Essex County Short Mat Bowls Association

Essex County Short Mat Bowls Association ECSMBA was formed over 30 years ago to introduce & develop Short Mat Bowls throughout Essex. Curren Pitsea Leisure Centre were contacted along with S.T.C.

The instigation of Short Mat Bowls began with a deputation from Bromfords Bowling Club to Outwood Common Community Association over 30 years ago. Alan Pierce, Jim Walker and Brian Savage met Bob Poulson and John “the gimp” to talk about Short Mat Bowls which they had seen somewhere up North. At Outwood Common they formed a small Bowling Section of 12 players, some people had never played bowls bef

ore. of Basildon and before long Outwood Common had a membership of over 80 and the three other Clubs also increased their membership. Matches between the 4 Clubs quickly led to the formation of the S.E.E.S.M.B. League. Natural progression followed and a County Association was formed followed yet again by membership to the E.S.M.B.A. and entry into the National Championships. Over a period of time other Clubs sprung up throughout the County and eventually breakaway groups from these Clubs started new Clubs. The first record was 1987 when 10 clubs registered with a total of 327 members. The clubs were Theydon Bois (64), Harlow Active Retirement Group(50), V.C.A. Riverview(20), Bancroft/Buckhurst Hilll(45), Courage(18), Outwood Common(34), STC(20), Bromford(30), Maplin Social(16) and Pitsea Welcome Centre(30) and we arrive at where we are today with 40 Clubs and a membership exceeding 1,000. It has been Sammys Lambert pleasure and privilege to have worked with some very hard working and dedicated people to help the Short Mat game to where it is today and fortunately to have been more solid people climb on board to help protect all that has been achieved over the years and long may it last
Ideas change over a period of time. With each Committee different views mean changes, but so long as the benefits are covering the whole of the membership this must be a good thing. A fine example of this is the youth policy portrayed in Essex towards our young people who now boast National Champions in Singles and other disciplines – a force to be reckoned with in the near future. Short Mat Bowls is game for all ages, In Essex and other counties the young and elder generation play side by side. If you are interest in the sport and like to know more please contact us through our enquiries email address, we could put you in touch with a local club in your area. If you want to find out more go to our web page at ecsmba.com .

From the Bowls Development Alliance🚨 FINAL ROADSHOW – Don’t Miss Out! 🚨We now have just one Roadshow remaining, and we’d...
13/04/2026

From the Bowls Development Alliance

🚨 FINAL ROADSHOW – Don’t Miss Out! 🚨
We now have just one Roadshow remaining, and we’d love to see a strong turnout to finish the series:
📍 Friday 24th April 2026
🕙 10am – 4pm
📍 Falcon Indoor Bowls Club, Essex
⚠️ This is your FINAL opportunity to take part in a Roadshow ⚠️
If you’ve been thinking about attending, now is the time to book. These sessions are packed with ideas, discussion and support to help your club grow and thrive... and we don’t want you to miss out!
👉 Please also help us spread the word; share this with your club members, neighbouring clubs or anyone involved in bowls who would benefit from attending.
🎟️ Book your place now:
https://bowlsdevelopmentalliance.com/bdaroadshows/
Let’s finish the Roadshow series strong — we hope to see you in Essex! 💚

🚨 FINAL ROADSHOW – Don’t Miss Out! 🚨

We now have just one Roadshow remaining, and we’d love to see a strong turnout to finish the series:

📍 Friday 24th April 2026
🕙 10am – 4pm
📍 Falcon Indoor Bowls Club, Essex

⚠️ This is your FINAL opportunity to take part in a Roadshow ⚠️

If you’ve been thinking about attending, now is the time to book. These sessions are packed with ideas, discussion and support to help your club grow and thrive... and we don’t want you to miss out!

👉 Please also help us spread the word; share this with your club members, neighbouring clubs or anyone involved in bowls who would benefit from attending.

🎟️ Book your place now:
https://bowlsdevelopmentalliance.com/bdaroadshows/

Let’s finish the Roadshow series strong — we hope to see you in Essex! 💚

Congratulations to Adam Bailey, Stuart Lowe and Chris Coates for winning the ESMBA National Triples Championship beating...
12/04/2026

Congratulations to Adam Bailey, Stuart Lowe and Chris Coates for winning the ESMBA National Triples Championship beating a team from West Midlands in the final.

06/04/2026

ESMBA - National Finals Information

Event information
• Singles - Thursday 9th April
• Pairs - Friday 10th April
• Fours - Saturday 11th April
• Triples - Sunday 12th April

Check-in time for singles and pairs is 9:00am
Check-in time for the fours and triples is 8:30am

All events will be held at

Melton & District Indoor Bowls Club
Bowling Green
Leicester Road
Melton Mowbray
LE13 0LR

We will be setting up the venue from 9pm on Wednesday 8th April and it would be very appreciated if we could have some help.

Venue rules
No outside food or drink will be allowed into the venue. There is a bar and a restaurant at the venue for everyone to purchase food and drink. If you decide to bring your own food, you will be required to eat this outside or in your car.


Dress Code Requirements

GENTLEMEN
- White shirt with collar, County tops, club tops or matching polo shirts.
- Mid grey, black, or coloured trousers or shorts. All players in a team must wear the same colour (No jeans or combats)

LADIES
- White blouse with collar, County tops, club tops or matching polo shirts.
- Mid grey, black or coloured skirts not split above the knee, culottes, trousers, or shorts. (No jeans or combats)

All players in a team must wear the same colour

Footwear
- Only footwear manufactured by recognised bowls manufacturers must be worn on the mat and they must be changed into at the venue. Please note that if you go outside, you must either change your shoes or put overshoes over your bowls shoes, these are provided at the venue.

