On Thursday 4th May Castletown A welcomed Ballaugh B to the Islands former Capital and the Southerners soon showed their intention of hanging on to their lead as they beat the men from Ballaugh 8-0.
Castletown’s B Team travelled in the other direction to play Ballaugh A and this time it was Ballaugh A who won 6-2 in a match which saw a close game between Bob Unsworth and Juan Kermode which Bob eventually won 21-19.
At the Villa Marina Douglas A played Douglas B with the A Team emerging as 6-2 winners with Arthur Ashcroft and Malcolm Black being the two winners for the B Team.
Nobles B travelled along the T.T Course to Marown where the Crosby men beat them 7-1 with Geoff Crellin being the only winner for Nobles by beating Steve Bridson 21-15.
The Nobles A side hosted Finch Hill and the home side took a 5-3 win in a match which could easily have gone either way as there were some very close games.
North Ramsey A beat Port St Mary B 6-2 while the North Ramsey B Team travelled to the South to play Port St Mary A and again the Southerners took the points with a 5-3 win while the other Northern Team South Ramsey hosted Port Erin and this time it was the Northerners who took the points with a 6-2 win.
Onchan B took on Peel Sunset A at Onchan Park and this ended in a hard fought 4-4 draw whilst the Onchan A side went to the Sunset City to take a 5-3 win from Peel Sunset B.
Game 11.
With League Leaders Castletown A having a bye for this game there was a chance for the chasing Teams to close the gap and by the end of the afternoon two of the top teams had done exactly that.

Onchan A were hosting Douglas B and the former men showed that they were determined to chase hard for the title this year as they beat the Douglas side 7-1 with Bob Banning being the only winner with a 21-20 victory over Colin Hinds. Vic Sewell of the Douglas B side needs credit for pushing Mike Thomas in their game with Vic who has just returned from illness played well to eventually lose 21-19.
Onchan B travelled the short journey to the Villa to play Douglas A and they brought ‘double trouble’ to the Douglas Club as they went back up the hill to Onchan with a 5-3 victory despite a spirited comeback in the second half by the men from the Villa.
Another ‘tip for the top’ this year are Nobles A and they travelled to Port Erin to take part in a match with some very close games but the Nobles A Team held their nerves despite pressure from Port Erin to eventually run out 6-2 winners with a score line that doesn’t appear to do justice to the Southerners.
Peel Sunset A hosted North Ramsey A and the home side put on a strong performance to win 6-2 while the Peel Sunset B side were visitors to the Mooragh Park where they beat North Ramsey B 5-3. The Westerners C Team visited Nobles Park B where they lost 6-2 with their two wins coming from Clyde Quine and Bert (the bowler) Quayle.
Elsewhere Ballaugh B put on a good show to get a draw at home to a strong Port St Mary A side while the Ballaugh A Team got the same result against Port St Mary B at Port St Mary.
A strong performance at home from Marown saw them take an 8-0 victory over Finch Hill and Castletown B beat South Ramsey 5-3.
So after a sunny afternoons bowls there were three teams equal on points at the top of the League with eighteen points, these being Castletown A, Nobles A and Onchan A who are then followed by Marown and Port St Mary A both on 16 points.

Ismay Cup
Wednesday the 3rd May saw the Round one of the Ismay Cup taking place and saw South Ramsey lose 4-5 to Port St Mary A while Nobles A defeated Marown 7-2. In the South Castletown B beat Peel Sunset B 7-2 whilst in Douglas the Douglas A side lost 7-2 to North Ramsey A.

Mini Cup
In the Quarter Finals of the Mini Cup Peel Sunset C lost 3-6 to Finch Hill and Port Erin beat Port St Mary B 5-4 whilst North Ramsey B beat Douglas B 7-2 and Onchan B beat Nobles B 6-3.

The highlight of the eighth game of the 2017 Season had to be the top of the table clash between Castletown A and Onchan A at the very scenic Castletown Bowling Green.

As expected this was a close match with the Castletown lads running out 5-3 winners in a match that saw some very good bowls played and left Castletown A top of the League.

