Epsom in The East Surrey League 1987 - present day.   (Up dated 27/08/24)
 

The East Surrey League was formed in 1987.  The founder members were :-  Caterham, Chipstead, Godstone, Old Coulsdon, Redhill, Shirley Park and Wallington.  At a further meeting in the same year Bletchingley and Epsom joined to form the league.

In subsequent years the following clubs joined the league:- Ashtead (1990), Cheam Fields (1989), Horley (1989), Purley (1994), Sutton (1990) and Dorking (2006).  Redhill withdrew after two seasons.  Chipstead withdrew from the league after the 1992 season and rejoined in 2000.  Warlingham Park joined the league in 2008 and Purley Bury in 2009.

The League was divided into two divisions in 2015.  Croydon & Cheam joined the League in Division 2.  In 2015 League 1 comprised of Ashtead, Chipstead, Epsom, Old Coulsdon, Purley, Purley Bury, Shirley Park, Sutton & Wallington.  Division 2 consisted of Bletchingley, Caterham, Croydon, Cheam, Cheam Fields, Dorking, Horley & Warlingham Park.  Croydon & Cheam were promoted to Division 1 for the 2016 season.  Purley & Ashtead were relegated to Division 2. In 2022 Ashtead & Epsom were relegated to Division 2.

 

Extract from the Minutes dated 22nd September 1986 -

Match Secretary Roy Ward informed the committee of the latest developments regarding the formation of a 'East Surrey Bowls League'.  The required entrance fee is £10.  Initially some existing fixtures will count as league matches, only slight changes to fixture list is expected.  Roy was elected as club delegate, and our entrance agreed.

 

Epsom's first league game took place on the 6th June 1987 when they played against Old Coulsdon.  Unfortunately this ended in defeat by 70 shots to 82 shots.  Of our current membership (2013) Clive Banderet,  Graham Pilbrow, played in this very first league game.  Epsom won the Division 1 League Title in 2015 having only lost 1 match (to Sutton).

 

You can view several statistics of Epsom's involvement in the league by clicking on the following links:-

 

Full record of all matches, players, scores since 1987/2007        Results of matches season by season from 1987 (Against other Clubs)

 

Full record of matches, players, scores for 2008-23                      Numerical list of Appearances

 

Appearances by current members (1987-2022)                               Men League Results 2006 -

 

Summary of League matches played since 1987                              League Table from 2010

 

Interesting facts

 

Click here to see Stats for Friendly/East Surrey League & Chrystie League Games.
 

In 2022 a new ESL Triples League was formed. This involved the following Clubs:- Caterham, Cheam, Cheam Fields, Chipstead, Croydon MO's, Epsom, Old Coulsdon, Purley, Purley Bury.

 

Full record of all matches, players, scores since 2022

 

Triples League Appearances (2022 -)         

 

Results of matches against other Clubs         

 

Summary of matches played
 

In 2024 Epsom entered the West Surrey League. It is a 1 rink, mixed league (can be all men, all ladies or mixed) played on a Friday Evening. This involved the following Clubs:- Bishop Duppas, Burpham, Chessington,  Knaphill 'C', Leatherhead & Stoke Park.

West Surrey League Results              Appearances     Results against other Clubs     Summary of matches played

 
 

Early Years

In the early years Epsom faired reasonably well in the league.  However no league positions are available from 1989 - 1991.  In the seasons 1995 - 1997 Epsom did not fair too well - finishing 9th out of 9 in 1987 and 11th out of 12 in 1997.  Since then, however, there has been a great improvement in performances.  In 1988 Epsom finished 2nd and since then Epsom have finished in 3rd place on 5 occasions. In 2006 Epsom came close to actually winning the league, finishing just 2 points behind the winners (Shirley Park), and ½ behind the second club (Old Coulsdon).  It was most unfortunate that during the season Epsom had to play Ashtead with one player short thus being penalised by losing a quarter off one rink score in the match.

Epsom came second in the League in 2010, finishing ½ point behind the winners.

 

Epsom Club v Club

Epsom have always struggled to win games against two clubs on the whole over the years.  These being Shirley Park and Old Coulsdon.  However, Epsom had an excellent win against Shirley Park in 2006  winning 74 - 71 and winning the match 5 - 1.

Hopefully, this will be a good omen for the future.  Epsom won with a record score against Shirley Park in 2015, 113 - 37.  Old Coulsdon are no longer a thorn in our side as Epsom have won three years in a row - 2014, 2015 & 2016.

Epsom won at Old Coulsdon for the first time in 2011.  They have now won four matches in a row against Old Coulsdon achieving their best win in 2016 by 36 shots.

In 2018 Epsom beat Purley Bury for the eighth time in a row.

In 2013 Epsom maintained their 100% record against Warlingham Park winning for the 6th year in a row. They lost to them for the first time in 2014.

In 2016 Epsom had a record win against Purley Bury by winning by 41 shots.  They also had the best winning rink 26 - 8 (+18).

Statistics

Statistics include a 14 victory run against Godstone , a 11 victory run against Wallington, a 10 victory run against Horley, an 80 shot victory against Godstone  122 - 42 in 2006 and winning 10 games out of 13 in 2006.  In 2010 Epsom won 13 games out of 15 to become 2nd in the League.  They had a far superior shot difference than the winners.

The highest shots win on an individual rink was 40 - 6 against Purley in 2010, and the biggest defeat on a single rink was 9 - 41 against Shirley Park in 2005.

On average the number of overall shots scored in league matches has been around 150 - 160 shots.  The lowest combination score came in 1994 when Epsom lost to Cheam Fields 61 - 71 (132 shots).  The highest total of shots in a match was when Epsom lost to Wallington 86 - 106 (192 shots) in 1991.

Up to 2019 158 members have represented Epsom in the League.  Graham Pilbrow, Peter Miller & George Sperring, Martin Harbottle & Les Owen have played over 200 games.

In 2015 Epsom was undefeated for a record 9 games (8 wins, 1 draw) from the beginning of the season.  This happened again in 2018 (9 wins in a row). They were beaten by Sutton in the 10th match on both occasions.  Epsom lost for the first time in 14 seasons in their opening ESL match in 2019 (since 2005).

Epsom played their very first League match v Cheam on Saturday 11th June 2016. (winning 90 - 71, 8 - 4).

Epsom have now won 6 out of 7 games against Croydon (2019)

Epsom's biggest defeat came in 1992 against Bletchingley 58 - 115 (57 shots).

In 2021 it was decided to play 3 rinks because of the pandemic.(2 points for a rink win, 1 point for a rink draw, 4 points for overall win). In 2021 at home Epsom beat Old Coulsdon on all rinks for the first time in the ESL.

 

Since 1987 Epsom have played 475 games, winning 293 Losing 172, Drawing 11.  3 games were abandoned without a bowl being played. 1 game conceded by Croydon.  They have scored 37262 Shots for and had 34361.5 Shots scored against.

Total points are 2192 for and 1626 against.

 

In 2021/22 the games were reduced to 3 rinks. In 2024 games were played over 18 ends.

 

NB Points awarded changed in 2014 to 2 points each rink win, 4 points overall win

NB Godstone resigned from the League in 2014.  The statistics, however, still retain the scores/points achieved in the game played.

 

Epsom won the League in 2015

 

In 2022 Epsom were relegated to Division 2

 

(updated 27/08/24)

 

Click here to see the League Champions since 1987

 

In 2015 the League was split into 2 Divisions.  Epsom were in Division 1 until they were relegated in the 2022 season.

 

The 2020 season was cancelled because of the Coronvirus Epidemic