position I do not believe it would quite accurate to continue to claim that we are “ruled from the North”. I do take this opportunity, though, to congratulate both Rob and Bernard on the appointment to their respective BTAS positions.
Seeking sponsorship for our sport is always a difficult task, especially for one such as ours which is considered by many to be minor and only played by those wishing to partake in passive physical activity in their retirement. Despite this, BTS does have two very valuable and highly respected sponsors in Derwent Eye Specialists, which sponsors our Saturday Premier Division, and Doug Cole, who has been the sponsor of our junior program for many years. We are honoured to be associated with both of our sponsors and look forward to their continued involvement into the future. At the present time negotiations are continuing with another potential sponsor and it is hoped that an official announcement in this regard will be possible before the commencement of the 2022-23 BTS pennant season.
I remain committed to my role as president of Bowls Tasmania South, and that I still have the desire to serve the southern bowls community in this capacity. Even during the most difficult periods of the past year I did not consider relinquishing the role. In my time as president we have achieved a great deal, but yet there is more to be done. While I am still of the belief that I have more to contribute I will put myself forward for consideration for the position.
Peter Kirby
President