Bowls Premier League
The Bowls Premier League is a biannual bowls competition involving teams from around Australia. The competition was founded in 2013 as a way to popularise the sport by presenting in a modernised format, using the term "made-for-television" in its promotion. The competition features faster play, modified rules, colourful clothing and comprehensive television coverage.
The BPL was founded by Bowls Australia and was initially contested by teams from the five major Australian cities plus a New Zealand side and has since expanded to eight clubs. The week-long event attracts a large number of Australia's best bowls players to compete, as well as several high-profile bowlers from overseas.
History
The first edition of the competition was held in November, 2013 under the name Australian Premier League. The inaugural clubs were Adelaide Endurance, Brisbane Gold, Melbourne Roys, New Zealand Blackjacks, Perth Suns and Sydney Lions, with Brisbane winning the first title.Two further teams – the Murray Steamers and the Gold Coast Hawks – joined the competition in 2014 to expand the competition to eight. The Murray Steamers defeated Adelaide Endurance in the final of the 2014 competition to be champions for the second running of the event.
In 2016, Bowls Australia announced there would be two tournaments held per year starting from 2017, with one event staged in Auckland in addition to the traditional event at Club Pine Rivers in Brisbane, Queensland. The competition also underwent a name change to reflect the inclusion of the New Zealand leg, renaming to Bowls Premier League.
The Australian leg of the BPL has always been held in November while the first edition of the New Zealand event was held in March.
Adelaide Endurance were be replaced by Illawarra Gorillas in 2017.
In February 2020, Moama Bowling Club hosted the first BPL outside of Brisbane and New Zealand, with the New Zealand version of the event heading to the Victoria-NSW border town until at least 2022.
BPL10 marked a significant shift in the competition as three teams - Gold Coast Hawks, Illawarra Gorillas and New Zealand Blackjacks - did not renew their licence. This opened the door to three new teams - Adelaide Pioneers, Melbourne Pulse and Tweed Heads Ospreys.
Competition format
Each match consists of a two five-end sets, with a one-end tie-break played if required. The game format is pairs, with three bowls for each player per end. A team coach also has a substitute player at their disposal which must be used during the game, but only immediately preceding the delivery of a bowl by their team player. Every player in the team, including the sub, must bowl at least nine bowls per game. The team with that wins both sets, or one set and then the tie-break, is the winner.Instead of spending time rolling the jack, as per normal competitions, the players place the mat and advise the marker the length of the jack they would like to play to. Players have a 30-second shot clock in which they must deliver their bowl from the time the jack is placed at the start of an end or once their opposition bowl has come to a rest. Teams can nominate one Power Play end per set, enabling teams to earn double the shots scored in that end.
Finals system
Each of the eight teams play each other twice during the competition. At the end of the double round-robin, the top four teams in the standings play off in the finals series. If teams on the ladder are equal on points they will be split on net total shots. The finals series includes straight eliminations and double-chance matches.The top two teams in the ladder play in a semi-final with the winner advancing straight ahead into the final. The loser of the semi-final will play in the preliminary final against the winner of the elimination final, a match contested between the third and fourth-placed sides where the loser is knocked out immediately. The winner of the preliminary final goes into the final.
The winning team receives $25,000 in prize money.
Event structure
Originally, BPL competitions began on a Thursday and ended on Sunday. That was eventually changed, with competitions beginning on a Tuesday and ending on a Friday evening.Each BPL competition runs over the course of four days at one venue in a double round-robin and finals system; this makes for a total of 14 rounds consisting of four matches in each round. Four rounds are held on each of the first three days with two more on the fourth day, followed by the finals in the evening.
The first New Zealand edition of the competition in March, 2017 had its event held from Monday through to Thursday.
All four matches in the final round of each day are televised on Fox Sports in Australia and Sky Sport in New Zealand, as well as through digital streaming platform Kayo. Additional matches are also televised at the Brisbane event, with the addition of the BPL Cup.
Bowls Australia also livestream round robin matches during the day via Facebook, using their popular Rinkside Live service.
Clubs
| Team name | Location | Franchise Owner | Coach | First season | Titles | Last title |
| Adelaide Pioneers | Adelaide, SA | Adelaide Bowling Club | Les Carter | 2019 | - | - |
| Brisbane Pirates | Brisbane, Qld | Club Pine Rivers | Dave Edwards | 2013 | 2 | 2018 |
| Melbourne Pulse | Melbourne, Vic | Dandenong Club | Mark Casey | 2019 | - | - |
| Melbourne Roys | Melbourne, Vic | Fitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports Club | Ian "JR" Ewing | 2013 | - | - |
| Murray Steamers | Moama, NSW | Moama Bowling Club | David Ferguson | 2014 | 2 | 2020 |
| Perth Suns | Perth, WA | Bowls WA | Ross Dempsey | 2013 | - | - |
| Sydney Lions | Sydney, NSW | Club Mount Lewis | Steve Glasson OAM | 2013 | 3 | 2017 |
| Tweed Heads Ospreys | Tweed Heads | Tweed Heads Bowls Club | Wayne Turley OAM | 2019 | 1 | 2019 |
Former clubs
Champions
Championships by club
a denotes title won in year's first event in Aucklandb denotes title won in year's second event in Brisbane
BPL Cup
In 2017, Bowls Australia announced the introduction of the BPL Cup, a nationwide tournament for all clubs in the same mould as football cup competitions, such as the FA Cup.Each of the eight Australian states and territories hold statewide competitions for all bowls clubs where an eventual state winner will progress to the national BPL Cup finals at Club Pine Rivers.