Weymouth and Portland Skittles League
Weymouth and Portland Skittles League know a thing or two about their favourite sport. The balls have been rolling in this beautiful county for over 100 years now, and of course Dorset is very much the home of the famous Dorset Flop, a two handed delivery of the ball involving body propulsion on to the alley.
‘It’s not as painful as it looks,’ says League chair Hayley Guille. ‘Two thirds of the teams do it. Our rules are that you have to start with one foot touching the back board. You can only take one stride, releasing the ball during that stride. So the ball has to pitch before the 20 foot line.’
Hayley got hooked on skittles in 2010 when a summer team were one short and it went from there.
‘The first time I was very anxious because I saw the Dorset Flop and thought I’m never going to do that but of course I do now. It was the atmosphere and camaraderie and making new friends from all walks of life that got me hooked, plus playing in different pubs and clubs. We might have all had a grim day at work but then we turn up to play and have a laugh.’
Hayley now captains the Wyke Missorts. She joined the League committee in 2021, the same year that the legendary Derek Cowan who’d been league secretary for 50 years, sadly passed away. The committee decided to commemorate Derek’s work with a new trophy for the division one winners, so they retired the 100 year old Rosebowl.
Pictured below the Rosebowl won by the Royal Exchange Skittle team in the early 1900s.
Below: Park Street Stars, the first team to win the Derek Cowan Memorial Trophy
Below Here’s the Wyke Missorts in 2019 with Derek Cowan on the left. Hayley, front row third left, was presenting John Grants with a certificate for his 1,00th match.
The committee all worked hard to get the League back together again after covid at which point the chair, Bob Ward decided to step down so Hayley took over for the start of the 2022 season.
‘I knew I had big boots to fill,’ said Hayley. ‘But we’re all back and playing. We’re a smaller league than we used to be with the decline of pubs, clubs and the effect of covid. There are currently 38 teams playing in the League across three divisions with most teams having between 12 and 15 players.’
But things are also changing for the better. To attract the next generation on to the alleys, the League has lowered the playing age from 16 to 14, allowing one younger player per match. This is already having a positive effect.
The League has also made changes to knock out pairs competition. Under the old system, it used to be a straight knock out after three hands, but now players do a full game before going into the next round, or getting the next one in!. This has produced better results, more camaraderie with players cheering each other on. One young skittler recently made it to the final having only ever played a few hands, much to his – everyone’s – delight.
And here’s a thing! The new owners of the Rock Hotel in Abbotsbury Road, Weymouth are reinstating a skittle alley into the pub, complete with live streaming of the action into the bar. Two teams have promptly moved there as their home alley.
Meanwhile the League are looking at ways of going greener. In the old days, score cards would be physically delivered and collected from all the pubs and clubs. Now pictures of the completed cards are pinged over to the website plus they’re harnessing more technology and social media to engage with their members. Their Facebook page feeds their website, and they use Whatsapp and Instagram.
One of the players who looks after the website, is even looking to create an app, so that scores could be fed in live.
Meanwhile let’s salute the winners of the three divisions last season.
Below: Division one winners the Lucky Barstars
Division Two: winners The Whistlers
Below: Division Three winners Chapelhay Blues
