sub/pre bowl rules?

[boatman37]

The other night the president of our league came up and asked my opinion on pre-bowling for position round. I told him I was ok with it. Then he asked if I felt any different if a sub with a 224 average and only 6 games in this league was the pre-bowler and they had all 5 bowlers there but the 5th didn't bowl (he has a 185 average).
So to sum it up....team had all 5 regulars there but instead of the 5th bowler bowling they had another guy with only 6 games in this league this year pre bowl. And this was for position round for the end of our 2nd 3rd.
Thoughts on this? I was mentioned that to be eligible to pre-bowl in position round you would be required to have a minimum number of games? BTW-this team was bowling the presidents team that night.
If it makes a difference the 5th guy was the owner of the place and the sub/pre-bowler was his son.
TBH i don't really care either way but it came up for discussion the other night so just wondered what everyones thoughts were.
Given it was the owner and he was there but didn't bowl it might be a case of him being busy doing work related stuff but who knows. I didn't keep tabs on where he was or what he was doing all night.

[Aslan]

Most leagues (if not all) that I've been in do not allow subs to bowl in the position round.

The only exception is if your teams are allowed to have "permanent subs". A permanent sub (for those who don't use them or call them something else) is a sub that only bowls for your team. Many leagues will allow teams to have a regular roster and one or more permanent subs and the permanent subs can bowl in position rounds.

However, those subs cannot bowl for any other team. And there are also different rules for leagues that "sweep" and some leagues make them pay the full dues when they bowl and some leagues have them bowl for free and the regular bowler covers the dues. Permanent subs allow bowlers to stay on their team even though they know they can't commit to be there every week.

I was a permanent sub on my Anaheim Hills league because I moved to Anaheim and lived right next to a bowling alley. So, I joined a couple leagues at the new center but said I'd be happy to be a permanent sub on the Anaheim Hills team in case they needed me. I bowled for free, but was not eligible for any team prize money. I was allowed to sweep with the team in Vegas if I bowled 18 games during the season. I think I bowled 15 so the team captains had to approve me sweeping with the team.

They probably regretted their decision when I tied for first in Vegas and brought home over $1400. :o

But no, most leagues will not allow temporary subs to bowl position rounds.

[boatman37]

Should have specified that but we don't have 'temporary' subs around here as far as i know. These are permanent subs that are on that teams roster and can't bowl for any other team that season.

[Aslan]

Should have specified that but we don't have 'temporary' subs around here as far as i know. These are permanent subs that are on that teams roster and can't bowl for any other team that season.

Well. Then you're stuck. Permanent subs can generally bowl position rounds.

However, you can always propose to change that for next season. I don't think there's any USBC rule...its just a league rule.

[boatman37]

yeah i don't really care that much either way. it was just brought up to me asking my opinion and i had never heard of a rule like that but thought it was odd that the 'ringer' only bowls when they really need the wins