This week saw the announcement of Bowls Victoria’s new event, the Victorian Bowls League.
Featuring 8 teams from Melboune and regional Victoria, the tournament will run for three days between September 16 and 18 and – as all good events are these days – will be streamed live, presumably through Facebook. It also promises rotating formats, which games played pairs, triples, singles and fours.
“The VBL is a truly state-wide competition and it’s fantastic to see teams from the north, south, east and west of our state coming on board” said Tony Sherwill, CEO of Bowls Victoria.
This sounds like a great initiative, and we’ll definitely be tuning in, but it does raise some interesting questions around the future of the sport. The increasing emergence of bite-sized tournaments, which are designed for TV and therefore will attract extra sponsorship, is no doubt good for the sport. But what does it mean for pennant and other more traditional forms of bowls?
Is bowls in a position similar to cricket, forced to decide between embracing tradition or adapting to thrive in the modern sports marketplace?
What are your thoughts?
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