INAUGURATION

The first meeting of the “Falkirk and District Carpet Bowling League” was held at Camelon Juniors Club on Wednesday, 9 October 1974.

Five clubs were represented (Camelon Juniors, Camelon Bowling Club, Scottish Tar Distillers, Carronshore and Westquarter) and a further two expressed an interest (Ochiltree and Polmont British Legion).

FIRST SEASON

Davy Paul and D Clarke were elected as the inaugural chairman and secretary, respectively, with Davie Vause elected as the inaugural registration secretary the following year.

The first league champions were Westquarter who after a play-off with Camelon Juniors at Carronshore lifted what was then known as the MacLay Trophy.

LEAGUE EXPANSION

The following year, it was agreed that clubs could enter more than one team. As a result, membership rose to 10 teams from eight clubs with Zetland joining and both Ochiltree and Camelon Bowling Club adding a “B” team.

Numbers continued to rise and by 1981 the league was split into two sections of eight teams with the top team from each section contesting a play-off to determine the league champions.

Membership peaked at 25 teams in 1992 with the added excitement of promotion and relegation.

CUP COMPETITIONS

Knock-out competitions for singles, pairs and rinks which have been running since the second season were complimented by a triples in 1979. The play-offs for which were often staged at two separate venues with the finals taking place at one venue on a designated finals day.

In 1993, the singles was split into ladies and gents. And open, handicap and team competitions (sometimes as many as four per season) have included those in memory of the inaugural chairman Davy Paul, Joe Rutherford from the Dockers Club and former secretary Martin Ryan. The latter of which continues to this day in the form of the league cup.

POINTS & PLAY-OFFS

Over the years, various scoring systems have been utilised including: 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw; 4 points for 6-0, 3 points for 5-1, 2 points for 4-2 and 1 point for a draw; 1 point for every game won; and the current system of 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.

Similarly, on the rare occasion when two or more teams have tied on points, there have been a number of methods used to determine the league champions: home and away play-offs; shot difference; head-to-head results; and a play-off at a neutral venue.

TEA FOR TWO

By the mid-90s, concerns were raised not only about the increasing length of the season, but also the increasing length of matches which prompted one member to report "some games not finishing until after midnight at certain clubs."

Previous solutions included an 11pm curfew, the forgoing of trial ends and a points deduction for teams not starting on time. Though a fresh proposal to have "no tea break" was unanimously defeated!

During the pandemic, however, tea breaks and post-match speeches were eventually dispensed with, and the start time for matches was brought forward by fifteen minutes to 7.15pm.

50TH ANNIVERSARY

With the decline of local industry and the closure of a number of bowling and social clubs - including Alexanders, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), British Petroleum (BP), British Alcan (BA), British Steel Corporation (BSC), the Dockers Club, the Glen Club and Laurieston Social Club) - membership naturally subsided. And though it was minuted that there was “a lack of interest” in the presentation dance of 1995, ticket sales for the following year were an impressive 160!

An appetite which continues to this day with the league celebrating its 50th anniversary with eight teams from five clubs, a new logo designed by Kelly Dickinson from Nexpoh featuring images of iconic Falkirk landmarks and generous sponsorship from three local businesses: MGM Timber, Halcyon Vision and Physioflexx.

MIND YOUR P'S AND Q'S

Not everything in the garden of carpet bowls has been rosy, however, as tempers have frayed over everything from the size of the jack and the width of the policeman to the age of competitors and the perennial bugbear - the rearrangement of postponed matches.

Though, to end on a lighter note, nothing comes close to the following fiery exchange from a truly extraordinary general meeting in the early 90s:

"When meeting closed by vice-chairman, R Craig approached top table and said: 'I resign from f****** executive committe as from now, this meeting was pure p***!'"