READ MORE - Square's golden triumph over East in midweek pennant

THE Bendigo Bowls Division has released its weekend and midweek pennant fixtures, but now faces a waiting game as to how much of a season will be possible.

The BBD is also preparing for the need for some weekend pennant games to be played on a Saturday morning given the likely restrictions on number of players permitted on greens once the season can start.

The BBD has scheduled Monday, October 26, for the start of its 2020-21 midweek pennant season, and Saturday, November 7, for the beginning of its weekend pennant competition.

Both those start dates have been pushed back a week from the initial fixture release after Bowls Victoria confirmed the cancellation of November's Victoria Open in Shepparton, meaning the traditional state-wide pennant break for the event now won't be required.

However, the BBD is preparing its clubs for the possibility of a compromised season if restrictions delay the start of pennant.

Under current stage three restrictions that last until September 13, no club training or competitions can be held for lawn bowls.

But if restrictions are still in place preventing bowls from commencing come the BBD's two scheduled pennant starting dates, at this stage one of the match committee's options is to wipe the cancelled rounds and pick the season up from its fixture point.

For example, if the first four rounds of the season can't be played, round five would become the starting point.

The weekend pennant fixture has been structured for seven rounds pre Christmas and seven after the mid-season break.

The midweek fixture has eight rounds before Christmas and six after the break.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to start when we've scheduled, but we'll obviously be governed by the restrictions," BBD match committee member Susan Howes said on Saturday.

"We've pushed our start dates back a bit to try to have some extra time, but we've got to have contingencies in place and at this stage, if we can't start on time we may look to pick up pennant at whatever date we're allowed to play.

"So we may have to drop games unless there could be an extension at the end of the season from Bowls Victoria because we're governed by their program in terms of finishing dates before state finals.

"It's going to be a season like no other and we'll try to provide whatever competition we can, even if it means we're delayed until after Christmas and we can only have a seven-game season where everyone plays each other once.

"We can't use Sundays for pennant because we need Sundays for our state events, and because of the social distancing that we expect we'll have to abide by, that's an extra challenge.

"We expect we'll only be able to have one division on a green at a time, which is likely going to mean some altered starting times, particularly for the bigger clubs that have a lot of teams.

"So it's likely there will be both Saturday morning and afternoon games so everyone can get a game of pennant under the restrictions."

Bowls Victoria provided a 2020-21 update to its clubs on Friday and - like the BBD is doing - is asking clubs for flexibility.

"Bowls Victoria will need to be given permission from the Victorian State Government for the number of players to return to 32 per green due to COVID-19 restrictions," the BV statement read.

"Alternative timeslots for play may be required for clubs that have more sides entered than green space available, given the level of COVID-19 restrictions that may continue to be in place."

Div. 1 - South Bendigo

Div. 2 - Kangaroo Flat

Div. 3 - Harcourt

Div. 4 - Strathfieldsaye

Div. 5 - Golden Square

Div. 6 - Kangaroo Flat

Div. 7 - Woodbury

Div. 8 - Woodbury

Div. 9 - Harcourt

Div. 1 - Golden Square

Div. 2 - Kangaroo Flat

Div. 3 - Woodbury

Div. 4 - Castlemaine

Div. 5 - Strathfieldsaye

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