Calls for change to bowls ban on women playing in Shropshire
It is one of the last bastions of male-only sport – but tomorrow this champion bowler may open the doors for women.
Star player Claire Williams was prevented from joining her team-mates when Burway Bowling Club was promoted to the Shropshire Premier Bowling League.
The league has a strict male-only rule, even through most other competitions in the sport are mixed.
Tomorrow the Burway club is hoping to overturn the rule so that women will at last be able to take their place in the county's top bowling league.
However, any change will not benefit Claire, as she is moving from the Ludlow area to Telford.
But Duncan Pressley, captain of Burway, said it was time the sport caught up with the age of equality.
He said: "Claire doesn't play for us any more, but it wasn't just about her. Somebody has got to be the first one to put up their hands and say in this day and age should we still be doing this?
"It's probably the only league in the county that doesn't allow women to play."
