Lawn
Bowls Bowls (also
known as Lawn Bowls or Lawn Bowling) is a precision sport
where the goal is to roll slightly radially asymmetrical
balls (called bowls) closer to a smaller white ball (the "jack" or "kitty")
than one's opponent is able to do. It is related to bocce
and pétanque. This game is most popular in Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and in other Commonwealth
nations.
History
It has been traced certainly to the 13th, and conjecturally to the 12th century.
William Fitzstephen (d. about 1190), in his biography of Thomas Becket, gives
a graphic sketch of the London of his day and, writing of the summer amusements
of the young men, says that on holidays they were "exercised in Leaping,
Shooting, Wrestling, Casting of Stones [in jactu lapidum], and Throwing of Javelins
fitted with Loops for the Purpose, which they strive to fling before the Mark;
they also use Bucklers, like fighting Men." It is commonly supposed that
by jactus lapidum Fitzstephen meant the game of bowls, but though it is possible
that round stones may sometimes have been employed in an early variety of the
game - and there is a record of iron bowls being used, though at a much later
date, on festive occasions at Nairn, - nevertheless the inference seems unwarranted.
The jactus lapidum of which he speaks was probably more akin to the modern "putting
the weight," once even called "putting the stone." It is beyond
dispute, however, that the game, at any rate in a rudimentary form, was played
in the 13th century. A MS. of that period in the royal library, Windsor (No.
20, E iv.), contains a drawing representing two players aiming at a small cone
instead of an earthenware ball or jack.
Another MS. of the same
century has a picture - crude, but spirited - which brings us into
close touch with the existing game. Three figures are introduced
and a jack. The first player's bowl has come to rest just in front
of the jack; the second has delivered his bowl and is following
after it with one of those eccentric contortions still not unusual
on modern greens, the first player meanwhile making a repressive
gesture with his hand, as if to urge the bowl to stop short of
his own; the third player is depicted as in the act of delivering
his bowl. A 14th century MS. Book of Prayers in the Francis Douce
collection in the Bodleian library at Oxford contains a drawing
in which two persons are shown, but they bowl to no mark. Strutt
(Sports and Pastimes) suggests that the first player's bowl may
have been regarded by the second player as a species of jack; but
in that case it is not clear what was the first player's target.
In these three earliest illustrations of the pastime it is worth
noting that each player has one bowl only, and that the attitude
in delivering it was as various five or six hundred years ago as
it is to-day. In the third he stands almost upright; in the first
he kneels; in the second he stoops, halfway between the upright
and the kneeling position.
As the game grew in popularity
it came under the ban of king and parliament, both fearing it might
jeopardize the practice of archery, then so important in battle;
and statutes forbidding it and other sports were enacted in the
reigns of Edward III, Richard II and other monarchs. Even when,
on the invention of gunpowder and firearms, the bow had fallen
into disuse as a weapon of war, the prohibition was continued.
The discredit attaching to bowling alleys, first established in
London in 1455, probably encouraged subsequent repressive legislation,
for many of the alleys were connected with taverns frequented by
the dissolute and gamesters. The word "bowls" occurs
for the first time in the statute of 1511 in which Henry VIII confirmed
previous enactments against unlawful games. By a further act of
1541 - which was not repealed until 1845 - artificers, labourers,
apprentices, servants and the like were forbidden to play bowls
at any time save Christmas, and then only in their master's house
and presence. It was further enjoined that any one playing bowls
outside of his own garden or orchard was liable to a penalty of
6s. 8d., while those possessed of lands of the yearly value of £100
might obtain licenses to play on their own private greens.
Game
Bowls is usually played on a large, rectangular, precisely leveled and manicured
grass or synthetic surface known as a bowling green which is divided into parallel
playing strips called rinks. An indoor variation on carpet is also played.
In the simplest competition, singles, one of the two opponents flips a coin
to see who wins the "mat" and begins a segment of the competition
(in bowling parlance, an "end"), by placing the mat and rolling the
jack to the other end of the green to serve as a target. Once it has come to
rest, the jack is aligned to the center of the rink and the players take turns
to roll their bowls from the mat towards the jack and thereby build up the "head".
