Ian Bannister: Zone 3 president lifts lid on his decision to leave Tamworth City Bowling Club after 26 years

After a three-year stint as Zone 3 bowls president - in which he has overseen a sport hobbled by a marauding new disease - the Tamworthian has had enough.

His reign will end at Zone 3's annual general meeting on November 13.

"I'm counting the days," he said.

Bannister also had enough of what he labelled an "upsetting" environment at the Tamworth City Bowling Club, where he had been a long-term coach and oversaw Oxley High sports days there as well as barefoot bowls.

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Like a lengthy marriage that soured, he severed his 26-year relationship with the club in January and joined the Manilla Bowling Club, where he is helping to "develop things" including junior participation.

Such initiatives are needed now more than ever, after the destruction wrought on the sport by COVID-19.

Bannister had a front-row seat as the emergence of the disease's Delta variant this winter resulted in the breaks once again being slammed on bowls when NSW reentered lockdown.

He described COVID's impact on the sport as "shocking".

And he said the NSW government's decision last week to ban community sport until the state reached a fully vaccinated rate of 80 per cent had compounded the "terrible" situation, with a spate of events cancelled.

"It makes it a bit hard," he said.

Amid the gloom, some rare good news emerged on Monday, when Bowls NSW announced that clubs located in non-lockdown areas could resume internal club competitions, social bowls and roll-ups.

A maximum of 20 people are allowed on a green at a time, while a maximum of 50 people are allow on premises at a time.

The sound of bowls clunking, tills clinking and banter swirling at bowling clubs around the region this weekend will be welcome almost beyond measure.

Bannister will head to Manilla this weekend. He feels rejuvenated after joining the club.

"I had 26 years up at City," he said, "and I was just getting a bit bored up there, and a few people just upset me a little bit.

"So I thought, No, I'll just go out there [Manilla]. And they've got a lot of young fellas out there.

"And I just wanna try and get them going; the juniors going, and all that type of stuff."

Bannister said he was working with the club's secretary manager, Sharon Duffey, "to start a few things like Sunday morning social bowls".

"I just wanna get out there and do something," he said. "And the lady who's in charge out there [Duffey] is gonna help me.

"Whereas up here at City I didn't have much help at all. I'd ask, 'Can we do this?'

"'Oh yeah, if you wanna run it, you can do it,'" he said of the reply, adding that he "was getting a bit upset about that".

John Rouvray, the treasurer of Tamworth City, said the club had "no knowledge of Mr Bannister's particular issues as they were not raised with the board before he chose not to renew his membership".

He said: "Our club always welcomes member contributions aimed at promoting lawns bowls and/or improving the club for the benefit of members."

However, he added that some ideas were "impractical, uneconomical and/or of no value to members".

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