While the above match was being played the Castletown B Team travelled to the East to play Onchan B Team and this time it was the Onchan side that ran out 5-3 winners. This match saw some very close games with Paul Bailey beating Juan Kermode 21-20 and Phillip Watterson of Onchan losing 20-21 to Dave Hollingworth.

Port St Mary B travelled to the Villa to play Douglas A and put up a great show in holding the hosts to a 4-4 draw while the Douglas B Team travelled the other way to play Port St Mary A with the southerners winning 7-1 where Bob Banning was the only winner for the visitors when he beat Brian Lowe 21-14.

In the West of the Island Peel Sunset A beat Peel Sunset B 7-1 while the westerners C Team lost 6-2 to North Ramsey B.

Farther down the Coast to the North we saw South Ramsey playing a very strong Nobles A side with the men from Douglas winning 5-3 and across the Town at the Mooragh Park we saw the home side of North Ramsey A defeat Port Erin 6-2.

Ballaugh A beat Finch Hill 5-3 and the Ballaugh B Team travelled to Crosby where the Marown Team were 7-1 winners.

As we came to Game 9 we saw the two Castletown Teams playing the two North Ramsey Teams with Castletown B winning 5-3 on their home green against North Ramsey A and the Castletown A Team beating North Ramsey B 6-2 at the Mooragh Park.

Douglas A travelled to sunny Peel to play Peel Sunset A with the home side winning 6-2 and back at the Villa the Douglas B side went down to a similar 6-2 score line with wins from Bob Banning and Vic Sewell for the home side.

Peel C went down the west coast to Ballaugh and lost 6-2 against the Ballaugh B Team and the Ballaugh A side got a good result after a long trek to Port Erin where they came away with a 6-2 victory.

Finch Hill hosted South Ramsey and this ended in a 4-4 draw while up the road at Nobles Park Nobles B lost 6-2 to Nobles A .

Two of the top teams met at Onchan Park where Onchan A used the home advantage to beat Port S.t Mary A 5-3 and back in Port St Mary the Onchan B team also beat the Port St Mary men 5-3.

So after last Tuesdays games Castletown A have established a two point lead from Nobles A and Onchan A with Port St Mary A one point behind in fourth place.

In the Individual Merit there is now a clear leader after nine games and this is Chris Oates of Port St Mary A but there is a long way to go until the end of the Season and there will be many twists and turns along the way.

Game 6 of the 2017  Season saw a meeting of two of the leading teams with Onchan A hosting joint top team Peel Sunset A at Onchan Park in what promised to be a very keenly contested match. At the end of the afternoons bowls it was Onchan A who ran out 5-3 winners with some close games with Peter Wallis maintaining his early season form by beating Alec Taylor to 19 and for Peel Harry Kelly beat Colin Hinds to 19. Worthy of mention is the performance of Tony Carroon who beat local favourite Mike Thomas to 12.

Elsewhere Onchan’s B Team travelled to the Villa to play Douglas B and they former made it a good day for Onchan as they came away with a 6-2 win with Tony Creer and Bob Banning being the two winners for the home side.

Douglas A travelled to Peel to play Peel Sunset C and the ‘Westerners’ gave the men from the ‘Capital’ a good test with the Douglas side eventually winning 5-3.

Ballaugh B hosted Port St Mary B with the latter getting a 5-3 away win in a match that featured an epic struggle between Bobby Clayton and Steve Franks with Steve eventually winning 21-20.

The A Team of Ballaugh travelled to the south to play Castletown A with the Castletown side taking a 6-2 win in a match that saw a close battle in which Ron Williams beat Peter Graham to 20.

Castletown B travelled to Nobles Park to play Nobles B with the team from the south winning 5-3 while Nobles A took the journey to the Mooragh Park to play North Ramsey B and it was Nobles A who came away with a 5-3 victory.

Marown welcomed South Ramsey to Crosby and played out a 4-4 draw with a close game between Keith Watterson and Chris Walsh saw Chris running out with a 21-20 win.

In the remaining two games we saw Peel Sunset B losing at home to North Ramsey A and Port St Mary A beating Finch Hill 6-2 at Port St Mary.

