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HAVE YOUR SAY AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
| LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Sir Recently we read how a Scottish lady playing in the Ladies World Bowling Championships at Moama had her bowls challenged and were found to be illegal, however, she was able to continue playing the next day. We later heard that all lady bowlers playing for gold, silver and bronze medals had their bowls tested and two sets belonging to Australian players were deemed illegal. Can you please advise if any action has been taken against these ladies. If not, why not? It has been a few months since the ladies played that tournament and I believe the women in question are still playing. I know there was a bowler last year at the Australian Indoor who had his bowls challenged and they were found to be illegal. He was disqualified immediately from the Tournament and later suspended for three months. Does Bowls Australia have double standards, single certain people out or do they just turn a blind eye when it suits them. If Bowls Australia want to eradicate the use of illegal bowls, perhaps they should have a walk around some of their bowling greens throughout Australia and have a good look at some of the bowls that grace their greens. GB |
| RESPONSE FROM THE EDITOR Hi GB, Thanks for your comments. In relation to the Scottish Lady concerned we at this stage are unaware of the outcome surrounding the illegal bowls. If anyone out there is aware of the situation you may like to contact us and let us know. We do know that the Taylor Bowls that the Scottish lady played with... even though they failed in Australia... were passed OK on the testing table back in England (A respresentative from the World Bowls Board was present at the testing). This leaves more room for speculation and inuendo!!!! In the interim period we shall endeavour to find out from Taylor Bowls as to what actually transpired. In relation to the disqualification.... as you may be aware the mens rules and the ladies are somewhat different.... this could be the case here, it might be that the rule concerning disqualification of a lady may only apply to that tournament as was the case for the men. The men if caught with illegal bowls will be disqualified for a period of up to three months from playing bowls. Keep you posted! The Editor |
| RESPONSE FROM TAYLOR BOWLS TO GB's
LETTER DATED 28th May 2000
Re the letter - Thanks for bringing it to our attention. The Scottish Ladies were given blue bowls as part of their sponsorship with Taylor Bowls. Each Lady was given the choice of model they wanted. They all chose Vector. Margaret Johnston successfully challenged Margaret Letham's bowls. The organisers then decided that all medal contenders in the fours and singles therefore had to have their bowls tested on the nearest Test Table, which was a Drakes Pride table owned by Don Sherman at Bendigo and all of the Scottish bowls failed the bias test, as did some Drakes Pride and Henselite models. The Scots Ladies, on their return to Scotland, and at a pre-arranged time, brought their bowls to the premises of Taylor Bowls and had their bowls retested under the auspices of Dr Ron Barron, Table Testing consultant to the World Bowls Board. The bowls all passed the table test. The Blue Vector bowls that the Scottish Team played with were all legal biased bowls when they left our factory prior to the World Championships in Moama, and again passed the table test when they were returned to our premises. Basically they failed on a Drakes Pride test table because each manufacturer has differing surfaces on their test table. What passes on one table will not necessarily pass on another. Don Sherman gave me a newspaper article in his local newspaper where he was quoted as saying that had these bowls been tested at the Championships on a test table owned and equipped by Taylor Bowls then they would have passed. He said "My Drakes Pride facility has different qualities to other manufacturers testing tables. It really heightens the need to make all test facilities the same. It must strengthen the resolve (of the sport world body) to expedite the process of implementing uniform testing tables". The World Bowls Board are currently in the process of implementing a uniform testing facility for all bowls manufacturers. The matter is still in the hands of our lawyers. Hope this clarifies some of the details for you. |
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