A big thank you to all the clubs and players who took the time to share their thoughts as part of our 2025–2026 Calendar of Events consultation process!

Creating a calendar that works for everyone—players, clubs, umpires, greenkeepers, Bowls New Zealand, and fellow centres—means listening closely to those who live and breathe bowls. And that’s been front of mind for us.

To gather feedback, we launched a player survey, a club survey, and hosted Club Delegates Forums. More than 30 club representatives came together at the forums to talk through what’s working and where the pressure points lie. From there, we built a better picture of what the bowls community needs from the calendar.

What you told us

Player’s key points:

• Don’t cut back on centre events—these are a key part of the competitive season.
• Speed things up—there was strong support for changes like re-spotting the jack when killed and re-placing it when thrown incorrectly.
• Where possible, events should wrap up within a single weekend (or come as close to as possible).

 Club’s key priorities:

• Let’s ease the calendar congestion to free up more weekends for club-run events.
• Aim for greater year-on-year consistency to help with planning.

What next

Your feedback has directly shaped a more streamlined and balanced calendar for 2025–2026, one that reduces scheduling clashes while preserving the events that matter most.

To support this refreshed calendar, Bowls Auckland, through its Playing Programme Committee (PPC), are exploring complementary adjustments to the Conditions of Play. These include changes designed to speed up play like jack re-spotting, smarter scheduling, and revised qualifying formats—all of which will be included when the updated Conditions are published later this year.

Thanks again for helping us create a calendar that works for you and our game.

Check out how club and player input is already shaping next season.