Bowls at Turramurra, Australia

The novice bowling author is on an extended holiday in Sydney Australia until March.

The grass is faster here than on the synthetic surface at James Garden and much, much faster than the grass at Willowdale, but this is the least of the differences in play between here and Toronto. In Australia, the pair’s game is played with the leads opening with two bowls each, then the skips deliver two bowls; then the leads return to the mat and deliver their last two bowls, and finally the skips come back and grass their last two bowls. Thus, there is twice as much walking back and forth on the rink as in Canada.

One might think the game would proceed more slowly but it actually goes faster because, unlike in Canada, each rink has a marked center line that extends out from the two-meter T for eight meters at each end. This eliminates any signaling between the leads and skips concerning the centering either of the mat or the jack before the beginning of each end.

The presence of the marked center line creates several differences in how play usually evolves. In Canada, because of the problem centering the mat if it is moved up the green, most ends end up being played with bowls delivered from the 2-meter mark or no more than 4 feet further up the green. At Turramurra, and perhaps elsewhere in Australia, there is less tactical play with changes to the distance the jack is delivered and much more involving the location of the mat. In the first game I played in Australia, (social not competitive) both skips left it pretty well up to the leads to decide on the placement of the mat and the distance that the jack was delivered. In Canada, even in a social game, play would pause until the skip in possession of the mat came down the rink to the place where the jack was supposed to be delivered. The skip expects or more often just hopes the lead will deliver the jack close to where (s)he stands. The skip I played with simply waited near the forward ditch for the mat to be placed and jack to be tossed down seemingly at my discretion. Then they quickly moved the jack onto the center line for the first lead bowl.

At Turramurra, and perhaps in all of Australia, players do not use bowl rakes to gather the bowls when the end is over but the bowls are kicked back to behind the mat placement for the next end. In Canada as far as I have seen, rakes are used except for singles matches. As a consequence, in Australia, it seems that for the convenience of the bowlers, the mat is rarely placed at the 2-meter line, but almost always at least 4 meters more up the rink. Since very often the previous head might be as far as 10 meters from the forward ditch if the mat for the coming end is now placed 6 meters from the ditch, the bowls only need to be kicked a short distance. If the mat were placed at the 2-meter mark, the bowls would need to be kicked inconveniently far and there would be an increased chance that a bowl would end up gathering some sand in the ditch before it could be properly marshaled.

There is another reason that moving the mat might be discouraged by Canadian conditions of play. Ground sheets are used much more in Canada than in Australia. From reading the comments written by Australians on the blog, Julian Haynes Bowls, many feel that if conditions require ground sheets, play should be canceled. This is not the case in Canada.  In many places in Canada, the weather is quite variable throughout the bowls season. There are more days when it rains at least some of the time. Furthermore, the season, which is only from May to October to begin with, is extended by using ground sheets more toward the end of the season as the weather deteriorates. There also seems to be much heavier morning dew, at least in the Toronto area where I am from, and it doesn’t ‘burn off ‘ until about 10:30AM which is well after most tournaments have begun. According to the World Bowls Crystal Mark Second Edition rules, ground sheets are placed on each rink by the groundskeeper if in his opinion required and cannot be moved or removed except by agreement from the groundskeeper. Moreover, the rules further  state that the mat must remain placed with its front edge aligned with the back edge of the ground sheet. As a result, groundsheets take mat movements out of the game.

With a marked center line, the greater movement of the mat has a significant effect on determining the aim line. In Canada, some choose the aim line by selecting a particular distinct point on or beyond the forward bank and creating an imaginary aiming line that passes through that point; then carefully looking back along that line they find a stare point conveniently in front of the mat. The difficulty with this method is that the aiming line needs to be changed whenever the mat is moved significantly forward or back. Since significant mat movement is rarer in a Canadian social game, this is not a burden. In Australia, such changes in mat placement are more the rule than the exception, so, bowlers that use the above method are handicapped. At the same time, players who apply a method based on bowling at a fixed angle to the centerline are aided by the existence of a clearly marked center line. The simplest method of choosing the proper line for delivering bowls to the jack in Australia is by bowling at the correct angle off the center line because that angle is not changed when the mat position is varied!   All your attention can be directed at getting the correct weight for your shots.

Cultural Aspects of the Game

At the Turramurra Bowling Club in Sydney Australia many more men are bowling than women, while at James Gardens in Toronto, there are more ladies than gents. Mixed bowling is the most common bowls game in Canada but it seems that the men far outnumber the ladies at Turramurra. Even more noteworthy is the extent to which men and women do not mix down under. Ladies play on ladies' days and hardly make an appearance at the club at other times. This may be connected with the fact that bowling clubs in Australia typically have a bar and some slot machines, but this is just a tentative hypothesis. There are also hints that the men prefer male-only games because they can use rougher language, drive more often, and perhaps drink more freely afterward.

It appears that bowls is much more expensive to play here in Australia.  If you want to play often you must play in an organized game that costs between $15-20 per player. This outlay includes some lunch, and coffee or tea perhaps a couple of times during the day. For the men, there is also the expense of a traditional alcoholic beverage for yourself and your opposite number after the contest. This is not to say that these extras do not have value but just that they are not optional. They are inherent aspects of the entertainment package. In Canada, for regular weekly scheduled in-house games, if you want food you bring a lunch, and tea and coffee are supplied by the club. Since almost all clubs are unlicensed, there is simply no opportunity to imbibe on the premises. You can pay $0.50 for a soft drink from the club frig or drink from the water fountain. Canadian bowls clubs more closely resemble an outdoor skating shack; the Australian bowls club is more like a golf country club!