THE Albury and District Bowling Association has revised its pennant draw after two recent rounds were called off because of excessive heat.
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Just one of three scheduled rounds have been played and the district’s board decided to review the situation.
It has rescheduled the abandoned second round for this Saturday, but there is no guarantee about it going ahead because of the temperature predicted.
The association has a bylaw which says games should be called off if the temperature reaches 38 degrees.
Clubs were notified at the weekend of the proposed changes and two clubs, Holbrook and North Albury, lodged objections, particularly to the proposal of having two games on the weekend of March 8 and 9.
North Albury secretary John Hegarty said in a letter to the board his club believed the program could not be changed once the season began.
He said his club would have trouble getting players to commit to games on both Saturday and Sunday of the same weekend.
It was suggested a decision on rescheduling should have involved a meeting of delegates from every club.
“We also believe that any decision involving games should be the duties of the match committee, not the board. If this is not the case, why do we need a match committee?” Hegarty said.
District president Noel Trainor said the constitution provides the board with the necessary power to reschedule games.
He said at Tuesday’s board meeting reorganising the draw was “in the best interests of the district as a whole”.
The new format sees round 2 this weekend, with round 3 on February 15, round 4 on February 22, round 5 on March 1 and the start of the district singles going back to March 16.
There are two games on March 8 and 9 with round 8 on March 15, round 10 on March 22, round 10 on March 29 and the finals now scheduled for April 5 and 6.
Board members discussed the possibility of starting the pennant season before Christmas to avoid hot weather in January.
The board is likely to prepare proposals for clubs to consider at the district’s annual meeting.
In recent years, the district has run a 10-week competition starting in January and finishing in March.