BOWLING

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1929, Page 3

BOWLING

“A GENTLEMAN’S GAME” CATERING FOR THE INDIVIDUAL.' ALL TRIERS AT BOWLS.

(By

“Toucher.”)

Twenty years or so ago the game of bowls was considered to be suitable only for elderly gentlemen of leisure, or “rheumaticky” people who were no longer able to participate in games calling for more physical activity. Youths of that day were mostly all potential cricketers, swimmers or athletes. They mostly played “bat and ball” soon as their legs would a’llow them. Paddocks surrounding towns and villages, and even side streets, were occupied at nights with kerosene tins for wickets and a piece of wood for a bat. Here ambitions matured or they did not. Most of them did not, but that is another story. They became merely spectators of the game at which they had determined to become shining lights. How different is the position to-day! Twenty years ago bowling greens were few and far between. To them gravitated the men who were too old for cricket, but they were few in number, and nobody took much notice of them. Then gradually, but surely, the game of bowls began to fascinate the middle-aged of the land, and bowling greens sprang up in all directions. The game lias come to stay. To-day there are more bowling" greens than cricket fields; indeed,.it is claimed there are more participants in the game of bowls . than in any other sport in the Dominion. What is the secret of this great modern achievement of what, after all, is a very ancient game? The reason lies in the fact that bowls is a .game in which one individual can take part with another. What counts is not a man’s position in life, but whether he can bowl or not. There are no distinctions in the game on the green; the employer plays with his employee, the landlord with his tenant. Another point about the game is that professionalism does not enter into the game in any form. People who play in-any sport for what they .can get out of it damage that sport in the end. Amongst members of all clubs there exists that fine spirit of cameraderie that is not found to anything of a like extent in any other branch of sport. TO BE A GENTLEMAN FIRST. “A gentleman’s game!” Such has bowling been described. This phrase is indeed well chose nand pregnant with meaning. To be a gentleman first, whatever next, will be every true man’s ideal. Wealth, ability, even health, all blessings greatly to be desired, are sadly marred if unaccompanied by those attributes that mark the gentleman. Not the least charm of the gentleman lies in the fact that the qualities that adorn, him 'are of his own choice and cultivation. He is a gentleman most often less because he has chosen and striven to be one. And wc feel we all may be even as lie, if we so will and desire, prepare! to pay the price in self-denial and consideration for our neighbour, honestly seeking, so far as human frailty will permit, to obey the great ordinance with which we are all so familihr. The game itself, moreover, is not without some claim to the proud title conferred on it. No proud champion displays his invincible prowess on its soft green swards. The meanest, yea, even the oldest, trundler of us all may aspire to its highest honours. RESPECT ANOTHER'S FOIBLES. If the game, then, sets us this kindly example, we may well follow its lead. And what shall we make our care? There is but one golden rule—considered fox* others, both for those you play with and for those you play against. Respect another’s foibles; try even to love them. If they really irritate, seek to remove them by courteous remonstrance rather than

by vulgar expostualtion. Either policy may achieve the end, but the former inflicts no wounds and leaves no scar. Be charitable to one another’s failures. We are all triers at bowls. A bowler cannot help being a trier, and his failure galls him enough without your angry reproach, the only effect of which can be to irritate or depress, and so defeat his efforts to amend. . Take you luck as it comes—and the other fellow’s, too. It will, on the whole, be evenly distributed. When your opponent too vehemently deplores the shocking misadventure that robs him of some well-earned advantage, don’t argue, say, “We all get them.” He will recognise its truth. If he does not. be silent. The next head will now be claiming his attention, and your offence will be forgiven, more especially if, as is likely enough, fortune presently flings her favours in his direction for- a change. CONGRATULATE YOUR OPPONENT. Give a generous appreciation to another’s successful effort; claim little for your own. It may be no easy thing to congratulate your opponent on his success, especially where it means disaster for yourself. But it is no impossible feat. You will see it done every day" by our best exemplars. To do all this requires but two things —determination and perseverance. This may sound very much like Dickens’ advice to the little boy facing his big rival in a figflit: “Go in and win”—something easier said than done. You are a grown man and have no foe to fight, achievement is within your powers. First, will to do, and then go in and do it. Eventually it will become easy, and when that. stage is reached you will have acquired one of the hallmarks of the true gentleman. And it will pay you as a bowler. There may not at first glance appear to be much connection between being a good bowler' and being a fine gentleman. But it is there. No man can bowl well when he has lost his temper or has been consciously guilty, of some meanness, either in omission or commission. The best will come but of you as a bowler when you are most at ease, as a gentleman always is; and, best above all, accept it as truth that if you succeed in being a gentleman on the green you will find it all the easier to be the gentleman elsewhere. KEEPS A MAN YOUNG. Bowls has claims for special consideration in that it is the only outdo.'r pastime in which green old age can meet robust youth on fairly equal terms. As a matter of fact, fully 10 per cent, of Taranaki's bowlers are well over three score years. Bowls for these gentlemen is more than a sport, it is a healthful recreation that gives them an interest, and a hold, on tapering life. Bowls is no doubt an aid to longevity. The fresh air, the not too strenuous exercise, and, above all, the relaxation of the mind which, freed for the time being of business or domestic cares or worries which run hand in hand with the social intercourse with his fellows on the green, all help to keep a man young. Then they have grace, these bowlers, as they stand dotted about the green sward. They may not have the grace of the Grecian dancers, but they have grace, most decidedly. See yon bowler where he stands, heels together at attention, poised on the mat; mark the backward swing of his arm, the forward stride of his leg, the* swoop of his form as be bends to the delivery—from his hands curl the bowl. There is no such grace in the leaps of tennis or the rude discourtesy of football.

The game of bowls could be likened to the British Empire; England represents the jack, the bowls being the Dominions and colonies. It is a polite game., bowls. Everybody calls most of the other people by their Christian names. Questions are asked in well-modulated voices, and' it is usual for a bowler, even if his biassed piece of rolling cussedness goes out: of touch, to do nothing more offensive than raise plaintive eyes to heaven and get a trifle pink round the ears. This in itself is a full-sized tribute to the cultural influence of this ancient English game. It is a comforting reflection that ever since bowls ceased to be the outdoor sport of the aged and infirm only, and became a popular

pastime, its scope in the direction of culture has indefinitely extended. , NEW PLYMOUTH CLUB MEETS. A meeting of the committee of the New Plymouth Bowling Club was-held, dating thi week, Mr. T. Ilorrmi presiding. Messrs. Horton and E. R. Bean were delegated to make arviingemcnta for the ppenirg day. During »he winter play, it was leported, a pairs - competition, was successfully carriid out, the .era being Dr. Campbell and Mr. W. Marsh. The trophies were two gold m tdals presented by Air. R. J. Linn. It was decided to procure a supply of badges. 4? A rink competition is to b° held on Labour Day. A trophy for each member of the winning rink will be presented. . The’affiliation fee for players from other clubs was reduced to 30s. The question of A and B sections or home and homo matches in the shield competition was left in the hands ol Mr. A. K. Smart, the club’s representative on the Centre. Twelve new memebrs so far had joined the club this season.