spanishbowlsnationals.com

Welcome to the Spanish Bowls Nationals website, produced by the Leader newspaper group on behalf of the Federation. We have endeavoured to include all the information needed by competitors in the championships, such as the rules, draws, order of play, hotel accommodation, etc.

This year the rules have been amended slightly, taking into consideration the views of competitors and lessons learned in previous years, notably with regard to the wearing of coloured clothing. Visits to the head will also be restricted as per the current rule book. While perhaps more relaxed than before, the rules are there to be observed and will be strictly enforced.
All the draws for the various disciplines have now been made and as well as being sent out to clubs, are available to view on this website. The qualifying matches for the mens and ladies singles were organised by each of the 4 regions, using a new format which meant that everyone played on specified dates in an open draw of all entrants. The number of players qualifying from each region was allocated relative to the numbers expected to enter, drawing on figures from previous championships.

Malaga - 4 qualifiers
Almeria - 4 qualifiers
North Alicante - 8 qualifiers
South Alicante - 16 qualifiers

The opening ceremony will be held at Quesada B.C. at 6 p.m. on Saturday 10th May. Those taking part are asked to arrive no later than 5.30 p.m. Photographs of the ceremony and of individual teams will be taken by the Leader photographers and will be available on a CD, priced at 5 euros, which can be purchased at the Leader office located just off the La Zenia roundabout on the N332.

The championships are scheduled to run from Sunday 11th May until Friday 23rd May, using the greens at Monte Mar, La Marina, La Siesta, San Luis, Quesada and Greenlands. The finals, presentation of trophies and the closing ceremony will take place at Monte Mar B.C. The schedule available now runs until 18th May, giving the competition secretary freedom to allocate the games of the latter stages in a way which should benefit those involved.

A meeting of everyone who will be controlling play at the various venues has taken place in order to ensure conformity in the running of the championships.

A dinner dance has been arranged for Thursday 15th May at the Punta Prima hotel, which has sufficient space for everyone who wishes to attend. Details have been sent out to clubs and reservations should be made via Deidre Leeming (Quesada B.C), who will collect payment at the opening ceremony. A championships raffle will be drawn at the dinner, tickets for which will be on sale at all venues in the days beforehand. A separate raffle to raise funds for the international squad will be run by Lynn Greenland after the dinner dance and will be drawn at the closing ceremony.

The Leader has again produced this year's official programme, which is being printed at the time of writing.

It cannot be emphasised enough how vital sponsorship is to the staging of the championships and we take the opportunity now to thank all the sponsors who will be supporting the event. Confirmed as sponsor at this moment in time is Santa Pola Ayuntamiento, a new sponsor thanks to it's close ties with Monte Mar B.C. Avalon funeral planners are once again sponsoring the player of the tournament, Bancaja is supporting the event for the second time and UK car hire firm 1Car1 is another of the new sponsors. Quesada B.C has generously forgone a portion of it's green hire fees. We ask all bowlers to repay the invaluable support which the sponsors give us, by using their services in turn.

Rick Wills
10th April 2008