Page 29 - Summer 2016

Worlds 10:Layout 1 01-Sep-16 1:40 PM Page 1

place. England beat Scotland 16 - 3 and Ireland beat Belgium 14 - 3. The big Scandanavian 29
clash saw Sweden sweep away the challenge of Norway 18 - 2. Wales re-entered the fray
in the next round with a 22 - 1 demolition of Scotland. The big clash of this round saw Ireland
make a 1 - 2 finish for an important 9 - 7 win over England They followed this up at the end of the
day with a stunning 28 - 5 result over Norway, whilst England went down again, this time to Wales.
Only a four to England on the last end made the result look close as Wales won 13 - 11.
On Sunday morning England signed off with a 23 - 6 result over Sweden but the final game
saw Ireland score a comfortable 13 - 5 win over Wales, which cost the Welsh a place in the semi’s
leaving them in third place in the group as England finished second.
IRELAND ARE
IRELAND ARE
FOURS CHAMPIONS
FOURS CHAMPIONS
In the semi-finals Ireland “B” faced
Wales “A” and a very tight match en-
sued and despite Wales winning six of
the ten ends, better scoring on winning
ends saw the Irish take the match 9 -
7.
In the other semi-final an equally
hard fought match saw England “A”
face Wales “B”. a two to Wales on the
last end forced a 6 all draw but on the
sudden death extra end England
edged their way into the final.
A quick start from Ireland “B” saw them 5 - 0 up after three ends. By end seven England
fought back to 5 - 7 but the Irish wouldn’t give up their lead with some great bowling and eventually
won 8 - 6 in a match truly fit for a final.
Bobbyweaf

I was also astonished that the English players and Umpires taking part were apparently asked to
pay £2 each for their programmes, some did some didn’t. I know the ESMBA don’t want to lose
another £19,000 again this year, in fact they lost another £10,000 or so and spent over £5,000 on
travelling expenses for the World Championships, so did the £80 - £100 or whatever gained make
that much difference to the ESMBA funds?
I was hoping to see some old faces from local bowlers during the event and sure enough I
was delighted to see Geoff and Gaynor Buchanan. Geoff was one of the early organisers of the
ESMBA, not only in the first year (1984)but onwards for several years after. I still remember the
original organisers but I don’t think many do or simply don’t know about who they were..
Gaynor herself played in the very first England team and also in the very first World Cham-
pionships and with no disrespect to any other ladies who have played for England since, I have
seen no better lady player than Gaynor Buchanan.
As to the so called World Council, don’t you think that all the players taking part understood
the rules? I don’t mean the general rules of our sport but those specific rules appertaining just to
the World Championships? There are differences in the way some nations play and two years
ago it was agreed that there would be a set of rules that the World Championships would be played
b, so that all players understood..
A set of rules was actually produced but they were apparently not in the end presented and
thus not yet agreed too. Yet again the left hand and right hand appear not to be communicating,
there is so much more I could say but bluntly “Pissing in the wind” aptly sums up my thoughts and
feelings on anything else I could say! Except there will be an agreed set in Sweden in 2018 and
I hope I’m there to watch the Championships again!