As we came to Game 7 there was only one team left unbeaten in the League, this being Castletown B who hosted Douglas A on a very tricky Castletown Bowling Green. After the first four games the match looked to be all over for Castletown with the Douglas side leading 4-0 but then acting Captain for Castletown for the day Juan Kermode started a comeback with a 21-9 win over Pat O’Donohue and Dave Hollingworth and Alan Phair winning this could well have finished with the Southerners remaining unbeaten. Jimmy Sansom however showed he is made of ‘stern stuff’ and remained focused to see off a spirited challenge from Dave Ali so Douglas A came away with a 5-3 win feeling very relieved with the result.

Also travelling to the South of the Island was ‘high flying’ Peel Sunset A who  played Port St Mary B with the boys from the South putting on a great display to beat the Peel side 5-3. There were some good wins here for some of the Islands ‘senior bowlers’ with Archie Callister beating Harry Kelly 21-12 and Ashley Qualtrough beating Jeff Oates to 13.

Ballaugh B fought out a 4-4 draw with Nobles B while Ballaugh A travelled to Nobles Park A and had a similar 4-4 result.

Castletown A took a 7-1 victory from Douglas B at the Villa with Arthur Ashcroft being the Douglas sides only winner defeating Derek Lewney 21-17.

Onchan A hosted Peel Sunset C and achieved an 8-0 victory with Peter Dawson being the closest for Peel C going down 21-20 to Brain Woodall. Onchan B went south to play Port Erin and lost 5-3 which was quite an achievement for the Port Erin side as they were a player short.

Port St Mary A did well to get a 5-3 win from a good Peel B side who play so well on their home green.

Finch Hill hosted North Ramsey A and the lads from Ramsey managed to get a 4-4 draw while back at the Mooragh Park North Ramsey B lost 5-3 to a strong Marown team.

So after seven games have been played with see the familiar sight of Castletown A at the top of the League equal on 12 points with Onchan A and Port St Mary A just one point behind. With only two points covering the top two places we have Nobles A, Marown and Port St Mary B all close behind on ten points.

Game 1
The much anticipated start to the 2017 Men’s Crown Green Bowling Season was on Tuesday 4th April with the first shock being the 6 -2 defeat of last years runners up Port St Mary A by Onchan B at Onchan Park.

The performance off the day in this match has to be the 21-9 defeat of Ron Maycox by Peter Wallis but there were steady performances by many of the Onchan Lads with a good win for Gary Lee over Brian Lowe being worthy of mention as Gary only took up Crown Green towards the end of last season.

Last years winners Castletown A travelled just a little farther South to Port Erin and came out winners by taking five of the eight games. Unfortunately Port Erin were a player short so Castletown had one walkover and with Derek Cadamy only losing 21-18 to Mike Hargraves and Ken Horsley losing 21-17 to George Peach there was always a chance that the team from Port Erin could have picked up at least one point.

Nobles A with a very strong team this year had an 8-0 victory over Peel Sunset C with the nearest of the Sunset City Players to a win being Steven Bradley who only just lost out 21-20 to Roy Murphy. I mentioned Nobles A last week as being a possible strong contender this season and I certainly think that they will finish in the top three.

Elsewhere South Ramsey had a 5-3 home win over Nobles B with Chris Penketh being top man there beating Tony Jones 21-1. At Port St Mary the Ports B Team beat Peel Sunset B 5-3 with Tom Wilson winning the battle of the ‘Wilsons’ by beating Jeff Wilson 21-19.

In Douglas the Douglas A Team beat the League’s newest Team Ballaugh B 7-1 at the Villa with David Quirk of the Douglas side performing very steadily in only his second league game in Crown Green before eventually losing 21-16 in a good game with Ray Parry.

Peel Sunset A had a battle with Marown with the Westerners running out 5-3 winners but a close battle between Phil Parker and Alan Kennaugh which ended 21-18 in favour of Phil could easily have made this a draw. Ballaugh A lost 3-5 to Onchan A and the Finch Hill match with North Ramsey B ended all square at 4-4 and finally Castletown B beat Douglas B 6-2 with the well known ex local Football Referee Willie Cowley making his debut for Douglas B but sadly he was shown the Red Card by Dave Ali of Town who managed to beat Willie on this occasion.
Game 2
Thursday 6th April saw the second games of the Season for the over 60’s and saw the League’s newest Team Ballaugh B gain their first victory by defeating Finch Hill 6-2 in a match of mainly very close games with Ray Parry of Ballaugh continuing his good form with a 21-5 defeat of Kevin Skillicorn.

