2018: A year in review
Bowls Australia CEO Neil Dalrymple reviews the year that was across all levels of the sport in Australia.
I am pleased to write this review of the past 12 months to reflect on the many highlights achieved across all levels of Bowls Australia.
This period has been particularly exciting, and I’m delighted to highlight some of the initiatives which this year have contributed to the growth and development of Bowls in Australia.
The Bowls Australia Strategic Plan – Bowls Unleashed is now well into the implementation phase. Having buy in from right across the sport on the delivery of the strategic projects is very important in aligning our strategies and delivering on our plan. Specific working parties have been assigned to take responsibility for each of the strategic projects in the Plan. In terms of how these working parties will actually operate, this will primarily be driven by the assigned Team Leaders.
Good governance has never been more important than it is now. BA is committed to building this capability at all levels of the sport so that we can improve the delivery of programs, competitions and the experience of playing bowls both competitively and socially.
On the participation front, the 2017-18 period saw an increase in participation to a new record level, of 671,316 across Australia. At the same time, formal membership has stagnated, which reinforces the reality of changing participation preferences in today’s society.
Jack Attack and Jr. Jack Attack continue to increase in popularity, with over 203 clubs now staging Jack Attack competitions, and over 1560 schools and clubs now offering Jr. Jack Attack.
BA recently made a submission for a Better Ageing grant from Sport Australia. This was a significant piece of work targeting the 65+ demographic with the aim of encouraging more active recreation of non-bowlers (at Bowls clubs). It is expected that we will receive an answer in January 2019 and if successful, this should result in a significant amount of funding to benefit the sport.
Many Bowls clubs across Australia have applied for new national infrastructure funding from the Federal Government. Our RBMs have been instrumental in providing great assistance and advice in the preparation of these applications.
We welcomed three new RBMs during the year with Lesley Bates (Northern QLD), Micheal Sorrensen (South East QLD) and Nick Hind (South East NSW & ACT) joining the team. The RBM staff remain a key connection between the Clubs and the STAs/BA and I encourage any club or region of Bowls seeking some assistance to contact their local RBM.
Once again, Bowls Australia staged highly successful editions of the Australian Open and the Bowls Premier League.
The Bowls Premier League, staged at Club Pine Rivers in Brisbane and Naenae Bowls Club in New Zealand, continued to promote the sport and its players with over 80 hours of live TV coverage and replays.
Feedback from BPL08 at Club Pine Rivers suggests it was the best BPL yet – close matches, great crowds and strong social media and broadcast figures.
The BPL Cup came into its own this year culminating in 16 teams travelling to CPR for the finals. The competition grew from 480 teams in 2017 to 680 teams in 2018. The road to the BPL Cup is being broadcast on Fox Sports commencing January 8, for a seven-week series.
Recently we had a very productive meeting with our eight BPL Licensees about the future of the BPL; there remains strong support for this event from all who attended. Craig Hutchinson, Managing Director of CrocMedia, addressed the meeting and his message was clear – if we have a great product unique to our business then we should invest in it and make it even better.
Bowls needs content to broadcast and the general population needs to have plenty of “Bowls” to talk about, watch and be involved in – either as a spectator, or watching on television or via live streaming, or on social media; as a competitive bowler or as a social bowler.
Rinkside Live was an undoubted hit in 2018 and has become a shining light in profiling our national events and players. Our media team covered 11 events with entertaining commentary, excellent camera work and innovation which has generated a growing audience and following.
The Australian Open continues to grow in exposure, with this year marking the first occasion that the event was broadcast live on a free-to-air television station, via SBS. The event continues to be a beacon of success, with more than $250,000 in prize-money and over 2,000 competitors converging on the Gold Coast region for the 14-day event.
Negotiations for an extended agreement with the Queensland Government and City of Gold Coast for the 2020 – 2024 Australian Open events are well underway.
Our national events were held across the width and breadth of the country and we thank the host clubs who contributed to staging these.
It’s pleasing to report that a great deal of work has been completed in order to properly establish The Nationals. This new festival of Bowls event will see a number of our national events staged consecutively, at the same location, within a short time period. The Nationals are scheduled to commence in October 2020, with a number of potential locations currently being scoped and considered.
Building and maintaining strong commercial partnerships is a priority for BA, so it was particularly pleasing to secure a new broadcast partner in CrocMedia, which saw The Bowls Show continue to provide free-to-air exposure for Bowls, with a third, 22-week season on SBS.
Discussions have commenced with our broadcast to expand our partnerships in 2019 and 2020, with the aim of increasing the number of viewers watching Bowls.
