A very interesting thread.
Here are my thoughts on the points raised by Sav....
Starter thread! just a FEW IDEAS, ADD TO THEM PLEASE!
Strengths:
This forum bringing the association to people's attention.
Strongly, almost family, based camaraderie of players over the years.
Proactive national association
Weaknesses:
Lack of pubs to play in.
Lack of teachers to demonstrate the game.
Repetitive shot combinations.
Unwillingness of top players to adapt the games rules to make it more interesting and even?
The insular nature of many teams that do not welcome newcomers.
Newcomers getting hammered in league games by the old hands.
Lack of a proactive national association.
Apathy rules as most just want to play and leave the organisation to others.
Thoughts please
Sav
I agree with all of the points made about strengths above, apart from the last one which does not seem to exist.... presumably why Chris also listed it under weaknesses?
Weaknesses..... I am not sure I agree with Chris about some of these.
1) Lack of pubs to play in.
Yes, this is a problem and without doubt many venues that used to have a table either no longer have one or have even closed. However, recent experience of new venues taking tables within Brighton has perhaps shown that the problem is more a lack of table providers rather than anything else, at least 2 new venues have been found in Brighton where the players provided the tables and the teams have been made welcome there. Perhaps we would find more venues if we could offer more tables ourselves?
2) Lack of teachers to demonstrate the game.
I did not find this to be true when I was trying to improve my games, I found (nearly) every player that I spoke to more than willing to offer advice and help me.... I personally am now
to help others if I can but people have to remember to ask for help or they won't get it!
3) Repetitive shot combinations.
Yes, that is true certainly at the top of the game.... but so are other sports like darts and they are not given the same "boring" comments that our game sometimes gets.
4) Unwillingness of top players to adapt the games rules to make it more interesting and even?
Have I missed something.... such as a proposal to change the rules of the game to make it "more interesting and even"? I don't remember ever seeing anything that would make things change (in the last 5 years at least) so this comment seems rather unfair to the "top players" who would probably still be the best at the game even if the rules were changed!
5) The insular nature of many teams that do not welcome newcomers.
Yes, I agree with this comment.... but most players will say that they want to spend their time with their friends and that applies to more things than just our game.
6) Newcomers getting hammered in league games by the old hands.
Yes, that happens.... 7 years ago I was one of the players getting hammered fairly regularly! My choice was to practice and to improve until it didn't happen so often, perhaps others should follow that route?
7) Lack of a proactive national association.
Sadly, this is a huge problem and if I actually expressed my honest views in full then I would probably be banned from the forum....
8) Apathy rules as most just want to play and leave the organisation to others.
I agree strongly again with this comment.
During the last couple of years, there have been some very encouraging things happen within the game.... we have seen new Leagues start in 2 places in Yorkshire and another League start in Norwich, we have a new 4-pin national tournament and players from around the country have all contributed to raise more than £8,000 for the new AEBBA truck.
These things have been achieved because people do still have enthusiasm for the game and we need people like this to help us to spread the game further around the country and for the national association to be leading the way (not keeping quiet) to encourage this growth.
Perhaps we do need to change some things to try to make our game more "exciting" or "interesting" to enable us to achieve that.... I certainly think that somebody from AEBBA should be talking to the new Leagues in York to find out how they have managed to achieve so much in such a short space of time, maybe we could all learn something from their example?
), the venues will come when there are players wanting to play 
to help others if I can but people have to remember to ask for help or they won't get it! 
