2024 Canadian Championship Update
Since publicizing the new championship model in early April, BCB has met with the Provincial Associations through the President’s Council multiple times to listen to their concerns around this new championship model. BCB shared extensive financial data, historical participation trend data, expert recommendations from a study commissioned by the Canadian Olympic Committee, World Bowls updates, and more. The Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs) shared reports from their Boards and respective members.
As a result of this consultation process, the 2024 National Championships program has been adapted as follows.
2024 Championships Program
The 2024 championship model will consist of eight teams: each Provincial Association will be allotted one team, with New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island qualifying out of a single region to identify the eighth entry (Team Maritime).
Teams will compete in singles/fours and pairs/triples, an Under 21 event, bowlers with physical and visual impairments will compete in a Para-Championship. The youth age category will be a U21 event with a minimum eligible age of 14 years. The Para championships will require a unique approach, as the number of bowlers with physical or visual impairments is still being determined across the country.
A possible schedule for the event, with either a 4-green complex or two 2-green facilities co-hosting, would look like this:
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Green #1 |
Green #2 |
Green #3 |
Green #4 |
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Day 1 |
Practice, Registration, Opening Ceremonies |
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Day 2 |
Men = Singles/Fours |
Women = Pairs/Triples |
Para |
Youth |
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Day 3 |
Men = Singles/Fours |
Women = Pairs/Triples |
Para |
Youth |
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Day 4 |
Men = Pairs/Triples |
Women = Singles/Fours |
Para |
Youth |
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Day 5 |
Men = Pairs/Triples |
Women = Singles/Fours |
Para – Finals |
Youth – Finals |
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Day 6 |
Finals |
Finals |
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NOTE: If 4 greens are not available, a 2-green facility can host this event with the Para and Youth event occurring either before or after the other disciplines, resulting in a 10-day event.
For the singles/fours and pairs/triples “Major” events, Provincial Associations are encouraged to send a five-aside team to maximize competition opportunity for the players. However, Provincial Associations may also choose to host four separate qualifier events and send individual entrant for these four events.
The format will consist of 2 sets of 5 ends for team events. The “Majors” Singles event will follow the World Bowls Champion of Champion format which is currently 3 sets of 5 ends with all three sets being played in round robin play and only the best two out three being played in knock out formats. All other singles events will have 2 sets of 7 ends with a one-end tiebreaker (if necessary) for both.
All games will have a 1.5-hour time limit (except for Para events). A full round robin will be played with participants getting 7 games per discipline, and spectators getting plenty of exciting action in this new fast-paced format.
With the two final days scheduled to be a finals bonanza, there will be plenty of medals to award, games to be streamed, and trophies to be lifted. The traditional Cy English (top men’s team) and Lady Alexander (top women’s team) trophies will still be highly coveted, as the awards will take into consideration multiple disciplines from this Event.
In the place of a Canadian Indoor Singles Championships, a national Indoor Singles Qualifying event will be introduced to determine Canada’s representative to the World Bowls Indoor Singles Championships.
Summary of the Consultation Process
At the May 18th meeting of the Presidents’ Council (a consultative body composed of the President of each Provincial Bowls Association that provides feedback and recommendations to the BCB Board of Directors), a vote was conducted whereby seven out of nine PSOs voted in favour of proceeding with the 2024 model as proposed, with some revisions being considered. As there was no consensus on which revisions should be the priority, the Presidents’ Council agreed to have the BCB staff conduct an analysis on the agreed upon set of revisions identified through this consultative process. This analysis included details such as how many additional days would be added to the championship program, details on the differences in costs to BCB, PSOs, and individual participants, and the number of rinks/greens required for each suggested revision. The final analysis report was provided to the PSO Presidents’ on May 24th so that further review could be done at the provincial level with the goal of coming together on June 1st to finalize the 2024 model.
On June 1st, 2023 the Presidents’ Council met again with the purpose of discussing the results of the analysis and providing their feedback to the BCB Board for final consideration. There were unanimous votes of support from the PSO Presidents on the following:
- To support the elimination of the mandatory requirement of 5-person teams for the singles/pairs/triples/fours event. This would allow provinces to choose whether they wished to send a team of five to play in the four events or to send some other combination of players to play singles, pairs, triples and fours.
- To NOT support the suggestion of five-end sets with 3-end tiebreakers.
- To NOT support 7-end sets with 1-end tiebreaker.
There was support from only one PSO to maintain the status quo of the 2023 model.
There was continued support from the majority of PSOs on proceeding with the 2024 model as initially proposed in April with no changes or alterations.
There was support from the majority of PSOs on bringing back Indoor Singles in some format provided it was financially viable to do so.
All other suggested revisions received split support.
Additionally, at this meeting the PSOs expressed their big picture priorities to be shared with the BCB Board of Directors. Overall, the majority of the PSOs indicated that they are still looking at BCB to support initiatives for growing membership, creating competition opportunities and marketing. Financial feasibility, national competition and local development were also identified as being very important.
The Bowls Canada Board of Directors met on June 7th. At this meeting, it was acknowledged that BCB must continue to strive to find a balance between national competitions and membership programming. After extensive review of the feedback received and in consideration of the many challenges faced by the sport, the organization and the championships themselves, the BCB Board of Directors approved unanimously to implement the following adjustments from the initial model released in April.
