Norfolk Bowls Association.

LADIES’ RULES AND REGULATIONS.

1.Administration.

(a) The County’ affairs of the Association shall be conducted by the Officers of the Council consisting of President, Senior Vice-President, Junior Vice-President. Hon Secretary, Hon Assistant Secretary. Hon Treasurer, Hon Competition Secretary, Benevolent Secretary, Immediate Past President and Bowls England Delegate.

(b) Each affiliated club shall be entitled to send to any Council and General Meeting, including the Annual General Meeting two voting representatives and all major decisions shall be decided by ballot.   The President shall have the casting vote at all meetings.

(c) The Council shall consist of the Officers of the Council plus two voting members from each affiliated club and shall meet as often as the business of the County Section requires.  The Secretary, after consultation with the President, shall notify all members concerned.

(d) Fourteen days notice of any Council or General Meeting, including the Annual General Meeting shall be given by the Hon Secretary to all persons entitled to vote, except in the case of urgency.  

(e) Any affiliated club may send a requisition to the Hon Secretary to call a special meeting.  Such requisition shall state the nature of the business to be brought before the Council which, if they consider the matter of sufficient importance, shall instruct the Hon Secretary to call an Extraordinary General Meeting.  The notice of the meeting shall state the business for which it has been called and no other business shall be transacted at that meeting.

(f) All Past Presidents to be appointed Honorary Life Members. Other members may also be appointed for special services rendered to the game.    Honorary Life Members shall be entitled to attend General and Special Meeting without a vote unless acting as delegates.

(g) The financial year shall end on 30^th September. 

(h) Where a rule refers to nominations these are required to be forwarded by the due date to Hon Secretary by the secretary of the nominee’s club, to be signed by them, their club secretary and club President or other club official.   Propositions from clubs are required to be forwarded by the due date to Hon Secretary by the secretary of the club and the club President or other club official.

 (i) At the Annual General Meeting the Senior Vice-President and the Junior Vice-President shall automatically be elected as President and Senior Vice-President respectively.  Nominations for Junior Vice-President shall be submitted and be received by the Hon Secretary not later than September 30^th.  

(j) Nominations for Hon Secretary, Hon Treasurer, Hon Assistant Secretary, Competition Secretary, Benevolent Secretary, Press Officer and Bowls England Delegate must be received by Hon Secretary not later than 30^th September, together with any propositions from clubs to be placed before the Annual General Meeting.  Any officer, who wishes to resign their post, depending upon the circumstances of their decision, is required to give reasonable notice of their intentions to the Executive,

(k) The Executive shall have the power to fill any vacancy on the Executive by co-option to be ratified at the Annual General Meeting.

(l ) The Hon Secretary shall conduct the business affairs of the County Section under the direction of the Officers of the Council.

(m) The Hon Treasurer shall receive all monies on behalf of the County Section and shall pay such monies into the Section’s Bank Account.  All accounts, where possible, shall be paid by cheque, and signed by two of the four designated signatories.  If paid by cash, receipts to be obtained.  The Hon Treasurer shall produce for distribution at the Annual General Meeting a balance sheet for the previous year duly audited by an approved experienced person appointed for the purpose.

(n) The Hon Secretary shall keep a record of all business transacted at General, Council and Executive Meetings and at each such meeting shall submit a report of the proceedings of the previous meeting.

(o) Allowances for the forthcoming year to be decided upon at the Annual General Meeting and paid by the 29^th September.  Any officer being considered for such payment must withdraw from the meeting whilst discussion takes place.  The Treasurer to be informed of the decision.

(p) The Executive shall be empowered to adjudicate upon any disputes referred to it arising between or amongst affiliated clubs or any members thereof as to the meaning or interpretation of the laws of the game or any of the rules, bye-laws, regulations and conditions or any point not covered by the laws, rules, bye-laws regulations or conditions or any matter of practice policy or complaint which it shall hold to be within its jurisdiction. The subject of reference or appeal must be stated in writing to the Honorary Secretary who shall call either a Special Executive Meeting to discuss it or postpone its consideration until the next Executive Meeting. Parties may be heard on each side and the decision of the Executive shall be final.

