GAME OF BOWLS

Southland Times, Issue 22969, 15 August 1936, Page 20

GAME OF BOWLS

BOOM IN BRITAIN With the exception of lawn tennis with its ever-growing crowds of newcomers among “juniors,” at school or just entering business, no ball game annually attracts so many recruits as the game of bowls. A census of players indicates that among men alone there are 383,244 bowlers in Great Britain and Ireland, and these are only the figures of affiliated clubs and associations.

Counting women players, belonging to recognized clubs and those who play as the opportunity permits, but are not linked up in associations, another 50,000 could in round figures be tacked on to the men’s aggregate. Likewise, there are large numbers of schoolboy bowlers, who are not as yet federated after the manner of Young Farmers’ Clubs, but at Northwich (Cheshire) and elsewhere hold their annual singles championships. Industrial revival in the immediate metropolitan area has been responsible for the remarkable enlistment of thousands of newcomers to the game—men of all ages and jobs.

While men attaining the retiring age in the Civil Service are turning in their hundreds to the game “for something to do,” young fellows in transport work, at the docks, in warehouses and workshops, and policemen and postal officials are flocking to bowls in their thousands. New Greens in London. Twenty new greens in the immediate London area will he ready for another 2000 recruits in July and August. London’s newcomers to bowls are mainly men between 25 and 35 years of age, quite recent club cricketers or tennis players looking for a substitute sport which, while strenuous enough »s played to-day, is devoid of all limb risks. These comparatively young men express their delight not only about the fascination of end-building demanded in first-class play, but at the prospect of securing early recognition in county and national championships. Competitive play is so predominant in the game to-day that a keen match player, at singles, pairs or the rink game, can get all the match play he requires—and sometimes a little more.