The MAJOR LEAGUE bowls at the AMF Worthing lanes, and has done since the day that the center opened it's doors some 30 odd years ago, it was not an AMF center in the early days.They used to be called the Ambassdor Lanes and was operated by Humber Bowling.

We still have one of the Original founding members of the league bowling with us, Jumbo Trimmer, (See picture on left, I will take a better on asap) and it is only in the last couple of years that the other 2 or 3 originals have stopped bowling. One unfortunately died from cancer, rather suddenly last year and I have been informed that Tom Trimmer, the original league secretary, has just died from pneumonia and other complications after quite a long illness.
The MAJOR LEAGUE is a handicap trios league that attracts bowlers of mixed ages, sexes and abilities, from the low 120 average to the 200 plus bowlers. In the 2000-01 season, due to some unforeseen circumstances, a number of our regular teams dropped out and we ran with 16 teams, 60 registered team members and 7 roving subs, for a year.

The league has in the past varied in numbers from 12 to 26 teams, and in the heady days of running with 24 and 26 teams, we used to have a waiting list of teams wanting to join the league.

20 teams is a ideal number of teams for the league format that the Major League now operates. Which is once round with a position round to make 20 weeks then split into 2 divisions of 10 teams and twice round with position rounds, for another 20 weeks to make a 40 week season. The usual season is from early September until early or mid June, depending on how Christmas and New Year fall, as to whether they fall on a bowling night or not.

After the shock of only 16 teams last year, the 2001-02 AGM saw a return to our more normal number of 20 teams. This could have been higher but for the managements late decision to cap us to 20 lanes, which meant that the day before the AGM, I had to phone a couple of team captains and tell them that there wouldn't be space for them. As the indications at the end of the previous season was that we might well be increasing the strength of the league to 22 or even 24 teams and being told that this would not be a problem, the capping decision was a bit of a surprise. We then had a couple of seasons without any trouble.

The start of the 2004-05 season saw the problem of not enough teams raise it's ugly head again. I had been aware at the end of the previous season that a couple of teams were dropping out, but with one of the existing teams splitting into 2 and another on the waiting list to join I didn't expect any problems. A week before the AGM I got a phone call to say that a very longstanding team is dropping out and after phoning all the team captains, remind them about the AGM, I find that I am down to 16 teams!!. A week of frantic phone calls before the AGM, we hold the meeting and we get 20 teams, but a couple of days after the AGM 1 of the new teams drop out!!!. So a bit of arm twisting and other persuasion was needed and help in finding them another player, but we managed and we are running with 20 teams again.

The start of the 2005-06 season saw the old familiar problem of insufficient team raise it's ugly head again, only this time it was 2 new teams that having reserved places failed to attend the AGM, phone calls the following day revealed that they had both decided not to bowl. So 2005-06 we will bowl with 18 teams, twice round with no split into 2 divisions, padded out with extra position rounds to make a 40 week season.
I also announced to the AGM that this will be my last year as secretary, later in the year I had a change of heart after discovering a letter addressed to me from the BTBA which from the contents meant the I had been doing this job for 23 years, I then decided that I would carry on and try to make it to 25 years.

The start of the 2006-07 season a decline in numbers yet again, this year we lost another 2 teams, among the reasons given by the leaving teams were the deteriorating lane conditions and increasing prices. The lack of new bowlers wanting to join leagues is making it difficult to replace the leavers and when you do get teams of new bowlers, the difference in their ability and the rest of the league means that they soon lost interest and sometime drop out before the end of the season, which them puts pressure on the league to cover the financial loss, and less eager to take in new bowlers.
So for the 2006-07 season we are going to run with 16 teams and will run twice round to make 32 weeks and then split into 2 divisions of 8 for once round making the 40 week season.
After 10 weeks of constantly changing and worsening lane conditions the center finally obtained a brand new lane conditioning machine and what a difference it made by the end of the season the averages were back to where they had been 2 or 3 years ago.

The 2007-08 season AGM saw the same old problems back again of teams from other leagues wanting to join, reserving places and failing to show up at the meeting, only to tell me later that they no longer wanted to bowl. So with only 15 definite teams we were left with trying to find one more, we eventually found 2 bowlers who would bowl together but needed a third, so to give them time they were granted a postponement for the first week. So this season the format will be the same as last year.

The 2008-09 season AGM saw the same trend continue with, teams from other leagues wanting to join, at one time it looked like we would have 22 teams but as usual, having reserved places, they failed to show up at the meeting. Still at least we reversed the trend of losing teams and managed to go back up to 18 teams, although that caused some problems with our format because we weren't able to split into 2 divisions as we usually do, but with Christmas day and New Years day both falling on a Wednesday, meaning no bowling and by adding a couple of extra position rounds in, we were still able to make a 40 week season.

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