A bowl is allowed to curve outside the rink boundary on its path, but must
come to rest within the rink boundary to remain in play. Bowls reaching the
ditch are dead and removed from play, except in the event when one has "touched" the
jack on its way. "Touchers" are marked with chalk and remain alive
in play even though they are in the ditch. Similarly if the jack is knocked
into the ditch it is still alive unless it is out of bounds to the side resulting
in a "dead" end which is replayed though according to international
rules the jack is "respotted" to the center of the rink and the end
is continued. After each competitor has delivered all of their bowls (four
each in singles), the distance of the closest bowls to the jack is determined
(the jack may have been displaced) and points, called "shots", are
awarded for each bowl which a competitor has closer than the opponent's nearest
to the jack. For instance, if a competitor has bowled two bowls closer to the
jack than their competitor's nearest, they are awarded two shots. The exercise
is then repeated for the next end, a game of bowls typically being of twenty
one ends.
Scoring
Scoring systems vary from competition to competition, with some being the first
to a specified number of points, say 21, or the highest scorer after say, 21
ends. Some competitions use a "set" scoring system, with the first
to seven points awarded a set in a best-of-five set match. As well as singles
competition, there can be pairs, triples and four-player teams. In these, teams
take turns to bowl, with each player within a team bowling all their bowls,
then handing over to the next player. The team captain or "skip" always
plays last and is instrumental in directing his team's shots and tactics.
The current way
of scoring in the professional tour is again sets. Each set consists
of 7 ends (9 ends in a final), the player with the most shots at
the end of a set is awarded the set, if the score is tied the set
would be halfed. 2 sets are played. If the score is 1 set each
then 3 tie breaker ends are played to determine a winner.
Bias
of bowls
Bowls are designed to travel a curved path, referred to as bias, and was originally
produced by inserting weights to one side of the bowl. This is no longer permitted
by the rules and bias is now produced entirely by the shape of the bowl. A
bowler can recognize the bias direction of the bowl in his hand by a dimple
or symbol on one side. Regulations determine the minimum bias allowed, and
the range of diameters (11.6 to 13.1 cm), but within these rules bowlers can
and do choose bowls to suit their own preference. They were originally made
from lignum vitae, a dense wood giving rise to the term "woods" for
bowls, but are now more typically made of a hard plastic composite material.
Usually coloured black, bowls are now available in a variety of colours including
a range of fluorescent colours. They have unique symbol markings to identify
competitors' bowls.
When bowling
there are several types of delivery. "Draw" shots are
those where the bowl is rolled to a specific location without causing
too much disturbance of bowls already in the head. For a right-handed
bowler, "forehand draw" is initially aimed to the right
of the jack, and curves in to the left. The same bowler can deliver
a "backhand draw" by turning the bowl over in his hand
and curving it the opposite way, from left to right. In both cases,
the bowl is rolled as close to the jack as possible, unless tactics
demand otherwise. A "drive" or "fire" involves
bowling with considerable force with the aim of knocking either
the jack or a specific bowl out of play - and with the drive's
speed, there is virtually no noticeable curve on the shot. An "upshot" or "yard
on" shot involves delivering the bowl with an extra degree
of weight, enough to displace the jack or disturb other bowls in
the head without killing the end. The challenge in all these shots
is to be able to adjust line and length accordingly, the faster
the delivery, the narrower the line or "grass".
Variations of play
Particularly in team competition there can be a large number of bowls on the
green towards the conclusion of the end, and this gives rise to complex tactics.
Teams "holding shot" with the closest bowl will often make their
subsequent shots not with the goal of placing the bowl near the jack, but in
positions to make it difficult for opponents to get their bowls into the head,
or to places where the jack might be deflected to if the opponent attempts
to disturb the head.
Popularity
Bowls is popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and
parts of the United States. Because of its relaxed pace and comparatively light
physical demands, it is a popular participant sport, particularly for the elderly.
However, there is a considerable professional competition dominated by younger
men and women. Since the early 2000s, the sport has developed in Denmark as
well.
Bowls. (2007, January 3). In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:16, January 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bowls&oldid=98184280
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