Lawn Bowls History and Game Description

Bowls is a sport in which the goal is to roll slightly asymmetric balls, called bowls, closest to a smaller, normally white bowl, called the "jack" or "kitty". A short form of the game called carpet bowling or "short mats", is played indoors.

Lawn bowls origin has been traced certainly to the 13th century, and conjecturally to the 12th.

In 1864 William Wallace Mitchell (1803-1884), a Glasgow Cotton Merchant, published his "Manual of Bowls Playing" following his work as the secretary formed in 1849 by Scottish bowling clubs which became the basis of the rules of the modern game. Kilmarnock Bowling green is the oldest club in Scotland, instituted in 1740.

National Bowling Associations were established in the late 1800's. In the then Victorian Colony (now State of Victoria in Australia), the (Royal) Victorian Bowling Association was formed in 1880 and the The Scottish Bowling Association was established in 1892, although there had been a failed attempt in 1848 by 200 Scottish clubs.

Today the sport is played in over 40 countries with more than 50 member national authorities.

Lawn bowls is usually played on a large, rectangular, precisely leveled and manicured grass or synthetic surface known as a bowling green which is divided into parallel playing strips called rinks. An indoor variation on carpet is also played. In the simplest competition, singles, one of the two opponents flips a coin to see who wins the "mat" and begins a segment of the competition (in bowling parlance, an "end"), by placing the mat and rolling the jack to the other end of the green to serve as a target. Once it has come to rest, the jack is aligned to the center of the rink and the players take turns to roll their bowls from the mat towards the jack and thereby build up the "head".

A bowl may curve outside the rink boundary on its path, but must come to rest within the rink boundary to remain in play. Bowls falling into the ditch are dead and removed from play, except in the event when one has "touched" the jack on its way. "Touchers" are marked with chalk and remain alive in play even though they are in the ditch. Similarly if the jack is knocked into the ditch it is still alive unless it is out of bounds to the side resulting in a "dead" end which is replayed though according to international rules the jack is "respotted" to the center of the rink and the end is continued. After each competitor has delivered all of their bowls (four each in singles and pairs, three each in triples, and two bowls each in fours), the distance of the closest bowls to the jack is determined (the jack may have been displaced) and points, called "shots", are awarded for each bowl which a competitor has closer than the opponent's nearest to the jack.

Scoring systems vary from competition to competition. Games can be decided when:

* a player in a singles game reaches a specified target number of shots (usually 15, 21 or 25).
* a team (pair, triple or four) has the higher score after a specified number of ends.

In the Laws of the Sport of Bowls the winner in a singles game is the first player to score 21 shots. In all other disciplines (pairs, triples, fours) the winner is the team who has scored the most shots after 18 ends of play. Often local tournaments will play shorter games (often 10 or 12 ends). Some competitions use a "set" scoring system, with the first to seven points awarded a set in a best-or-three or best-of-five set match. As well as singles competition, there can be two (pairs), three (triples) and four-player (fours) teams. In these, teams bowl alternately, with each player within a team bowling all their bowls, then handing over to the next player. The team captain or "skip" always plays last and is instrumental in directing his team's shots and tactics.

Bias of bowls

Bowls are designed to travel a curved path because of the shape of the bowl called the bias. A bowler determines the bias direction of the bowl in his hand by symbols on the sides of the bowl. The bowl can be flipped over to change the bias to the other direction. Regulations determine the minimum bias allowed, and the range of diameters (11.6 to 13.1 cm), but within these rules bowlers can and do choose bowls to suit their own preference. They were originally made from lignum vitae, a dense wood giving rise to the term "woods" for bowls, but are now more typically made of a hard plastic composite material.

Bowls were once only available colored black or brown but they are now available in a variety of colors. They have unique symbol markings engraved on them for identification. Since many bowls look the same, coloured, adhesive stickers or labels are also used to mark the bowls of each team in bowls matches. Some local associations agree specific colors for stickers for each of the clubs in their area. Provincial or national colors are often assigned in national and international competitions. These stickers are used by officials to distinguish teams.

