Bowls Guernsey will not apply for membership to new joint British Isles body

Bowls Guernsey has announced that it will not apply for membership to the new joint body, nor will they play in future British Isles events from 2023 onwards.

The Guernsey membership held an extraordinary general meeting on Monday, June 20 and voted to not apply for membership for either the men or women.

Bowls Guernsey President Garry Collins said: “Guernsey is very thankful to have been involved with the British Isles men’s events since 1995, firstly within the Channel Island team between 1995 to 2002, and then in the championships only from 2003 in our own right.

“Guernsey will move away from the old formats and adopt the new formats, three-bowl pairs, two-bowl triples, play less ends locally, which will support our elite athletes pathways to get to the European, World and Commonwealth Games, as playing the same formats, this also equals our men and women international events we attend.

“Guernsey is not in a position to host the championships, so always have the expense of travelling away, with our players having to self-fund their own travel expenses, with the reduction in duplications allowed, from two to one team event, Guernsey would have to send more players for maybe only one match (as a straight knockout) other new events like the European and World Bowls Championships and Over 55 events offer better development value.

“Guernsey has won since 2003, six British Isles titles and placed in many finals, in all 16 players between them have 69 individual medals, with Matt Le Ber topping the list with 16 medals, Len Le Ber and Gary Pitschou with 10 medals each, followed by Garry Collins and Matt Solway six medals each.

“On a personal note, I am very sad to discontinue with the British Isles, having been on the British Council for over 20 years myself, with having created the British Isles website back in 2006, as then website officer, which I held for four years and also held the presidency between 2014-2016, but the members have spoken and it’s the right time for Guernsey to move on.”

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