Green Bowls I often get returned a wry smile and usually a wisecrack about wearing flat hats and smoking a pipe, but if you could of just seen the exhaustion on Tonto Juniors face and the sweat pouring from his furrowed brows as he positioned himself for another nail biting end you could be fooled into thinking he was exerting as much effort as any long distance runner or great footballer.
Despite his great bowling and some fantastic touching woods his opponent Mr Culpan kept knocking him off and using some complex physics managing to sneak points away from him, soon it was 19/12 and it looked like it was going to be another defeat for our team whose morale was beginning to look low with first Tommy, Happy, The Eskimo, Moggy and The Chosen One suffering defeats.
It scraped closer as his opponent managed another one in return for the one Tonto had scored and it was All-but (a technical term for 20) to 16 down.
But Tonto was still not finished, he reached to his white cap and twisted it 180 degrees so that the peak was facing away from his face and this was like a switch, like nitrous oxide in a drag car, like the powerband of a two stroke motorbike…
Suddenly he scored two ones and a two to bring him level with 20 across but sadly the extreme exertion and phenomenal concentration was too much for him and he lost that all important last end, losing just 20/21 on the 29th end but what a fantastic show it was and he got a standing ovation as he returned to the terraces with a look of total mental and physical exhaustion
We concluded the game having 5 winners to their 7 and lost on aggregate 188 to Ellands 214, of course our No1 bowler The Knight Rider took home the £8 sweep winning 21/7, our only player leaving the opponent in single figures.
Our No2 and still undefeated bowler Jimmy managed 21/15 and we also had wins by Shawy, Bimbo and Billy Bunny, Shawy taking the £4 second sweep money.
Amazingly for my ego I was the second highest loser even statistically higher ranking than the “Chosen One”, but it depends I guess on the player you play against, in retrospect I feel I could of done better so I guess Ill still be joining Happy, The Eskimo and “TB” for our home green practise sessions on Thursday Night at 7pm, a regular get together we have come to know as Rabbits night!
History Of Bowling
Historians believe that the game of bowls developed from the Egyptians. One of their pastimes was to play skittles with round stones. This has been determined based on artefacts found in tombs dating circa 5,000 B.C.
The oldest Bowls green still played on is in Southampton, England where records show that the green has been in operation since 1299 A.D. There are other claims of greens being in use before that time, but these are, as yet, unsubstantiated
Certainly the most famous story in lawn bowls is with Sir Frances Drake and the Spanish Armada. On July 18, 1588, Drake was involved in a game at Plymouth Hoe when he was notified that the Spanish Armada was approaching. His immortalised response was that "We still have time to finish the game and to thrash the Spaniards, too." He then proceeded to finish the match which he lost before embarking on the fight with the Armada which he won. Whether this famous story really took place has been heavily debated.
King Henry VIII was also a lawn bowler. However, he banned the game for those who were not wealthy or "well to do" because "Bowyers, Fletchers, Stringers and Arrowhead makers" were spending more time at recreational events such as bowls instead of practising their trade. Henry VIII requested that anybody who wished to keep a green pay a fee of 100 pounds. However, the green could only be used for private play and he forbade anyone to "play at any bowle or bowles in open space out of his own garden or orchard".
King James I issued a publication called "The Book of Sports" and, although he condemned football (soccer) and golf, encouraged the play of bowls. In 1845, the ban was lifted, and people were again allowed to play bowls and other games of skill.
Crown Green Bowls is a game of arguably greater interest since it features an additional dimension. A Crown Green is a square lawn slightly higher in the middle than at the edges and play is conducted all over the lawn in any direction making for a great deal more variety than the flat green game.
The game has always been associated more with pubs and taverns than Lawn Green bowls and although it does not have the enormous popularity of the flat green game, it thrives very happily within its home base of the North of England and the North West Midlands.
Play is almost always singles and a player bowls just two bowls each end. The winner of each turn can play the jack in any direction and at any reasonable distance within the lawn boundary which is a ditch. Some players are best at bowling across the hump, others along the sloping side, some prefer short distances, others long and so many additional tactical complexities are introduced by the unusual lawn. Watching the multiple games occurring in all directions at once across a crown green bowling lawn is a spectating experience worth seeking out. Somehow, the individual games manage to intersect and cross over each other without any adverse consequences!
