The Rule about Playing Out of Turn at Lawn Bowls

Valverde Algarve Portugal 2019 Winter

The most common irregularity during play that I have so far witnessed in my seven years of lawn bowling is playing out of turn which is dealt with in Section 29.1 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls Crystal Mark Third Edition.

Since it appears to be the most common such irregularity it is worthwhile knowing the exact rule which comprises several alternative choices offered to the skip who has been offended against.

Rule 29.1 reads:

29.1 Playing out of Turn

29.1.1 If a player plays out of turn, the opposing skip can stop the bowl and return it to the player to play it in the proper order.

29.1.2 If the bowl has come to rest and has not disturbed the head, the opposing skip must choose whether to:

29.1.2.1 Leave the head as it is and have your team play two bowls one after the other to get back to the proper order of play; or

29.1.2.2 Return the bowl and get back to the previous order of play.

29.1.3 If the bowl has disturbed the head, the opposing skip must choose whether to:

29.1.3.1 leave the disturbed head as it is and have their team play two bowls one after the other to get back to the proper order of play.

29.1.3.2 replace the head in its former position, return the bowl, and go back to the proper order of play.

29.1.3.3 declare the end dead.

First of all, I do not advise you ever to stop an opposing player’s bowl (as described in 29.1.1), even when you think it has been played out of turn because if you are wrong and the bowl is not out of turn, the penalty to your side is severe. The rule that applies, in this case, is 37.1.1.3.

Bowl displacement by another player

37.1.1.3 If the bowl is displaced by an opponent and it has not disturbed the head after it is displaced (this is the situation where the opposing skip would stop a bowl before it reached the head thinking it was out of turn: my italicized interjection) the skip of the team that played the bowl must choose whether to:

37.1.1.3.1. have the bowl replayed

37.1.1.3.2. place the bowl where the skip believes it would have come to rest; or

37.1.1.3.3 leave the bowl where it came to rest.

The second of the opposing skip’s choices is the most potentially damaging in this situation because the opposing skip has it in his power to place that bowl which you stopped anywhere and you cannot object.

Note that if you, as skip, see your own teammate bowl out of turn, you must not stop the bowl yourself because even though that bowl has been played out of turn, you will have interfered with your own team’s bowl and can have that bowl declared dead because Rule 37.1.1.1 applies.

37.1.1.1 If the bowl is displaced by a member of the team that delivered the bowl and it has not disturbed the head after it is displaced (such as when you stop the bowl before it reaches the head; my italicized interjection), the opposing skip must declare the bowl dead.

This rule seems intuitively unfair. You are preventing a bowl that should never have been delivered in the first place from interfering with the match and yet you are penalized. I have wondered why this is so. I can imagine one scenario where without this rule misplaying could yield an advantage. There are probably some others. Suppose, for example, your side has bowled a legitimate bowl that has displaced the jack to the edge of the rink. You would like to know the weight and direction for your next shot which will have to be played over an unfamiliar part of the rink. Suppose you immediately, and unsportingly, took another bowl and delivered it along a possible line.  Because of this breach of rules, you get a good clue how to play your next shot and, so long as your skip stops your bowl before it disturbs the head, you would suffer no penalty if all that happened was that that bowl was returned to you and play continued in the proper order.

To summarize, if your side bowls out of turn, for sure don't stop the bowl yourself, call on your opposing skip to stop that bowl. He or she shouldn’t comply (it would be better to get the choice of penalty against you), but (s)he might.

What about that most common situation where a bowler plays out of turn? This happens when one lead delivers the jack out of bounds and the opposite lead delivers a good jack but then, by mistake, delivers the first bowl. As before, if it is your lead who plays out of turn, do not stop the bowl. Call on your opposing skip to stop it. If he or she does, it is returned without penalty and the correct order of play follows. If neither skip touches the bowl, the choices are as stated in 29.1.2.1 or 29.1.2.2.

Since in this most common instance it is the first bowl delivered, it can only disturb the head by touching and moving the jack. If the jack is moved 29.1.3.1, 29.1.3.2, or 29.1.3.3 apply. In this situation, 29.1.3.3 would never be chosen since it is equivalent to starting over. 

Note: this is not a ‘dead end’ in the sense that the end was ‘burnt’ (the jack has not been driven out of bounds), so the jack is not re-spotted at the forward T (centered 2 meters from the front ditch).