Bowls have symbols unique to the set of four for identification. The side of the bowl with a larger symbol within a circle indicates the side away from the bias. That side with a smaller symbol within a smaller circle is the bias side toward which the bowl will turn. It is not uncommon for players to deliver a "wrong bias" shot from time to time and see their carefully aimed bowl crossing neighboring rinks rather than heading towards their jack.

When bowling there are several types of delivery. "Draw" shots are those where the bowl is rolled to a specific location without causing too much disturbance of bowls already in the head. For a right-handed bowler, "forehand draw" is initially aimed to the right of the jack, and curves in to the left. The same bowler can deliver a "backhand draw" by turning the bowl over in his hand and curving it the opposite way, from left to right. In both cases, the bowl is rolled as close to the jack as possible, unless tactics demand otherwise. A "drive" or "fire" or "strike" involves bowling with force with the aim of knocking either the jack or a specific bowl out of play - and with the drive's speed, there is virtually no noticeable (or, at least, much less) curve on the shot. An "upshot" or "yard on" shot involves delivering the bowl with an extra degree of weight (often referred to as "controlled" weight or "rambler"), enough to displace the jack or disturb other bowls in the head without killing the end. A "block" shot is one that is intentionally placed short to defend from a drive or to stop an oppositions draw shot. The challenge in all these shots is to be able to adjust line and length accordingly, the faster the delivery, the narrower the line or "green" to the target.

Variations of play

Particularly in team competition there can be a large number of bowls on the green towards the conclusion of the end, and this gives rise to complex tactics. Teams "holding shot" with the closest bowl will often make their subsequent shots not with the goal of placing the bowl near the jack, but in positions to make it difficult for opponents to get their bowls into the head, or to places where the jack might be deflected to if the opponent attempts to disturb the head.

Singles, triples, fours and Australian pairs are some ways the game can be played. In singles, two people play against each other and the first to win to either 15, 21, 25 or more shots. The controlling body sets the game to either 15, 21, 25 or more. An additional scoring method is set play. This comprises two sets for specified ends, an end being the completion of both players delivering all their bowls. Should a player win a set each, they then play a further 2 out of 3 ends that will decide the winner.

One form of pairs allows both people on a team to play Skip and Lead. The lead throws two bowls, the skip delivers two, then the lead delivers his remaining two, the skip then delivers his remaining two bowls. Each end, the leads and skips switch positions. This is played over 21 ends or sets play. Another variant has the lead throw two bowls, then the skip throws all four bowls, then the lead throws the last two bowls, switching positions after each end (Australian Pairs). Triples is with three players while Fours is with four players on each team. Quad's or quaddie is a variant where each team has four bowlers, and they bowl one game as fours, one game as a single and a triple, and one game as pairs. This is repeated through the draw.

Short Mat Bowls is an all-year sport unaffected by weather conditions and it does not require a permanent location as the rink mats can be rolled up and stowed away. This makes it particularly appropriate for small communities as it can be played in village halls, schools, sports and social clubs, hotels etc. where space is restricted and is also required for other purposes: it is even played on North Sea oil rigs where space is really at a premium. Regulation sized indoor bowling requires a permanent dedicated facility.

Bowls are played by the blind and Paraplegic. Blind bowlers are extremely skillful due to their extreme sense of hearing and feel. The world's best are a match for the best club level sighted bowlers.

Popularity

Bowls is popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong and parts of the United States. It is also gaining momentum in Japan. Because of its competitiveness, skill and the fact that it is a non-contact sport, the game suits people from teen years through to their nineties. However, there is a considerable professional competition with many younger men and women playing. Since the early 2000s, the sport has developed in Denmark as well. The World Championships held in the UK annually is a £100,000 competition and is watched by 3 million viewers via BBC TV.

Bowls is played at the Commonwealth Games; the last being held in Melbourne Australia, where Kelvin Kerkow (Australia) and Siti Zalina Ahmad (Malaysia) won the singles Gold Medals. 2010 sees the Games in Delhi, India.

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