End of an era as Syke quit league

ONE of the powerhouse teams in the Chadderton Bowling League have quit after a hugely-successful 25-year association with the Monday night competition.

Syke, 'A' Division champions in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006 and the source of many Greater Manchester players over the years, have finally succumbed to a lack of numbers after struggling to get a 10-man team together in recent seasons.

The annual meeting of the Chadderton League saw teams from St Paul's, Dog and Partridge and Oldham Transport hand in their notice to quit. Syke, meanwhile, asked for seven days' grace in an attempt to boost their numbers.

LIMITED
But the Rochdale-based club - run for many years by the late Peter Craig, the record-breaking five-times Green Final Bowls champion - finally had to face the worst this week.

They had only a limited number of players willing to commit on a regular basis, so the club informed the league that they would not be competing in 2017.

Several clubs in the Chadderton League took to social media this week to express their dismay at Syke's withdrawal, and their loss to the league will be seen as a bitter blow - as will the withdrawal of the three Oldham-based teams.

Syke stalwart Barry Collinge, who has played in the team since it joined the Chadderton League in the early 1990s, said: "We have been struggling for players for a few years so this has been coming.

"It's sad and the end of an era for our club, but we only had eight or nine definites for 2017 and, when you take holidays into account, you can't hope to run a team under those circumstances."

Chadderton League secretary David Moore admitted the loss of four more teams is a body blow to the league.

He said: "We had 121 teams in 12 divisions in the 1980s. Over 20 years, that has more than halved and we are now down to 51 in six divisions.

"There are lots of reasons, the most obvious being that many of those bowlers who played then are no longer with us.

'BORROW'

"But I also think there are less opportunities to bowl these days. You used to be able to go to any park in Oldham and borrow a pair of bowls from the hut and then go on the green.

"That's all gone these days, so the chances for people to get started in the game are much less and I am sure that is a factor in where we are now."

* OLDHAM'S interest in the Norman Swirls Memorial Pairs at Droylsden Park ended at the quarter-final stage when Springbank's Jimmy Hynes and Donny Wilkinson lost 21-19 to Ashton's M and G Sutton.

The £150 top prize was won by Wigan raiders Ian Rutter and Danny Miller, who beat Hyde's Andy Raymond and Ryan Bancroft 21-19.

The winter series reverts to singles action on Sunday. Practice is from 9.45am, play starts at 10am and it costs £6 to enter.

Ring or text Mark Sutton on 0770 2452810.