Team Colours
- Shirts, blouses and polo shirts may be in club, league or county colours. England shirts are not permitted.
- No names, initials or logos will be permitted unless previously approved by the ESMBA

In disciplines with more than one player, ALL players must be dressed in the same colours.

26/02/2026

Congratulations to those who represented Essex last Sunday in the ESMBA’s inter county championship. The team playing in the Premier 2 tier beat Humberside 21-19.

Essex have now progressed to the semi final where they will face Oxfordshire on the 8th March at Melton.

Congratulations to Matt Sifford (East Hanningfield) for winning the Silver Medal at last weekends Short Mat Players Tour...
24/02/2026

Congratulations to Matt Sifford (East Hanningfield) for winning the Silver Medal at last weekends Short Mat Players Tour - English Masters.

Matt came through against some tough opposition from all over the World including Andrew Hudson (Wales), Tom Morris (England), World number 2 Pieterjan Stevens (Belgium) and current English and British Isles Champion Matty Worden in the semi final.

In the final it was Alastair McCrea from Hampshire who came out on top, taking home the English Masters trophy, gold medal and £1000 in prize money.

By getting to the final, Matt has qualified for next years SMPT Players Championship which takes place at Falcon on the 15th & 16th May 2027. Matt becomes the 3rd player from Essex to qualify automatically with Chris Coates (Springhouse) & Craig Burgess (Falcon) already booking their place.

Following the results from the weekend, Craig Burgess is sitting top of both the World Rankings and Order of Merit with just the World Masters event in April to come this season.

Entries to Augusts UK Open go live this Sunday (1st March) at 7pm.

30/01/2026

Essex National Qualifiers 2026

Singles (9th April) 4 spots
1. Craig Burgess
2. Mitchell Young
3. Matt Sifford
4. Bobby Addis

Pairs (10th April) 4 spots
1. Paul Bax & John Pye
2. Mitchell Young & Craig Burgess
3. Peter Fautley & Anthony Fautley
4. Barbara Johns & Keith Johns

Triples (12th April) 4 spots
1. Mitchell Young, Greg Wade & Craig Burgess
2. Peter Fautley, John Pye & Matt Sifford
3. Pauline Lowe, Chris Coates & Stuart Lowe
4. Steve Killington, Paul Bax & Anthony Fautley

Fours (11th April) 3 spots
1. Steve Killington, Paul Bax, Anthony Fautley & Matt Sifford
2. Greg Wade, Chris Coates, Mitchell Young & Craig Burgess
3. Dave Sifford, John Pye, Nigel Reed & Bobby Addis

Mixed Fours (14th March) 3 spots
1. Pat Goodchild, Emily Poulter, Mitchell Young & Craig Burgess
2. Barbara Johns, Connie Coates, Keith Johns & Chris Coates
3. Maureen Binstead, Linda Lambert, Steve Killington & Anthony Fautley

Over 55s (15th March) 4 spots
1. Derek Coates & Rob Wade
2. Steve Killington & Peter Fautley
3. David Poulter & Melvin Simpson
4. Dave Wooller & Allan Jones

Under 18s (18th April) 2 spots
1. Connie Coates
2. Sophie Coates

22/01/2026

The following players have been selected by Peter Ainslie (Essex County Short Mat Bowls Manager) to represent Essex at the ESMBA Double Rinks Competition on the 1st March at Melton IBC.

Rink 1
Greg Wade
Chris Coates
Mitchell Young
Craig Burgess

Rink 2
Emily Poulter
John Pye
Stuart Lowe
Matt Sifford

Peter will be in touch with all of the players in due course to confirm details.

Good luck to all those selected

22/01/2026

For those not able to make Ian Arthur's funeral today. Please find below streaming details.

Streaming details for the service of Ian Arthur at 14:00 (GMT) on Thursday 22nd January, at Parndon Wood - Chapel

Watching Live & On Demand Website https://watch.obitus.com
Username zino4404
Password 182525

12/01/2026

On Sunday 11th January we had our home game against Suffolk. Despite having several players missing due to prior commitments the team put up a spirited fight against a very strong Suffolk side. Everyone played their part and gave 100%. In the end Suffolk came out on top 26points to 14points and 205 shots to 184 shots. Although they beat us on the day we still come r/ups behind Herts. So well done to all players in the squad and look forward to the pre-lims.

Peter Ainslie
County Manager.

Congratulations to Springhouse’s Chris Coates on winning the Short Mat Players Tour British Open beating Matty Worden in...
11/01/2026

Congratulations to Springhouse’s Chris Coates on winning the Short Mat Players Tour British Open beating Matty Worden in a close final.

Chris takes home the gold medal, £1000 and a place in the SMPT Players Championship in May 2027.

09/01/2026

The ESMBA have confirmed our allocation for this seasons nationals.

Singles - 4
Pairs - 4
Triples - 4
Fours - 3 (Essex 1, 2 and 3)
Mixed Fours - 3 (Essex 1, 2 and 3)
Under 18's - 1 (Essex 1)
Over 55's - 4

Essex have one of the highest allocations in the country.

Good luck to all of our Essex representatives at the national finals.

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Channels Drive
Chelmsford
CM33FB

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