Sandgbaggers spoil it for everyone. I remember in 2004 when the rules for De Veer were changed and it was brought in that bowlers would be re-averaged after bowling their all events. This was done with good intention to stamp out sandbaggers. Many of us knew when that rule was brought in that whilst the majority of bowlers would do the right thing and bowl their best in all events some would not. At that time I lived in north QLD and to me personally it felt like a slap in the face for the following reasons. My first year of De Veer we tried out for teams, the teams were announced in February which then gave you until October to train hard and try to improve so when De Veer came around you could bowl as much over your average as possible. This system felt fair, those who worked hardest would have the advantage and why shouldn't they? The NQ team had at least 3 training sessions which involved either an 8hr or 16 hour round trip out of town for two days of bowling, along with the associated costs and the second year it all just felt like a big wast of time. Whilst neither myself nor my friends considered sandbagging it was disheartening to know after several of our team bowled well in all events we didn't stand a chance in De Veer.
My point is somehow we need to get rid of sandbaggers but we also need to be encouraging bowlers to improve, not penalising them for working hard to do so. How many bowlers both scratch and handicap will put in a little extra work before a big comp in order to lift their game and improve their chances?
It does sometimes happen that a bowler can improve a substantial amount of pins suddenly, for example through new equipment or coaching and sandbaggers cast the shadow of suspicion over these innocent people and that is rather unfair. I wonder would it help clear these people if perhaps anyone bowling more than 30 pins over average in a comp was asked to explain? Maybe they have to fill out a form or something stating how/why they achieved such a result, providing the name of their coach if relevant who can then verify hours put into training or showing proof of purchase of new equipment, rather than simply verifying their league average perhaps take a closer look to see if their game scores have been improving recently, which may not show up simply in the average especially towards the end of a season etc etc. Anyone who can be proven to have sandbagged should be banned from all future competitions.
I truly don't know what else can be done to the sandbaggers without hurting other innocent parties.
