#BPL12: Everything you need to know

by Bowls Australia on February 22, 2021

Ahead of #BPL12, we give you the rundown on everything you need to know before the action gets underway.

What is the Bowls Premier League (BPL)?

The BPL, formerly the Australian Premier League (APL), is a competition created and run by Bowls Australia (BA) that is now in its ninth year and twelfth instalment.

The event is a modified version of traditional bowls, with lightning-fast matches and entertaining fanfare delivered by the eight franchises from around Australia making for a ’20/20′ type format of the sport.

Made for television, the BPL is traditionally staged biannually, at Queensland’s Club Pine Rivers in November and New South Wales/Victoria border club Moama in February.

With COVID cancelling last November’s Club Pine Rivers event, the Brisbane-based club will host two instalments of BPL this year; BPL13 in April and BPL14 in November.

When and where is #BPL12?

#BPL12 will be held from Tuesday, February 23 to Friday, February 26 at Moama Bowling Club on the border of New South Wales and Victoria.

Entry for spectators is FREE! Capacity limits apply in accordance with the COVID restrictions.

Matches during the day will get underway from approximately 10:30am-11am AEDT, while the night sessions begin from 5pm AEDT.

PREVIEW: BPL to bring normalcy back to bowls

How can I watch it? 

Selected matches during the day will be streamed live via Facebook by Bowls Australia. Schedules will be released prior to each day’s play.

Matches from the night sessions will be broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports & Sky Sport NZ, as well as being made for available to watch on Facebook for international audiences (excl. Australia & NZ).

What is the event format and are there special rules?

Each of the eight BPL teams will play each other twice over 14 rounds during the competition. At the end of the 14 qualifying rounds, the top four teams will play off in Friday night’s finals series.

The top four teams are decided by points. If teams are equal on points they will be split on net total shots (shots for minus shots against).

Each match consists of two five-end sets, with a one-end tie-break played if required. The game format is pairs, with three bowls for each player per end. BPL matches take about one hour from start to finish and deciding the winner is simple. The team with that wins both sets or one set and then the tie-break is the winner.

Instead of spending time rolling the jack, as per normal competitions, BPL players place the mat and advise the marker the length of the jack they would like to play to, according to pre-marked spots on the green.

To keep games progressing, players will have 30 seconds to deliver their bowl from the time the jack is placed at the start of an end, or once their opposition bowl has come to a rest, ensuring the next suspenseful result is only moments away.

BPL teams will also be able to nominate one Power Play end per set, enabling teams to earn double the shots scored in that end.

Some days players just aren’t on top of their game, maybe its only for a few ends, maybe its for a whole match, in order to get the best players the sport has to offer out on the green, a team coach can replace a player with a substitute during the game, but only immediately preceding the delivery of a bowl by their team player.

If a tie-break is required to decide the winner, all players on both teams will take to the green, with the format changing to two-bowl-triples for that end.

Conditions of Play
Schedule
Fixtures & Results

Who are the teams involved? 

Adelaide Pioneers: Scott Thulborn, Wayne Ruediger, Rebecca Van Asch (Coach – Les Carter)
Brisbane Pirates: 
Jeremy Henry, Aaron Hewson, Kira Bourke (Coach – Michael Breen)
Melbourne Pulse: 
Barrie Lester, Gary Kelly, Ellen Ryan (Coach – Mark Casey)
Melbourne Roys: 
Aaron Wilson, Matthew Flapper, Carla Krizanic (Coach – Ian Ewing)
Murray Steamers: 
Ryan Bester, Michael Walker, Katelyn Inch (Coach – Kevin Anderson)
Perth Suns: 
Lee Schraner, Ray Pearse, Genevieve Delves (Coach – Josh Thornton)
Sydney Lions:
Ben Twist, Aron Sherriff, Karen Murphy (Coach – Steve Glasson)
Tweed Heads Ospreys: 
Aaron Teys, Corey Wedlock, Chloe Stewart (Coach – Wayne Turley)

Is there prize money?

The BPL competition carries a huge $100,000 prize-pool, with the winning franchise handed a $25,000 cheque.

Honour Roll

APL01 – Brisbane Gold

APL02 – Murray Steamers

APL03 – New Zealand Blackjacks

BPL04 – Sydney Lions

BPL05 – Sydney Lions

BPL06 – Sydney Lions

BPL07 – Gold Coast Hawks

BPL08 – Brisbane Pirates

BPL09 – Illawarra Gorillas

BPL10 – Tweed Heads Ospreys

BPL11 – Murray Steamers

What is the BPL Cup?

In 2014, BA launched a new national participation initiative, Jack Attack.

The BPL Cup marries the Jack Attack and BPL products together to strengthen the correlation between the bowls that viewers see on television and the format of bowls offered at clubs.

The BPL Cup provides an opportunity for club-based teams to progress through various qualification rounds to the National Finals, to be played in parallel with the #BPL12 competition from Monday, February 22.

Each of the national finalists teams has received a flights and accomodation expenses-paid trip to Moama, while we are pleased to announce that the final broadcast LIVE on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports.