What Changed?
Each Provincial Bowls Association will get one entry with the exception of NB and PEI who will qualify out of a single Maritime qualification zone. If necessary, competitors from NB and PEI could play together on a single team. This means there will be eight teams competing for the national championship.
A Provincial team will consist of:
- 5 to 10 women to play the four disciplines (Singles & Fours | Pairs & Triples). Singles and Fours will be played concurrently. Pairs and Triples will be played concurrently. Competitors from provinces sending a five-aside team will have the opportunity to play in two disciplines.
- 5 to 10 men to play the four disciplines (Singles & Fours | Pairs & Triples) Singles and Fours will be played concurrently. Pairs and Triples will be played concurrently. Competitors from provinces sending a five-aside team will have the opportunity to play in two disciplines.
- 2 U21 Youth (1 male + 1 female); Para bowlers (as new disciplines, the para events will require modified solutions to ensure participation and equity across the various classifications).
Provincial Bowls Associations will choose how they qualify their teams. Provincial associations choosing the five-aside format for the singles, fours, pairs and triples will be able to run their qualification playdowns in a single weekend based on a template provided by the national association. Provincial associations not wishing to send a five-aside team will need to host four individual qualifiers for those events. Each Association would decide when to hold the event based on what best suits their calendar providing it meets the entry deadlines set by BCB.
Why Change?
The number eight is generally a magic number for lawn bowls draws with the majority of outdoor greens in Canada having eight rinks. The number ten, currently used up to 2023, came from the original ten provincial members of Bowls Canada each having an entry. When Newfoundland/Labrador withdrew from the event, the case was made that Ontario should receive a second entry as at the time their numbers were more than double of any other provincial association.
Fast forward to today and we see that a number of our smaller provinces struggle to send full teams to seven separate events resulting in an overwhelming number of second-entries (or B teams) from other provinces being enlisted to prevent byes in a schedule. This indicates that a pool of 16 entries representative of the provincial associations is not realistic at this time.
An open format was not considered based on the results of the Open National Singles Championship which ran from 2013 to 2017. This format eventually was discontinued as the entries from across Canada declined with each year until it become more of a regional event based on location than a national event with representation from across the country.
Participant survey data from the last few years indicates that Canadian bowlers have a strong desire to compete in a round-robin format. Not only do they feel that having to play all teams has a better chance of seeing a true champion emerge from the competition, but it also guarantees a minimum of games to justify the cost of traveling across a country as vast as Canada.
Reducing the number of championships, events and numbers of participants means that the costs to the Provincial Bowls Associations is also greatly reduced. This means that more funds are available for other events such as regional competitions, festivals, development camps, and so on.