Team selection.

2a.  County team selection.

A selection committee for the Johns and Walker Cup teams will consist of:

President and Secretary (no votes), the Competition Secretary, the team captain and four experienced bowlers who may also be part of the team. Non playing selectors must be prepared to attend all Johns Trophy and Walker Cup games. Nominations for selectors to be received by the 30^th September 2025.

County mixed knockout competition (twelve ladies and twelve men) with be run and selected jointly with the men.

b. County Friendly selection.

Selection for County friendlies is open to all players affiliated to Norfolk Bowls Association. It is not necessary to have entered a County competition. Names of players to be sent to the Assistant County Secretary at the appropriate time. Teams will be selected by the Assistant secretary and two area delegates, one from area A and one from Area B.

3.Competition Rules of Competitions leading to national finals ( Blue Riband events as defined by B.E)

All games will be played in accordance with the rules set out by Bowls England Rules 50-70.

a. All competitions shall be confined to those clubs which are affiliated to Norfolk Bowls Association and Bowls England. No competitor shall allow their name to be submitted for entry in the junior singles, junior pairs, singles, pairs, triples, fours and senior fours competitions by more than one Club in any one year. The County to which their one club is affiliated is the only County for which the player may compete in National championships and inter County competitions.

b. For purposes of the competitions the County will be divided into Area A and Area B.  Entries must be submitted to the Competitions secretary on the required form by the 31^st January each year, along with the entry fees. The draw to be conducted by the President, County secretary, Competition secretary and Assistant County secretary.

c. No County competitions to be played on indoor rinks or greens which do not comply with B.E rules.

d. Challengers to give two dates and different days of the week at least 14 days before the date of the first game and thereafter within three days of the end of each successive round. Opponents shall reply within three days accepting one of these dates offered unless already playing another B.E competition when an additional date must be given. Fixed date games may be played before the date by mutual agreement between the players. If a problem occurs please contact the Competition secretary.

e. Games can be played at any time up to 6.30pm start Monday to Friday, also weekends by mutual agreement.

f. Games to be played on the Challengers green if available; otherwise an alternative affiliated green may be used.

g. If one side is more than thirty minutes late after the fixed time for the game, the game may be claimed by their opponents.

h. Challengers (home player) to find a marker for singles games.

i. No extensions of the time set for various rounds of County competitions will be allowed unless special permission is given by the Competition secretary and the County Executive. Players selected for International duty, Walker Cup and Johns Trophy must be allowed to play all County competitions.

j. Competitors who concede a County game must inform the Competitions secretary and their opponents. Any action deemed necessary will be dealt with in accordance with B.E.

k. Competition format for the following Blue Riband events:

Two wood singles: two bowls, 21 ends, player to concede if they cannot win.

*Entrants must be Under 24 on the Ist April in the year of the competition.

l. In Pairs, Triples and Fours the players taking part in the first game shall constitute the team and shall normally play together throughout the competition.  One additional and the same player may, however, be used as a substitute at any time, provided they has not already played in the competition.  They may play in any position.

m. In the event of a tie, an extra end shall be played.  The skips to toss and the winner has the right to decide who shall play first.

n. Quarter finals, Semi-finals and finals to be played on greens chosen by the Executive.

4. Competitions played within the County.

a. The Benevolent Triples (three bowls/15 ends) to be played up to the quarter finals on one day. Triples may consist of players from more than one club.

b. The Coronation triples. (three bowls/15 ends), all players from the same club.

c.  Webb Trophy.  This is a double fours competition – 8 players who must be bona fide playing members of the same club. The game shall consist of 18 ends, one four to play at home and the other away at the same time on the same day in all rounds.  Games to be played on the dates stipulated but may be played before the fixed date by mutual agreement.  The final shall be played at the County Arts Club on the date stipulated and arrangements for playing the final shall be made by the Competition Secretary.

