Local Bowls Culture in Portugal

So far I find that the issue of who will take the mat in the opening end is always decided by choosing ‘big’ or ‘little’ from the roll of a bowl. In Canada and Australia, more often there is a coin toss.  Furthermore, the winner here always seems to take the mat. There is no spoken choice; it is just assumed by both sides. This may be because I am playing with people who are all playing on their home green, so they may simply know the grass and want to be first onto the jack. The observation so far is only based on behaviour at the Vilamoura and Valverde LBCs.

Nevertheless, it is startlingly different from practice in Canada where the winner of the usual coin toss almost always gives the mat away and chooses to have skip’s last bowl in the end. The feeling in Canada is also that there is an advantage in seeing the opposition’s opening delivery before having to grass your own bowl.

In the matter of collecting the bowls after an end, practice is not uniform between Valverde and Vilamoura. At Valverde they put out and use rakes like in Canada. At Vilamoura players help to kick the bowls back behind the mat placement.