As expected Castletown A are still a force to be reckoned with as shown by their 8-0 victory over Port St Mary B whilst the Castletown B Team drew 4-4 with North Ramsey B at the Mooragh Park.
Douglas B hosted Peel Sunset A at the Villa but found the men from the West too strong as they took an 8-0 victory back home to Peel although there were some valiant performances from some home players with three games being closely contested.

Port Erin travelled to Marown and although there were some close games Marown ran out 6-2 winners with Bernard Thackrah and Seamus Whelan being the two winners for the Southerners.
Ballaugh A travelled to Nobles Park B and not to be outdone by their new B Team they also came away with a 6-2 win John Clague and Tony Jones being the only ones to be successful against the men from Ballaugh.

North Ramsey A travelled from the Mooragh Park to Onchan Park to play a strong Onchan A Team with the home lads gaining a 5-3 victory in a match that saw Norman Radcliffe now back playing this year for North Ramsey beat Mike Alexander 21-5, Mike Thomas of Onchan beating Jimmy Moffatt 21-6 and his team mate Colin Hinds beating Mike Skelly 21-6.

Peel Sunset C lost 5-3 at home to Onchan B and Peel Sunset B drew 4-4 with a very strong Nobles A with Roy Murphy of the Nobles Team having a 21-3 win over Ted Cain.

Last years runners up Port St Mary A who lost last game to Onchan B were back on form defeating South Ramsey 7-1 although the Northern Team were one player short with Chris Penketh being the only winner for South Ramsey.

So with Douglas A having the bye in Game 2, the League Table sees four Teams at the top each with four points, these being;
Peel Sunset A, Castletown A, Onchan B and Onchan A

The eagerly awaited 2017 Crown Green Over 60’s Men’s Bowls Season begins on Tuesday 4th April with the League having one extra Team added, this being Ballaugh B.
Although some of the participants may have been playing for many years their enthusiasm never wains and with the addition of new players who have reached the ‘magic age’ of sixty we look forward to an exciting season with some very good bowls as always from our ‘senior competitors’.

To predict who may be challenging for the League Title we obviously have to look at last years Champions Castletown A who were taken ‘right down to the wire’ by Port St Mary A with both finishing with sixty eight points but Castletown edging it on chalks. It would be a brave man who would write either of these Teams off and I firmly believe that they both have to be considered as equal favourites.

Historically Castletown have won the League every year since 2008 with the exception of 2015 when they were pipped to the post by North Ramsey A who slipped to eighth place last year hampered by the fact that they had to play their ‘home games’ on the South Ramsey Green due to a problem with their Green at the Mooragh Park. The northerners are back on their home Green this year and will be looking to mount a challenge once more as will their northern neighbours at South Ramsey who on their day are capable of beating anyone.

If however I were to name the Team that I think will mount a serious challenge to last years top two I would nominate Nobles A who finished in third spot last season and have some very good consistent players who will be motivated to move to a higher league position. A good test of Nobles A strength will be on the third match of the season when they entertain Castletown A at Nobles Park.

If however I were to choose my ‘Match of the Day’ for the opening day on the 4th April I would go for Peel Sunset A v Marown with both teams being more than capable of getting in the mix and challenging for the title. I will put my head on the block and tip Peel Sunset A to just edge this one with the advantage of playing on their home green.
Although I have mentioned a few teams I believe that this year may see a number of teams battling it out to the end for the title and possible even a surprise winner but only time will tell.

Well with nothing left for me to do now but to wish all players and teams the best of luck and enjoyable bowling and for some of us to work on our excuses such as ‘the green was too heavy’, or ‘ he was lucky’ and perhaps we can hear some more original ones for 2017.

Wishing good bowling to all for the 2017 Season.