A club is allowed to make any number of entries in this competition and shall have the option of substituting players and of altering the position of players for the second or succeeding rounds but a player may only play for one team in her club.  An extra end shall be played on the green of the club of the challengers.

d. There shall be no telephones on the green.   Contact with the opposing club shall be made at the conclusion of the game by the Captains of each team. Scores should be communicated to all players.

e. If the green of one of the contestants should be unfit for play due to inclement weather or other circumstances, the game shall be played, if practicable, on a neutral affiliated green by mutual agreement or the green of their opponents if fit for play.

f.  Norfolk Top Club.   

Players are required to play from the club in which they play their county competitions.  Two clubs with insufficient members to enter a team may join together to make up a team. To be played at times agreed by both sides and including evenings if required.

A team shall consist of 10 players.  The disciplines are four-wood singles (21 shots), four-wood pairs (18 ends), three-wood triples (18 ends) and 2-wood fours (18 ends).   Failure to field 10 players will result in a walk-over.   Before the start of the match a coin will be tossed for the choice of the jack (first end), the winner having the choice of keeping or giving the jack away, and make the draw for rinks for each discipline.

 The format for the competition will be as follows :-

1 point for every discipline won, a total of four points available.  In the event of a drawn discipline the point will be shared, i.e. ½ a point each.  After completion of the four disciplines the winning side will be decided by the highest number of points. In the case of a tie, the winner will be decided on the total number of shots scored from the four disciplines.  Should these be equal as well as the match score, an extra ends in the pairs, triples and fours will be played to determine the result.  In this event a further toss of the coin will be made, the winner having the choice of keeping or giving the jack away.   Shots do not count on the extra ends – only the winning of the end. Results of the three disciplines, i.e,. 2-1 3-0.  All disciplines will be played simultaneously.

Between rounds substitutes/changes are allowed in the side and between disciplines provided the players are members of the same clubs and have not played for another side during the current competition.  For this competition only substitutes during play is allowed for the singles player in case of illness or injury, the score being resumed after interruption.

5. Disputes.

 Any disputes involving competitions should be addressed to the Competition Secretary who, if necessary, will call a meeting of the Executive. Any other disputes should be sent to the County secretary to be discussed by the Disciplinary committee.

6. Points System and County Badge.

 a. County Competitions leading to Blue Riband events held at Leamington Spa. – fours, triples, pairs, 4-four singles and 2-wood singles. Points awarded to unbadged players as follows:

b. Players from other Counties who have received their previous County badge are eligible to take part in Norfolk County Association unbadged competitions.  Players who have recently played for their County in the Johns Trophy and Walker Cup teams shall be awarded four points towards their county badge, at the discretion of the Executive.

c. 12 points must be earned to gain a County badge. Once a County badge is earned points will no longer be awarded.

7. Johns Trophy and Walker Cup.

 Johns Trophy and Walker Cup flashes to be awarded to players who have played in these competitions for three years, although not necessarily consecutively.

Names of players nominated by their club secretary to be considered for the Johns Trophy and Walker Cup competitions to be forwarded to the Competition Secretary by Club Secretaries by 31^st March.

County Friendly Matches.

All affiliated members of Norfolk Bowls Association are eligible to play in these games.

Bowls England: further Competitions for 2025.

The following competitions are entered directly via the B.E web site:

Family pairs, Mixed pairs, mixed fours, over  55 singles, over 55 pairs, foundation pairs, Champion of Champions (club winner 2024) and under 17 singles.

Club competitions entered via B.E : National Top Club (Ladies), Tony Alcock (mixed) and Club two fours ( 0pen).

More information available on the B.E website.

County Dress is in line with Bowls England dress code.

  * The new County shirt will be phased in and be worn for Friendly games from May 2026 onwards. Black trousers, shorts will be introduced into the Friendly games from May 2025.

Please note: your club uniform may consist of:

Club shirt and B.E regulation colours below the waist, Club shirt and matching colours below the waist. In all competitions, all members of the team must wear club or white tops and the same colours below the waist.

Refer to B.E website, Document Club and Clothing guidance issued June 2023, this contains the latest information for clubs.

Amendments to these rules were revised on March 2025