Should road bowling take inspiration from GAA and create a split season?

Currently the bowling year is one of waves and throughs. Some months, like September, are overloaded, while other months are too lean.

SPLIT SEASON: Should bowling follow the GAA and create a split season. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Honan

The 2024 European Championships have come into sharp focus as the King and Queen of the Roads transitions into the rear view mirror, which asks some questions around the road bowling calendar.

The first of a series of international trials kicked off on Sunday morning at Castletownkenneigh for senior men and youth bowlers. These have the dual benefit of selecting the Irish team and creating real competition for elite bowlers. The same applies to senior women and girls.

James O’Donovan topped Sunday’s road trial with a score of 1,320m, ahead of the last two European champions, Séamus Sexton and David Murphy. Cathal Creedon was best of the u18 boys with a score of 1,008m, followed by Anthony Crowley and Liam Murphy.

While the elite players can focus on winning a place on the Irish team, the majority of the players at lower levels don’t have any significant competition, echoing the dilemma faced by GAA club players before the advent of the split season.

Currently the bowling year is one of waves and troughs. Some months, like September, are overloaded, while other months are too lean.

This was less obvious when club tournaments filled the void. All kinds of factors have moved the dial away from that model. The result is that many players see long fallow periods when they have no meaningful competition.

Currently too much is packed into too short an envelope. The championship calendar is aimed at three dates that are all in quick succession. For the vast majority that means that once September comes, they are not likely to be in a serious competition again until the following March.

The tight timetable means that the majority of championships are straight knockout. For close to half the players that means the season begins and ends on the same day. This is both a tragedy for the individual players and for the wider bowling community.

The 2023 summer was buzzing from the action in the novice and junior c grades. But the excitement was for too short a period and not enough players reached the business end of things.

There also needs to be more ongoing competition from top to bottom of women’s bowling. How the three Munster qualifiers at Queen of the Roads took on the best in Europe was a real revelation. Much of that could be attributed to their involvement in preparations for the European championships.

Some tweaks would make the situation better. Creating a more active calendar, with incentivises for clubs as well as players. Instituting a fairer and more rigorous grading process for the second tier of adult men. For all adult players there is a need to guarantee a minimum number of championship scores.

Bowling could take inspiration from the GAA. It was prepared to sacrifice sacred cows like the September dates for the All-Ireland finals. Do the bowling All-Ireland have to adhere to the dates established decades ago? Should bowling recognise opportunity too in the GAA split season?

The split season creates space for the club, but it also offers GAA club players options to play other games. This has particular significance for bowling as there is significant cross-over between GAA and bowling in many communities. Creating conditions for more participation could have a lot of positive spin-offs.

The primary purpose in revising the bowling calendar should be to make sure more bowlers have more competition for more of the year. It could also consider how that might complement the GAA split season and help more players cross over to bowling in their off-season. Or like Kelly Mallon and Ethan Rafferty did in 2023, combine both.

We won’t go back to when Kevin Moran played with Manchester United and Dublin. Though more recently Kieran Donaghy made no secret of the benefits of playing basketball for his Gaelic football career.

The next generation of elite bowlers may include Jena Healy and Chloë Hubbard who pulled off a brilliant double for North Cork when they won the Munster u14 and u12 girls finals at Castletownkenneigh.

In the U14 final Grace Ahern won the first four shots, before a big fifth one gave Jena Healy her first lead. She followed with three great bowls to go well over a bowl in front. She made the hollies in two more to take her lead well over two bowls. She continued to dominate to the line.

In the U12 final Lilly Scannell had a 40m lead after three great opening shots. Chloë Hubbard won the lead with a big fourth one and quickly took control.