BOWLING PRIZES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 154, 17 July 1937, Page 17

BOWLING PRIZES

V THEIR SIZES COMPAREu BIG MONEY IN ENGLAND We hear and read much from time to time, especially from New Zealand, concerning bowling tournament prizes, and in Australia some associations have actuaily made a maximum above which any club may not go, on penalty of veto, "says a writer in the Sydney Referee. Qn one occasion the N.S.W. executive voted £20 offered by one of the clubs under its jurisdiction. Read what they.do in conservative England: Eastbourne, May, 1937, singles and pairs, £400 distributqd. Hove, August, £350 distribution; Ramsgate, July, £275; Southsea, July, singles and pairs, £250. Bexhall, August, singles and pairs, £150; Ryde, August, £130; Hastings, September, singles and pairs, £175; Worthing, September, singles, triples, pairs and rinks, £350. Eastbourne Club adjoins the famous Sussex county cricket ground, has two greens, and regularly donates prizes to the amounts mentioned above. I could add scores more to the above list; they 'are but a few, and run from May 1 tilL the end of September. Despite our much-vauhted democracy, Old England puts us in 'the shade when it comes to a broad outlook. There they have reai professionals, but never a one in the game not connected with crown greens, and no trouble follows. Deceiving Themselves New Zealand, with its maximum of £5 for any competition, and many of our Commonwealth . associations, should review their outlook after viewing the attitude adopted in the Old Country. There never was, and never will be,

any danger of professionalism or an opeifing for it in this country. The prizes here and in New Zealand often don't cover what individual players lay out in winning them. Whatever stage we reach eventually, there will never be a "Gentlexnen v. Players" bowls match in Australia. We will always leave and return through the same gate, sip out of the same container, and sit at the same festive boards. \