The club, which recently celebrated its 60^th anniversary, battled its way through last summer with the bare minimum of 12 players, but was forced to play undermanned on several occasions depending on numbers week to week. 

After its recent AGM, only eight bowlers could fully commit to the upcoming season, leaving the club with no other option but to sit the season out.

However, Urana will still be affiliated with Albury and District, allowing current registered bowlers to play in various district events.

Urana bowls secretary Mick Dunnett said the club has been scraping by for playing numbers for the past handful of years, including two seasons where they formed a combined side with Rand.

“Since I’ve been secretary, we’ve lost 18 bowlers in the last seven years, whether they’ve passed on, moved on or gave the game away,” Dunnett said.

“That’s equivalent to one-and-a-half pennant teams.

“Even though we have been struggling the last couple of years, we haven’t been non-competitive.

“I think if we had our bare minimum we’d give them a shake.

“Four or five years ago, when we had extra players, we made the finals in our grade, but we’ve kept losing numbers since.”

Dunnett said the lack of young people in the community makes it difficult to attract new players.

However, the annual Odewahn Shield, involving all country clubs in the area, is a chance for Urana to introduce new people to the sport.

“You don’t have to be a registered bowler to play in that and you only need nine bowlers,” Dunnett said.

“If someone is half interested in taking the game up, it’s a good starting point for them and hopefully they get the bug.”

Urana Bowling Club president Pat Bourke said its a shame there won’t be a team next pennant season, but stressed the club will do all it can to help the bowlers get back on their feet.

“The club itself is going quite well financially, but unfortunately we’ve got to keep reinventing ourselves to keep the doors open,” Bourke said.

“We try to help out bowls, tennis and any sporting bodies because to us it’s a community club.

“I think social bowls is going to be a good way to push it, whether it be Friday night barefoot bowls and those sorts of things.

“We’ll start off with bare feet and try get the shoes back on them after a while.”

Dunnett has urged anyone living in the Urana area interested in playing bowls to get in touch with the club.