Bowls Explained

Lawn Bowls is the game that takes a second to learn – but a lifetime to master.

Lawn Bowls is a precision sport in which the aim is to roll bowls (slightly radially asymmetrical balls) closest to a smaller yellow/white ball (the "jack" or "kitty"). It is played indoors and outdoors on grass or artificial surfaces.

Lawn bowls is usually played on a rectangular, level manicured grass or synthetic surface known as a “green” which is divided into parallel playing strips known as rinks.

In a singles competition, one opponent flips a coin to see who commences a segment of the competition (known as an "end"), by laying 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 centre of the rink and players take turns to roll their bowls from the mat towards the jack and thereby build up the "head" (the cluster of bowls around the jack).

Bowls may curve outside the boundary of the rink, but must come to rest within the boundary to remain in play.

Bowls falling into the ditch (at the end of the green) are dead and removed from play – with the exception of when one has made a connection with the jack (known as a “toucher”). "Touchers" are marked with chalk and remain alive in play even if they fall into the ditch. Similarly, if the jack falls into the ditch it remains alive (unless it is beyond the side boundary), resulting in a "dead" end which is either replayed or replaced on a designated spot – depending on the rules of the competition. Once each competitor has delivered all bowls (two, three or four depending on the competition), the distance from the jack to the closest bowl(s) is determined, and one point (called "shots") is awarded for each competitor’s bowl which is closer than the opponent's closest bowl to the jack. For example, where a competitor has three bowls closer to the jack than their opponent’s, they are awarded three shots. The exercise is then repeated for the next end, across a designated number of ends.

Bowls is a game of great antiquity.

We know from a studies of ancient Egypt that a bowls-like game was played in the land of the Pharaohs as far back as 7,200 BC.

This has been stated and verified by Egyptologists in their studies of ancient 'Books of the Dead', of which volumes were buried with the mummified body in the sarcophagus.

Naturally the game spread around the Mediterranean coast and is still played in Italy to this day, where it is known as 'bocce'.

This is played with stone or metal balls that are thrown rather than bowled.

In France and Spain it is played with wooden or stone balls and is called 'boule' or 'petanque'.

It was introduced to Great Britain with the Norman Conquest, where its name loosely translated as 'throwing the stone'.

It was generally played on a flat, level piece of well grassed sward, wherever it could be found either in the castle courtyard or by the village inn.

The sport became popular with all classes, but this popularity caused problems, with Edward III banning the sport in 1361 because it was interfering with compulsory archery practice.

In 1374 the Marquis of Winchester used a spherical wooden balustrade ornament in place of a stone ball and so the wooden bowl was born.

In 1511, Henry VIII took a leaf from Edward's laws and, for the same reason, interference with archery training, banned 'bowles and bowlynge'.

This was the first ever official record of this sport.

The gentry were exempt from the ban and all commoners could play bowls on the green of the local gentry provided it was a holiday or a member of his family was present.

Queen Ann Boleyn and her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, were both very keen bowlers.

Anne, in particular, often wagered huge sums on the result of one shot and was consequently short in her royal purse when she settled her bets.

A bet of $5,000 was commonplace.

William Shakespeare knew and understood thoroughly the game of bowls.

In his plays we find reference to 'rubs', 'upcasts', 'kissing the white', 'onward ever onward thus a bowl should roll' and so on.

In the famous picture of Sir Frances Drake playing Sir Walter Raleigh before fighting the Armada, we see white jacks, wooden bowls, a level green but no ditches (these came via Scotland in 1879).

King James I laid down a green at Hampton Court Palace in 1605.

It cost £49.11s.7d… about $4911.70 and workers were paid 15c a day.

In the reign of Queen Victoria all prohibitions on the sport were lifted and many greens were laid, both public (pay as you play… similar to squash courts) and private or club.

It became very popular with all classes in Victorian and Edwardian times and to be a bowler was seen to be a person of upright moral standing in the community and a pillar of the establishment.

In the reign of King George VI a green was laid at both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle and the Royal Household Bowling Club was formed.

Several members of the Royal family are keen and enthusiastic bowlers.

H.M. Queen Elizabeth II in 1959 conferred the title 'Royal' upon the Queensland Bowling Association, and so it became the RQBA.

In 1924, as a result of international bickering between the UK and Australia, the International Bowling Board was founded.

It was very one-eyed at first but now, with the presidency rotating in turn between members countries, it has settled down and has finally become the world controlling body.

The Australian Bowls Council (now Bowls Australia) is a charter member of the IBB (now called the World Bowling Board).