1. TEAM COMPOSITION: PSOs will have the option for how to field teams in the singles/pairs/triples/fours. Singles & Fours will still be played concurrently, as will Pairs & Triples, meaning the 5-a-side option will still be available for those provinces who wish to qualify as a team of 5; alternatively, if a provincial association wished to hold 4 separate qualifiers and send 4 unique teams, they would have the option to do so.
2. BYES AND B-TEAMS: The 8-team draw will remain, however, if there is a vacancy in the draw, B-Teams will be used to ensure a full draw. As the largest province, Ontario will have the first right of refusal, with random wild cards used after that if necessary.
3. OUTDOOR SINGLES FORMAT: As an international qualifier, the outdoor Singles event will be modified to mimic the current World Bowls Champion of Champions format. Using the 2023 Champion of Champions conditions of play, this would look like three 5-end sets. During the round robin, all three sets must be played, while in the playoffs only the best 2 out of 3 must be played. As Singles is typically played much faster than team events, it is anticipated that the length of time to complete a longer singles match would not add additional rounds (or days) to the schedule.
4. TEAM GAMES FORMAT: Given that seven of nine provinces were initially willing to try the new model and that there was no clear indication of support of the other suggested revisions, the Board elected to maintain the current proposal of five-end sets with a one-end tie-breaker.
5. EVENT FORMAT: Should finding a host prove difficult, splitting up the Youth & Para disciplines from the Singles/Pairs/Triples/Fours would be considered. This could result in two separate hosts in separate locations, if need be, however, every effort would be made to finding a host(s) for a single event.
6. INDOOR SINGLES: The Indoor Singles will be reintroduced as a World Indoor Championships Qualifier instead of as a national championship. The draw would still consist of 12 men and 12 women, however managing event entries will be modified from previous years to still encourage participation from all provinces, but then streamline the administration of filling vacancies.
7. CONSULTATION: A national task force will be created to evaluate the national championships and make recommendations to the BCB Board. This task force will consist of BCB’s Development Committee and the representative from each PSO who is involved with organizing/running their provincial playdowns and/or managing their competition program. This task force will be charged with evaluating the 2024 model, including determining which metrics to gather, assist in gathering them, analyzing the results and then making recommendations to the BCB Board after the first year of this new model has been tested.
When presented to the Presidents’ Council on June 15th, seven of the nine provincial associations expressed immediate support for the decisions that came out of this consultation process. One province noted that this competition model would align very well with BCB’s new strategic plan (launched in March 2023) which includes plans for the development of an athletes’ council, emphasis on coaching development, the development of a regional competition format and the initial groundwork for creating a Canadian Open event in addition to a strong vision for diversification and growth at all levels.
Support was shown by all nine provinces for the reintroduction of a national indoor singles event and all expressed support for the national consultative task force. The task force provides two opportunities for further PSO consultation – one through the PSO designated representative on the task force and a second through the Presidents’ Council.
Several provinces expressed excitement for the new format and one (Manitoba) shared that they had already trialed the new format to great success.
While Ontario continues to express concern with the changes as they believe that the removal of B-teams will reduce the competitive standard of the Canadian Championships, they have committed to work with Bowls Canada and the other PSOs to evaluate the 2024 Canadian Championship format.
At this time, Bowls BC has reiterated their position to reject the changes for the 2024 Championships due to the process followed and indicated that their participation in the new format is yet to be decided.
Next Steps
While these modifications do not resolve every concern brought forward (it was clear from the feedback that there was no solution that would please everyone), it addresses many of the concerns raised by the PSOs including the need for more consultation. It also recognizes that many of the bowlers across Canada expressed excitement and a willingness to try the new format as originally presented.
Next steps for BCB include working with the Presidents’ Council to establish a Terms of Reference for the Consultative Task Force and get it up and running as soon as possible. One of the first responsibilities for the Task Force will be to establish evaluation metrics and baseline measures for the new event.
BCB will also work on developing the formal “Request For Proposal” bid package and bid-evaluation metrics over the coming weeks, with a formal application process to be released in the near future. Clubs who are interested in hosting the 2024 Canadian Championships are encouraged to begin discussions with their Board, members, municipal bodies and tourism bodies now, so that they can formally bid on hosting once the application portal opens.
Re-imagining the Canadian lawn bowling championships is a bold step on the pathway to securing a sustainable future for the sport of bowls in Canada. The Canadian Lawn Bowling Championships must provide value to all members. A national championship program that creates connection amongst all bowlers in Canada, generates excitement for spectators and players alike, and brings benefits to its hosts is a vision that Bowls Canada looks forward to bringing to life in collaboration with the Provincial Bowls Associations.
To read the detailed report on the feedback analysis, please visit Consultation Report on 2024 Canadian Championships
For more information, please contact [email protected].
About Bowls Canada Boulingrin
Bowls Canada Boulingrin (BCB) is the governing body responsible for lawn bowls in Canada. The BCB mission is to provide leadership that facilitates inclusive participation and excellence for the sport of lawn bowls in Canada. For more details on Bowls Canada Boulingrin and the sport of lawn bowls, visit www.bowlscanada.com.
