St Georges Cup XIV 2026

About us… We’re a Short Mat Bowls Competition where the selected 32 players from the North of England play against the selected players from the South of England. Competitive competition all in the aid of the captains choice of charity.
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The battle between the North and South started in 2011, which seen short mat bowls players from all over England come together in a two day event, to see which side won crowning glory.

Slowly over the years we have become a big family, and that family has grown in numbers and reputation, drawing more players, more donations and stretching out to include more charities.

2010 –This epic Ryder Cup style competition was the brain child of two men, Darran Beardmore and Nick Tideswell both from Staffordshire. With the help of Craig Burgess from Essex they spawned a bowls competition like no other seen before. The St Georges Cup becomes a trophy that any short mat bowls player was proud to play for.

2011 – The first event was in the 2010-11 season, and it was a running success from the start. Top players from around the country put something back into the sport by helping to raise money for charity, but also creating the family that we all know it as now.

2017 –The St Georges cup family needed to grow and it was decided to support two charities, that year we supported Great Ormond street and a little grandson of one of our own bowlers, who was suffering with a rare form a cancer. That year we rose over £14,500, which staggered everyone involved, it enabled us to help the little guy’s last few days be a bit more comfortable and help finish a post anaesthetic bay at Great Ormond Street.​

To honour a person who has been with the competition through illness and hardship we created the Steve White Outstanding Contribution Award to recognise the contribution that not only the bowlers put in but others. The MVP trophies and the Wooden Spoon trophies were also renamed, both to honour where we came from and to show respect to the hard work people have put into the competition over the years.
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The MVP trophies were renamed The Darran Beardmore North MVP Award and The Craig Burgess South MVP North, as without the help of these two people we would not be where we were today. The Wooden Spoon trophies were renamed to the Barry BrindleyNorth Wooden Spoon Award and the Richard Walker South Wooden Spoon award. Two people who show the true passion and heart of the competition and without their hard work throughout the years, we would not be able to be helping the amazing charities that we are today.

Future – We have grown so much and looking to the future we hope to be able to grow the competition further with the support of everyone involved with the family in the past, the present and the future. The commitment of all involved will help us to support many more great charities year on year.