Bowls WA 125-Year Celebrations Set To Kick Off
2023 will see The Royal Western Australian Bowling Association, now Bowls WA, turn 125 years old. Officially formed by the three established clubs, Perth, Fremantle, and Swan, T.B. Jackson was elected as the first WA President on October 6th, 1898
As part of the celebrations during 2023, a number of Dream teams will be selected, and the bowling public will get the opportunity to vote for the greatest Western Australian Male and Female bowler in our history.
- MEN’S AND WOMEN’S COUNTRY AND METROPOLITAN DREAM TEAMS
During February, Bowls WA will release a squad of our greatest male and female country and metropolitan representatives over the last 125 years. To be eligible to be named in a squad, a player must have been selected in a country versus metropolitan team.
There are a number of players who have played in both the country and metropolitan teams over the years. These players may be named in either or both squads but may only be selected in one final Dream Team.
Players who played at the peak of their powers before the Country v Metropolitan games were introduced, may be selected in the squad where they played the most.
After the squads have been announced a group of appointed experts will slowly reduce the squad until a final 16 is left. These players will be announced in the Country and Metropolitan Dream Teams in four selected rinks.
BWA President Doug Kelly will chair all selection teams and joining him will be former players/administrators from different eras. No stone will be left unturned to determine who will make the final cut. It is expected those final teams will be announced in May 2023.
- A HEAD-TO-HEAD COMPETITION AS VOTED BY PUBLIC
The hardest thing for any sport to do is to compare players from different eras to say who was the greatest, but we are going to give it a go with the final decision laying in the hands of the bowling public.
In March 2023, Bowls WA will begin a head-to-head competition of the best players to have ever played in Western Australia. The two fields will consist of 32 men and 32 women taken from the 125 years of history of bowlers in Western Australia.
How Will You Determine The Players?
A squad of 28 men and 28 women will be selected on the basis of a points system that will be based on
- Bowls WA State Events won
- State representation and the number of games played
- Commonwealth Games medals won
- National Titles including Australian Open and National Championships
- Other significant major events won including master’s events
The points system is biased towards State Events Won but state representation and individual performances at these championships have been an important part of Bowls history and have been recognized in the points system.
The final 4 places in the men’s and women’s competitions to make up the full 32 players will be President picks. These are for the players that, for whatever reason, the points may not reflect their contribution and standing as a Western Australian player. BWA President Doug Kelly will consult widely before making those final four important selections.
How Will It Work?
Starting on Monday, March 13th, 2023, BWA will begin to announce first-round matchups for everyone to start seeing who is in the best 32 players of all time. Over the course of four weeks, all 16 first-round matchups in the men’s and 16 first-round matchups in the women’s competition will have been released.
One of the matchups may be a player from the 1900s against a player of the 2000s, so in order for you to learn of each player’s achievements, a short biography will accompany the contest for you to compare and make your vote count.
For four weeks, you will have the opportunity to debate with your friends and teammates who should be advancing to the next round.
After all the whole 1st round matchups have been released, we will open the brackets up for voting. Make sure you vote for your favourites and get your friends to do the same to ensure your pick advances. When the voting closes the votes will be tallied, and the winner will advance to the next round and we start the round 2 matchup announcement’s before opening the voting again.
- MEN’S STATE DREAM TEAM AND WOMEN’S STATE DREAM TEAM
The final announcement will be the Men’s and Women’s State Dream Team. Obviously, to be eligible, a player must have been selected in a State Team, with the exception being the players at their best prior to State Teams being selected on a regular basis. These players may be selected on the basis of other performances.
A Squad of both Men and Women will be announced during the year and once again, BWA President Doug Kelly will take charge of two groups of experts to whittle down the names and construct a Dream Team State 16 in their rinks.
For these selection teams, president Doug will not only consult with WA players and officials from different eras but will also touch base with some of our opponents over the years to get their opinions.
In October 2023 the final WA Dream Team 16’s will be announced, and we will all be able to celebrate and debate the WA State Dream Teams from the last 125 years.
More information and timelines are to be announced in the near future, so let’s start the debate and get the discussion started, who do you think should be in any of the announced teams, and who is the best Western Australian male and female player of all time.
