Beiliss happy with life as a professional bowler

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 8

Beiliss happy with life as a professional bowler

By

KEVIN McMENAMIN

No sport in New Zealand has undergone such dramatic change in the last few years as bowls, and this change has nothing to do with its former image as a game for those at least half way to their three score years and 10.

This image started to fade back in the late 1960 s and was -gone just about completely by the early 19705. The new revolution in bowls dates back just three years, when the sport embraced professionalism. The New Zealander most closely identified 7 with professional bowls is Peter Beiliss, the tall Wanganui man whose booming drive made, him a household name when he was still in his early 20s. He could draw shots, too, and while he might still rank third behind PhirSkoglund and Nick Unkovich as New Zealand’s best bowler of the last 30 years he is a good deal younger and time is therefore on his side.

It is nearly eight years ago that Beiliss started to work towards making bowls his career. But even when the game went professional in New Zealand in 1981 Beiliss delayed turning, until after the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane where he won the silver medal in the singles. Nowadays Beiliss leads the life of the touring professional. He might not be

making anything like the money of some of the big names on the tennis and golf circuits, but he says he is “making ends meet” and at 33 and single has no complaints about his way of life.

Beiliss was in Christchurch this week for two tournaments, the finals of the Rothmans inter-centre event, which he won just about singlehandedly for Wanganui, and as the sponsor’s representative at the Countrywide singles which ended on Wednesday. Although he no longer plays in club and centre championships, Beiliss keeps a busy schedule. Attending the various Countrywide tournaments around New Zealand has kept him on the move this summer, but he has still found time to play some of the bigger professional events himself, and he has been in the money in most of them. Australia has become almost a second home to Bellis and this week-end he is off to Canberra where he will be playing in a singles tournament which carries a first prize of $lOOO. After that he will return to New Zealand for Countrywide events in Counties and Auckland then there is the test series against Australia at Geraldine in April. He has been invited to another big Australian tournament, this time at

Nelson Bay, near Newcastle, at Easter, and then he will be off to Britain for more tournaments before joining up with the New Zealand team for the world championships at Aberdeen in July.

After that he will be returning to Australia for at least two more tournaments, at Newcastle and on the Gold Coast, in August and September. Like any professional sportsman, Beiliss says the life on the road appears more glamorous than it really is. However, in most cases his expenses are paid for him and this lifts much of the burden, which many tennis and golf players must endure, of having to finish among the prizewinners to cover their costs. Even Beiliss is amazed at the way the professional game has taken off in New Zealand. “There are tournaments all over the place and I don’t think anyone expected, things to move as quickly as they have. Obviously bowlers like the idea of eg for money and does seem to have side-stepped many of the problems other sports had when they went professional.” Beiliss has no doubts that Erofessionalism is good for owls, and that clubs and players at all levels get a spin-off benefit. "It is the next five years that are going to be very interesting, and if the present momentum is maintained the future must be bright.” If anything, Beiliss believes that New Zealand has adapted better to the professional game than either Australia or Britain, both of which had open tournaments before New Zealand.

“Australia has, in fact, been disappointing. There are plenty of tournaments

with prizes of around $2OOO, but so far nothing really big. Much the same as happened in Britain (where Beiliss has been three times in the last four years), and New Zealand has led them all in organising the bigger money events.” He said that there were indications that the prize money in Australia would grow, and he added that money was really no problem for many of the bigger clubs. He named some which show annual profits of around S2M and it was beholden on them, he thought, to put something back into the game. According to Beiliss, what is really needed, and this applies to New Zealand as well, is a promoter who could tie all the tournaments together, and thereby establish a circuit that was complementary on both sides of the Tasman. “If someone should come along with the industry and enterprise to do this job well then I am sure that bowls as a sport would quickly move into a new era, and a very exciting one,” said Beiliss. He accepts the criticism that so far professional bowls in New Zealand has been something of a closed shop, the same players getting nearly all the invitations. “However, events like the Countrywide one give all players the chance to make a name for themselves and once they do this the invitations, will soon follow,” he said.

Beiliss “said that frequently players come to him and say that they want to be professional bowlers like him. How do they go about it?

“Obviously they need to be good players, and no-one should expect to make a fortune out of the game, certainly not in the foresee-

able future. They would have to look at their domestic and work situations and balance these against a future full of uncertainty.

“But if they want it badly enough they will do it, and from my own experience the only advice I would give is to go to Australia and play all the tournaments they can there. It was in Australia where I really learnt to play the game.” Beiliss freely admits that he is no longer the big driver of his youth, and that he is a better all-round bowler now. “I have learnt to play the ‘between’ shots and knowing what is the right shot to play is almost as important as being able to play it. Experience, of course, it the great teacher.”

Although the national championships, in themselves, offer no great financial rewards, Beiliss said he will continue to attend them each year. “It is important to me that I win money where I can, but to be a national champion is still something very special and I will always give the nationals a high priority.” Last year, his first full year as a professional bowler, was an encouraging one for Beiliss. He won, or was placed, in tournaments in England, Ireland, Australia and Hong Kong as well as New Zealand and if not exactly laughing all the way to the bank he is not crying poverty either.

“I had a fair idea what I was getting into when I decided to make a career in bowls, and, perhaps, I may have been born a little too early to really live well out of the game. But still it’s a nice way of life.” Bowlers everywhere might be inclined to mutter a quite “Amen” to this last statement.