The Bowls Premier League (BPL) is an annual 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 12 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 replaced by Illawarra Gorillas in 2017.
BPL10 in 2019 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.
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.
BPL12, planned to be hosted by Club Pine Rivers in November 2020, was postponed due to COVID. Moama eventually hosted the event in February 2021, with Club Pine Rivers hosting BPL13 and BPL14 later the same year.
BPL14 was later moved to Moama and played in February 2022. The league expanded to 10 teams, dropping the Melbourne Roys and adding the Tasmania Tridents, Melbourne eXtreme and Gold Coast Hawks. The Murray Steamers changed their name to the Moama Steamers.
The event's exponential growth continued in November 2024, with Geelong Jets and Sydney Saints expanding the competition to 12 teams.
Event structure Originally, BPL competitions began on a Thursday and ended on Sunday. That was eventually changed, with competitions beginning on a Tuesday, then a Monday, and ending on a Friday evening.
Each BPL competition runs over the course of five days at one venue in a double round-robin and finals (playoffs) system; this makes for a total of 22 rounds consisting of six matches in each round.
The first New Zealand edition of the competition in March, 2017 had its event held from Monday through to Thursday.
All five matches in the final round of each day, as well as the BPL Cup Final are televised on Fox Sports in Australia and Sky Sport in New Zealand, as well as through digital streaming platform Kayo. Bowls Australia also livestream round robin matches during the day via Facebook and YouTube, using their popular Rinkside Live service.
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 12 bowls per game (previously nine, changed for BPL20). 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 team plays each other twice during the competition. At the end of the double round-robin, the top five 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 (shots for minus shots against).
The finals series includes straight eliminations and double-chance matches. It is similar to a four-team Page playoff system tournament, but with the addition of an elimination round between fourth and fifth place to move on to the standard Page bracket. +Finals Series FormatMatchTeamsNotesElimination Final 14th place team vs 5th place teamWinning team advances to Elimination Final 2. Losing team is eliminated.Elimination Final 23rd place team vs Winner of Elimination Final 1Winning team advances to Preliminary Final. Losing team is eliminated.Semi Final1st place team vs 2nd place teamWinning team advances to the Grand Final. Losing team advances to the Preliminary Final.Preliminary FinalWinner of Elimination Final 2 vs Loser of Semi FinalWinning team advances to the Grand Final. Losing team is eliminated.Grand FinalWinner of Semi Final vs Winner of Preliminary FinalWinner is the Event Champion.
Prizemoney The BPL competition carries more than $100,000 in prize-money, with the winning franchise collecting $28,000.
Franchises The Bowls Premier League expanded to 12 teams for BPL14, held at the Moama Bowling Club.
Current franchises Team name Colours Location Region/State/Territory Franchise owner First season Titles Last title NotesAdelaide Pioneers AdelaideSouth AustraliaAdelaide Bowling ClubBPL10Geelong Jets GeelongVictoriaOcean Grove Bowling ClubBPL20New BPL franchiseGold Coast Hawks HelensvaleQueensland Club Helensvale APL022BPL21Did not compete in 2020-2021 Melbourne eXtreme MelbourneVictoria Club Sunbury BPL14Melbourne Pulse MelbourneVictoria Dandenong Club BPL103BPL19 Moama Steamers MoamaNew South Wales Moama Bowling Club APL024BPL22Formerly Murray SteamersMoreton Bay Pirates BrisbaneQueenslandClub Pine Rivers APL012BPL08Formerly Brisbane Gold & Brisbane PiratesPerth Suns PerthWestern AustraliaBowls Western Australia APL01Sydney Lions SydneyNew South WalesClub Mount Lewis APL014BPL14Sydney Saints SydneyNew South WalesSt Johns Park Bowling Club BPL20New BPL franchiseTasmania Tridents HobartTasmaniaBowls Tasmania BPL14Tweed Heads Ospreys Tweed HeadsNew South WalesClub TweedBPL105BPL20
