Guidelines regarding use of pre-determined Substitutes
Teams could make a maximum of two changes, one per rink. So, a team could use ten men in total.
This would have to be declared before the start of the match and the names of two players written on the card, on the same line, in the order they were going to play.
Once the game commences this could not be changed, thus if someone starts off brilliantly, they will still have to change, or if another player in a different position was struggling, he could not swap with him.
A new proposal for another ‘change’ could not be made during a game, so the team captain declares how they intend to play the match and must stick with it no matter what.
In the case of utilising one substitute all five men would play trial ends, with the second named change player then simply lifting his bowls and leaving the green until the 10th end.
At this time the ‘change/sub’ player would simply swap with his mate, but he would go straight into the game without further ‘trials’.
Players waiting to come on or indeed players having withdrawn would become spectators and would play no further part in tactics or coaching.
Teams would not be required to ‘match up’ with their opponents. A club could make no sharing arrangements while their opponents may make one or two.
The playing position of the shared player would be declared at the start of the game and could not be changed.
Scores would not need to be adjusted – as both rinks would only have four players per rink on the green during the match.
This ‘sharing’ arrangement could apply to all field positions ie lead, second, third and indeed skip – remember once declared at the start of a game the change would have to apply no matter what.
Please note Rule 8.4 regarding Substitutes still applies, ie ‘In the event of illness or accident to a player during the game, that player may be replaced by an eligible substitute without penalty to the player’s team.’