Old man’s marbles? Says who …..!?
The game of bowls certainly seems to have an 'old age' tag attached to it which is a great pity, because the modern game is certainly catching the fancy of younger people these days, and many of them I might add!
• On the Bowling Green with Geoff Behrent:
The other day I was speaking to one of the many attractive young ladies in this area and invited her to come and join us on the bowling green that coming Saturday afternoon. She said: “Oh no Geoff, I can’t, I am not old enough!” I responded by telling her that many of today’s bowlers are in the under-25 category and that we have Provincial and Springbok bowlers under the age of 30. Her reply? “Oh dear, I’m already too old then!”
This got me to thinking. The game of bowls certainly seems to have an ‘old age’ tag attached to it which is a great pity, because the modern game is certainly catching the fancy of younger people these days, and many of them I might add! I know for a fact that this game really has no age limit to it. So, to make sure of my facts, I did a little research, not much, just a little … Google can be fun!
Apparently in England there are currently considerably more people under the age of 50 playing bowls than there are bowlers over that age! One tournament even had bowlers with punk-rocker hairstyles, their hair brightly coloured and all of the players wearing garish make-up – and I’m speaking about the guys here – and rock music blaring across the green, all of which was certainly challenging to the establishment, but that said it was much enjoyed by most of the people concerned. Of course there were some traditionalists who found the whole thing ‘not quite cricket (or should that be ‘not quite bowls?’)’ but I suppose the same was felt when the full-colour, 50-over version of cricket (and now the 20/20 version as well) was introduced, and look at where THAT game has gone since then!
During a radio broadcast it was reported that in a tournament held in the UK recently, some guy did the whole streaker-thing across the bowling green during a competition! I fleetingly saw something on TV the other night that looked like the incident in question, or was SuperSport just using the idea and made a promo or something? No matter.
OK, so we are not going to have punk-rock tournaments here, nor do I think the chances of a streaker on one of our greens in the West Rand District (Sables Bowling Association) is a possibility (but one never knows though … one always lives in hope) but what we do have is a vibrant, active and fun-loving bunch of bowlers ranging in age from 10 years upwards. 10-years-old, you gasp, dumbstruck? But that’s nothing compared to the newspaper headline some years ago which proclaimed: “The world’s youngest bowler?” and the article was about a three-year-old boy who was playing the game! (The child called the game ‘bowlie’ by the way). A friend of mine started playing when he was 16 and has been a regular bowler for the past 45+ years – so this begs a very interesting question: how many other sports can one play competitively for that long or even longer? It has been said that “bowls is young person’s game that can be played well into old age” and I totally agree with that sentiment.
Therefore what I am saying is this: Bowls is NOT the exclusive domain of the senior set any more (if it ever was?), though of course the game is favoured by people of a ‘certain age’, especially if they are retired or semi-retired and have some spare time on their hands to play during the week, something of which working people do not have the luxury. Weekends are different though, all age groups converge on the bowling greens around the country. But don’t feel intimidated by those you think may be ou bokkies! Rather, why not try something new; go on, visit your nearest bowling green, in this case Randfontein Town Bowling Club, tell the people there that you are interested in learning the game and give it a shot. The bowlers will make you feel more than welcome and give you every encouragement and the necessary coaching (free of charge), and will even lend you bowls until you decide to get your own. Bowling clubs are extremely sociable, the drinks are usually a lot cheaper than anywhere else (Big Bonus) and once you start playing regularly, a lifetime of enjoyment and making new friends await you. That’s a promise!
And did that attractive young lady I introduced you to in the opening paragraph come to play bowls on the Saturday afternoon in question? Sadly not …
If you need any further information, or should you want to start or re-start playing bowls (our greens are open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon), please contact Randfontein Town Bowling Club’s secretary, Bobby McNeil on 082 926 4895.
