Overcoming Rubbish Bowling

As I have been reporting, this winter’s bowling in Portugal’s Algarve region has been problematic to say the least. Today my wife and I had our last roll up at the Valverde LBC. We fly home on April 1^st. 

The friendliness is terrific but what I have missed is the opportunity to get out on a rink alone and just practice deliveries one after another with a couple of sets of identical bowls. 

Today I played lead in a pairs game and just concentrated on delivering the jack with a consistent 45 degrees of backswing and smooth rhythm speed as I brought my body forward and particularly emphasized making sure that I walked off the front of the mat following the bowl a few steps as I released my bowl. This allowed me to swing through with a more relaxed arm. The extra elevation in the backswing provided extra velocity so that I didn’t have to give any final thrust at release. I could consequently hold the bowl more gently.

I left Valverde for another year with a more confident feeling.   

An Unlawful Delivery at Lawn Bowls

At one of the places where I am visiting in Portugal, one of the bowlers uses, very effectively, a delivery technique which I had never seen before, at any level of lawn bowling, from the club level to the world championships; neither indoor nor outdoor. He starts standing, feet together, one stride behind the mat. Then, in one motion, he steps forward onto the mat, sets his foot on the mat and as he takes a second step forward with the normal advancing foot he releases his bowl. As he releases his bowl one of his feet is either fully or partially on or over the mat.

I was curious why I had never seen this done before. On further investigating I found the reason. Every such delivery is a foot fault! The pertinent law of the sport of bowls reads:

7.1          Before delivery a player must be standing on the mat with all or at least part of one foot on the mat.[my bold italics] At the moment they deliver the jack or a bowl, the player must have all or at least part of one foot on or above the mat.

Now what should I do? This gentleman has been bowling this way for years. I presume no one has ever called him for a foot fault all this time. He has probably never played in an officiated tournament. Should I speak to him about it off the green?

What would you do?