Former franchises Team name Colours Location Region/State/Territory Franchise owner First season Last season Titles Last title Adelaide Endurance AdelaideSouth AustraliaBowls South Australia APL01 BPL05 - -Illawarra Gorillas IllawarraNew South Wales Warilla Bowls & Recreation ClubBPL06BPL091BPL09Melbourne Roys MelbourneVictoriaFitzroy Victoria Bowling & Sports ClubAPL01BPL13 - -New Zealand Blackjacks Various Cities Various Regions Bowls New ZealandAPL01BPL091APL03
Champions YearEditionLocationWinnerScoreRunner-upMVP 2013 APL01Brisbane Brisbane Gold 7–4, 8-2 Adelaide EnduranceScott Thulborn (Adelaide Endurance) 2014 APL02 Murray Steamers 6–2, 5-3 Adelaide EnduranceAlex Marshall (Murray Steamers) 2015 APL03 New Zealand Blackjacks 6–3, 0–8, 1-0 Adelaide EnduranceMark Casey (Gold Coast Hawks) 2016 BPL04 Sydney Lions 6–4, 10-6 Murray SteamersRyan Bester (Murray Steamers) 2017 BPL05Auckland (NZ) Sydney Lions 3–2, 6-3 New Zealand BlackjacksShannon McIlroy (New Zealand Blackjacks) BPL06BrisbaneSydney Lions10-0, 8-1Illawarra GorillasAron Sherriff (Sydney Lions)2018BPL07Wellington (NZ)Gold Coast Hawks5-3, 7-7Brisbane PiratesAron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks)BPL08BrisbaneBrisbane Pirates9-2, 6-2Murray SteamersRyan Bester (Murray Steamers)2019BPL09Lower Hutt (NZ)Illawarra Gorillas6-9, 7–1, 1-0Brisbane PiratesAlex Marshall (Brisbane Pirates)BPL10BrisbaneTweed Heads Ospreys9-0, 8-1Sydney LionsAaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys)2020BPL11MoamaMurray Steamers6-1, 3–11, 1-0Melbourne RoysAron Sherriff (Sydney Lions) and Aaron Wilson (Melbourne Roys)2021BPL12Tweed Heads Ospreys6-0, 4-1Adelaide PioneersScott Thulborn (Adelaide Pioneers) BPL13BrisbaneTweed Heads Ospreys12-2, 7-1Murray SteamersAaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys)2022BPL14MoamaSydney Lions5-11, 7–4, 1-0Moama SteamersAron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks)BPL15BrisbaneMelbourne Pulse5-3, 3-8, 1-0Melbourne ExtremeAron Sherriff (Moama Steamers)BPL16BrisbaneMelbourne Pulse6-3, 10-1Adelaide PioneersCorey Wedlock (Tweed Heads Ospreys)2023BPL17MoamaMoama Steamers5-2, 6-2Sydney LionsAron Sherriff (Moama Steamers)BPL18BrisbaneTweed Heads Ospreys4-6, 6-5, 1-0Melbourne eXtremeAaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys)2024BPL19MoamaMelbourne Pulse1-10, 7-4, 1-0Moreton Bay PiratesGary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse)BPL20BrisbaneTweed Ospreys8-8, 5-4Sydney LionsNathan Black (Sydney Lions)2025BPL21MoamaGold Coast Hawks6-5, 6-2Geelong JetsPaul Foster (Geelong Jets)BPL22BrisbaneMoama Steamers 6-9, 5-1, 1-0Sydney LionsNathan Black (Sydney Lions)
BPL All Star Team +YearEditionLocationBowlersCoach2022BPL14MoamaAron Sherriff (Gold Coast Hawks), Ben Twist (Sydney Lions), Kelsey Cottrell (Gold Coast Hawks).Steve Glasson (Sydney Lions)BPL15BrisbaneAron Sherriff (Moama Steamers), Matt Flapper (Melbourne Extreme), Rebecca Van Asch (Tasmania Tridents)Jeremy Henry & Scott De Jongh (Melbourne Pulse)BPL16BrisbaneCorey Wedlock (Tweed Heads Ospreys), Gary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse), Rebecca Van Asch (Tasmania Tridents)Jeremy Henry (Melbourne Pulse)2023BPL17MoamaAron Sherriff (Moama Steamers), Aaron Wilson (Sydney Lions), Jo Edwards (Moreton Bay Pirates)Kevin Anderson (Moama Steamers)BPL18BrisbaneAaron Teys (Tweed Heads Ospreys), Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers), Kylie Whitehead (Melbourne eXtreme)Wayne Turley (Tweed Heads Ospreys)2024BPL19MoamaGary Kelly (Melbourne Pulse), Aaron Wilson (Sydney Lions), Dawn Hayman (Moreton Bay Pirates)Jeremy Henry & Andrew Breeden-Walton (Melbourne Pulse)BPL20BrisbaneNathan Black (Sydney Lions), Aaron Wilson (Geelong Jets), Dawn Hayman (Sydney Saints)Wayne Turley (Tweed Ospreys)2025BPL21MoamaPaul Foster (Geelong Jets), Aaron Wilson (Geelong Jets), Kelsey Cottrell (Gold Coast Hawks)Mark Thatcher (Gold Coast Hawks)BPL22BrisbaneNathan Black (Sydney Lions), Aron Sherriff (Moama Steamers), Kristina Van Nierop (Perth Suns)Kevin Anderson (Moama Steamers)
Championships by club TeamChampionsRunners-upCompetition wonTweed Heads Ospreys50BPL10, BPL12, BPL13, BPL18, BPL20Sydney Lions44BPL04, BPL05, BPL06, BPL14Moama/Murray Steamers44APL02, BPL11, BPL17, BPL22Melbourne Pulse30BPL15, BPL16, BPL19Brisbane Pirates/Gold23APL01, BPL08Gold Coast Hawks20BPL07, BPL21New Zealand Blackjacks11APL03Illawarra Gorillas11BPL09Adelaide Endurance03-Adelaide Pioneers02 -Melbourne eXtreme02 -Melbourne Roys 01 -Geelong Jets01 -
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.
BPL Cup Champions