04 Dec 2024 COMP HOSTED BY BRADFORD

The 2024 Yorkshire Veterans’ Crown Green Bowling Competition (Hickson Trophy) is due to be hosted by Bradford. The rota for hosting now runs to 2036 when it will return to Halifax after they hosted a very successful competition in 2023. 12 teams competed in Halifax and a 13th from East Coast has joined for the Bradford competition.

2023 was the first year where the rounds were played on a round robin basis and this proved very popular amongst the teams joining for the first time but did raise a few problems with matches starting at 10 am and not being concluded until 7.30 ish and first round winners having to hang around 3-4 hours for the next match. These were just a few of the issues that the group had to resolve for 2024.

It was decided to stick with the round robin format not only for the rounds but the finals day which will be on 12 July. There will be 3 groups of 4 playing on 5 July. The rounds will be played on adjacent greens and their will be 3 on all the scorecards to try and shorten the games. The previous winners – West Riding, will automatically qualify for the finals day.

The groups playing on 5 July will be:

Group 1 – Sheffield, Huddersfield, Barnsley, Harrogate

Group 2 – Castleford, Bradford, Skipton, Halifax

Group 3 – Aire & Wharfe, East Coast, Leeds, Wakefield

All teams will have 3 matches in the day so larger squads will be required. 2024 will also break new ground by being a mixed gender competition.

The competition is becoming a major event and on this miserable winters day we now have something to look forward to in the middle of summer and a bonanza of veterans bowling.