‘Green’ light for bowlers as outdoor season begins

BALLYMENA Bowling Club got their 2013 season officially underway last Saturday afternoon at their Old Ballymoney Road premises.
Barbara Burnett (Lady President) delivers the first bowl of the season to official open Ballymena Bowling Club as looking on is Nigel Robinson (President) and club members. INBT14-250ACBarbara Burnett (Lady President) delivers the first bowl of the season to official open Ballymena Bowling Club as looking on is Nigel Robinson (President) and club members. INBT14-250AC
Barbara Burnett (Lady President) delivers the first bowl of the season to official open Ballymena Bowling Club as looking on is Nigel Robinson (President) and club members. INBT14-250AC

It was up to the new Ballymena Bowling Club President, Mr Nigel Robinson and the new Ladies President, Mrs Barbara Burnett to deliver the first bowl of the season, and there was a good turnout of members to help celebrate the official start to the season.

IMPORTANT MEETINGS

Men – There will be a meeting on Wednesday 3rd April at 7.30 pm sharp at the Club to pick selectors for four Ballymena Teams – Seniors, Juniors, Senior Park and Midweek.

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A good turnout of members who want to play Saturday or Wednesday bowls is requested so that they can have their say in who actually takes on the important role of selecting the various teams.

Ladies – There will also be a meeting on Wednesday 3rd April at 3.00 pm to discuss the way forward for the new season.

SEASON PREVIEW

The 2013 season started off with some disappointing news when the Ballymena Club, who were due to host the Ladies Under 25 International Series and British Isles Championships were informed that the competition had been moved to England as the teams from across the water had concerns with regard to the recent ‘flags dispute’.

The club had the honour of hosting the event four years ago and it was a great success. Ballymena bowlers, Megan Wilson and Sile Garvey were especially disappointed, as they have been deprived of the opportunity of playing in front of their home supporters.

SENIORS

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Winning the league last year created a little bit of history for the Ballymena Senior team.

The Braid men had actually won the NIPGL Senior League Division 1 title a total of six times before 2012, but last year was the first time that Ballymena have actually retained the title.

2012 also saw the NIPGL Senior League reformatted from two leagues to three, with each team playing on a home and away basis and the Ballymena men can now claim to have been the first team to win the newly structured NIPGL Senior League Division 1.

The Seniors finished the league last year with a record of P18 W14 D3 L1, although there was disappointment in the Cup competitions when they were beaten in the final of the NIPGL Senior Cup, and also in the Irish Senior Cup when they fell to a second round defeat at the hands of Whitehead.

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This year, the chase for the League title should prove to be a very competitive again as the NIPGL continue with the three league structure.

This year, in the first round of the Irish Senior Cup, the Seniors travel to Brookgeen, and in the NIPGL Cup, the Seniors are also in first round action with a home tie against Shaftesbury.

JUNIORS

The Ballymena Junior team had a great 2012 season, however, the treble of NIPGL Junior League Division 1, NIPGL Junior Cup and Irish Junior Cup just eluded them.

In the NIPGL Junior League Division 1, the Braid Juniors retained their title for a seventh successive time in a row with a record of P18, W15, L2 and D1.

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In the IBA Junior Cup, the Ballymena men comfortably beat Letterkenny, however, the Braid team came unstuck in the final of the NIPGL Cup when they were defeated by Dunbarton.

This year, the Juniors travel to Portadown in the first round of the Irish Junior Cup, and in the first round of the NIPGL Cup, the Braid men entertain Ulster Transport.

After coming so close to the treble last year, Ballymena Juniors will be hoping to go one better in 2013 and make it a clean sweep of all three trophies.

SENIOR PARK

The reformatted league structure last year certainly benefited the Ballymena Senior Park team where the Braid men found themselves in NIPGL Senior League Division 3.

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They won their first six games, and actually led the NIPGL Senior League Division 3 at the early start of the season.

However, they found the second part of the season much tougher, and in the end, they finished mid table with a record of P20 W10 L01 D0, and scoring a total of 66 points.

Ballymena Senior Park received tough first round draws in both the IBA Senior Cup and the NIPGL Senior Cup last year and fell at the first hurdle in both competitions.

This year, the Senior Park team have received a bye in the first round of the IBA Senior Cup, however ,they face a tough match in the first round of the NIPGL Senior Cup when they host Ulster Transport.

MIIDWEEK PARK

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The 2012 season was a good one for the Ballymena Midweek team. In the NIPGL Midweek League Divison 1 they played a total of 15 games. They won nine games and amassed a total of 46 points, however this included a seven-point deduction for not completing one of their games and if they had not to forfeit these points, then they would have finished in the top half of the league, but as it turned out they finished in 10th out of 16.

The Ballymena men also had a good run in the NIPGL Midweek when they reached the semi final of the competition, however, they were well beaten by a strong Ulster Transport who eventually went on to win the cup.

This year, Ballymena Midweek Park have a first round home tie against Ballee in the NIPGL Midweek Cup.

LADIES

Ballymena Ladies will have to make a better start to the 2013 season if they want to win the PTWBA Senior League title.

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Last year, the Braid team lost their first two games, and as such they were playing catch-up for the remainder of the season. It is to their credit that over the next 10 games, they played themselves back into contention for the League title and with only two games remaining, they were level on points with Dunluce.

In the final two games, the Braid ladies claimed two good victories picking up 12.5 points out of a possible 14 in the process, however, Dunluce also claimed two victories, but they picked up a maximum 14 points to win the league by a margin of 1.5 points.

There was, however, some silverware for the Ladies in 2012 when they claimed victory in the Stevenson Trophy.

Unfortunately, there will be no Ballymena Ladies ‘B’ team this year.

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