We appreciate our loyal group of commercial partners and were thrilled this year to expand our relationship with BCiB as they become the naming rights partner of the Jackaroos.
During the year we secured Federal funding for Be Connected – an Australia wide initiative empowering all Australians to thrive in a digital world. Be Connected offers online learning resources as well as a Be Connected Network, of which BA is a Network Partner. BA also won a grant to deliver digital literacy sessions at bowls clubs during this financial year.
The NMP program remains steady as our E-store has become more profitable. BA will continue to develop the opportunities that exist to expand the revenue generated from these areas.
BA have undertaken the development of a marketing/brand strategy for Bowls in Australia, through CrocMedia’s PR and Marketing arm, Thread, with the following aims:
1. To build relevance for the sport of Bowls;
2. To grow our audience (members and participants) across the sport;
3. To increase coordination and collaboration across BA’s and its members – the STAs, associations and clubs – in raising the profile of the sport.
We are developing this strategy in a unique and innovative partnership with World Bowls, thus enabling them to have a global strategy for the sport worldwide.
The roll out of our new Whole-of-Sport IT system, BowlsLink is well underway. New websites are being launched across December and January for the State and Territory Associations taking part, and are already live for Clubs, Districts and Zones, while the member database and competition management systems are under development. The BowlsLink steering committee and operational committees are monitoring and overseeing the progress of the project.
The BA Board have functioned very well under the leadership of Darryl Clout. Darryl has also recently been elected to the Board of Commonwealth Games Australia. This is an important appointment from an advocacy perspective and an opportunity to further any bowls specific opportunities.
I wish to acknowledge the great work of our national committees. They have focused on a range of important issues for our sport and are primarily made up of hard-working volunteers.
* Audit, Risk and Policy Committee – many policy updates, risk assessments and annual audit matters;
* Affiliation Review Committee – consideration of a new way of calculating the fees paid by STAs to BA as well as the services that BA provides for the STAs and the sport more broadly;
* National Officiating Advisory Group;
* BowlsLink Steering and Operational Committees;
* 2020 World Bowls Championships and BPL Organising Committees.
On the horizon is the creation of an Integrity Framework and an Ethics and Integrity Committee to better manage risks across the sport such as the National Redress Scheme, Member Protection, Match Fixing and Anti-Doping issues.
During the year BA has assisted a number of STAs on HR matters. Additionally, BA has moved to an on-line HR management system, Employment Hero, for all our transactional HR processes. This has been a very effective way to manage this part of our business.
Shared Services such as Finance, Legal and HR are all logical areas for us to work to improve efficiencies across our national and state/territory associations. Financially, BA remains in a strong position and our strategic objective is to continue to work to become less reliant on membership fees and to be more commercially aggressive.
From an international event perspective, the successful bid to host the 2019 and 2020 World Champion of Champions by the Adelaide Bowling Club ensures the Southern Hemisphere will continue as the host for the sport’s premier tournaments.
In 2019, we will host the Asia Pacific Championships, which will lead in to the 2020 World Bowls Championships. Preparations are also well underway for our 2022 Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham, England.
Sport Australia provided some additional funding to enable BA to engage a dedicated Athlete Wellbeing Manager to work with the BCiB Australian Jackaroos squad.
Undoubtedly one of the most significant highlights of this period was the success of the BCiB Australian Jackaroos at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. I acknowledge and applaud all our competitors, coaches and High Performance staff who contributed to the magnificent results at this event – five gold and two silver medals.
In closing this review, I want to mention a book by Gideon Haigh I have recently finished. “Crossing the line” is about Australian Cricket and how it lost its way. The book is a fascinating insight into the culture at CA and what lead to the “sandpaper” affair in Sth Africa. There are many lessons to be drawn from this story for all sporting organisations – the role of the Board in overseeing the performance of the CEO; internal management processes; cultural and behavioural issues in the organisation and with staff members and, the win at all costs philosophy that seemed to grip the Australian Men’s team. Despite all the money cricket generates at the national level, the vital importance of having good governance and management practices in place, together with a strong organizational culture is very clear.
I remain committed to these goals at BA and to our values, which are:
To Collaborate;
To be Innovative;
To be Customer focused; and
To be Inclusive.
Our sport can do more to uphold these values in 2019 and beyond.
Finally, I extend sincere thanks to the BA Directors and Staff, the STA Boards and Staff for their support and cooperation over 2018.
To our national committee members and all administrators and volunteers across the sport, I thank you for your contribution and commitment to the sport.
Please enjoy the holidays, have a safe Christmas and a happy and successful 2019.
Best wishes.
Neil Dalrymple
Chief Executive Officer
Bowls Australia
December 14, 2019
