The proposed changes would see five districts within zone three of NSW Bowls fold, merge and become one governing body spanning the entire North West from Armidale to Lightning Ridge.

If approved, the changes would affect clubs in the Central North District, North West, Barwon District, New England District and Gwydir District bowling associations.

Central North District Bowling Association (CNDBA) president Ian Bannister said that, if approved, the change would give all of the current districts equal voice.

“Virtually, we are going to make it one zone,” Bannister said.

“The ins and outs of how it will all work will be decided at the meeting held by the zone on December 15, but virtually I think the whole zone will be run by just one committee, as opposed to five district committees and one zone committee.

“Minimising it into one committee should help ease the burden on those district committee members and make it easier to get things done.”

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The proposed new committee would also include a match committee, which would handle representative selections and competitions.

“I know sometimes the meetings can get bogged down in details, so by having people looking after selections should help alleviate that,” Bannister said.

“Coming together will not put as much emphasis on the smaller districts to form committees, which can be difficult when you have a smaller population to draw from.

“As well as that, the costs of sending teams to competitions and travelling to representative teams will be alleviated.”

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Bannister said he hoped the change would help tackle some of the issues in the CNDBA, such as player participation and financial security of clubs.

“I think the big thing for us as a district will be bringing our issues to the table and being heard,” he said.

“The issues facing our district, which includes 12 different clubs, is going to be very different than say North West and Barwon, who only have three and two clubs.

“At the moment I just don’t think our voices are being heard and, with every district having equal vote, we are not quite going in the right direction given we represent the majority of the district’s members.

“I don’t think we could have survived much longer with five districts, so in a way I think this will be for the betterment of lawn bowls in the region.”

CNDBA members will vote on agreeing to the merger at the district’s presentation day on December 8, before attending the zone meeting in Narrabri on December 15.

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