Rocking Glasgow 2014
The Aussie Comm Games bowls team (five men, five women, five disability bowlers), including five Queenslanders, on the world stage for the next nine days (Thurs July 24 – Fri August 1). Keep a look out for our AUSSIE BOWLERS at Comm Games 2014, Glasgow. (Subject to change, here is your Comm Games guide to our sport.)
Thursday 24 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–14:00 Men: Pairs Round 1. Triples Round 1. Women: Singles Round 1. Fours Round 1. Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 Round 1.
15:45–21:00 Men: Pairs Round 2. Triples Round 2. Women: Singles Round 2. Fours Round 2. Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 Round 2
Friday 25 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–14:00 Men: Pairs Round 3. Triples Round 3. Women: Singles Round 3. Fours Round 3. Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3 Round 3.
Saturday 26 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–15:00 Men: Pairs Round 5. Triples Round 5. Women: Singles Round 5. Fours Round 5. Final: Para-Sport Mixed Pairs B2/B3.
16:45–19:45 Quarter-finals. Men: Pairs. Triples. Women: Singles. Fours.
Sunday 27 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–15:45 Men: Fours Round 1. Semi-finals. Men: Pairs. Triples. Women: Singles. Fours. Final. Women: Fours.
17:30–20:45 Men: Singles Round 1. Final. Women: Singles.
Tuesday 29 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–14:00 Men: Singles Round 2. Fours Round 3. Women: Pairs Round 2. Triples Round 3. Para-Sport Open Triples B6/B7/B8 Round 2.
15:45–21:00 Men: Singles Round 3. Fours Round 4. Women: Pairs Round 3. Triples Round 4. Para-Sport Open Triples B6/B7/B8 Round 3.
Wednesday 30 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–14:00 Men: Singles Round 4. Women: Pairs Rounds 4 & 5. Triples Round 5.
15:45–18:45 Men: Singles Round 5. Fours Round 5. Quarter-finals. Women: Triples. Semi-finals. Para-Sport Open Triples B6/B7/B8.
Thursday 31 July
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–15:45 Quarter-finals. Men: Singles. Fours. Semi-finals. Men: Singles. Women: Pairs. Semi-finals. Women: Pairs. Triples. Para-Sport Open Triples B6/B7/B8 Gold & Bronze medal matches.
17:30–20:45 Semi-finals. Men: Fours. Women: Triples Gold & Bronze medal matches.
Friday 1 August
LAWN BOWLS
08:45–16:00 Men: Fours Gold & Bronze medal matches. Women: Pairs Gold & Bronze medal matches.
17:45–21:00 Men: Singles Gold & Bronze medal matches.
Karen Murphy, 39, spoke to Fairfax Media’s Amanda Hoh in Glasgow about the team’s chances.
“History would say Australia doesn’t do so well result wise in the northern hemisphere but I can honestly say it’s probably the best prepared Australian team I’ve been with to come to the UK,” NSW’s Karen Murphy said.
Murphy said the 17 Australian players had altered their techniques and game plans for Glasgow.
“You can liken our greens in Australia to billiard tables but the greens here in the UK are very slow, very lush and very heavy so you’ve really got to give it a big push,” Murphy said.
Murphy says she was only 11 years when she first “nagged” her father to let her play at Shoalhaven Heads Bowling Club on the NSW south coast.
She has now represented Australia for nearly two decades and is now one of Australia’s premier female bowlers.
This will be her fourth Commonwealth Games.
Murphy previously won gold in the women’s pairs at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games but was controversially omitted from the Dehli 2010 team.
This time, Murphy will also be aiming for more than just a podium finish. If she reaches the medal rounds of the triples and fours, she will become the first Australian to play 500 games for Australia.
National coach Steve Glasson told Fairfax Media he was confident the Australian mix of young newcomers and experienced world and national champions on the squad would ensure his team would give the local athletes a challenge.
“Scotland is a proud bowling nation in their own right, so they’ll be very tough here,” Glasson said.
“We’re very privileged back in Australia, we’ve got really good climate.
The greens are quite hard and firm and they tend to run a lot faster and so the skill level is a lot higher.
Here, they’re a little bit more lush and they’re quite slow so I suppose that evens the game”.
Glasson said lawn bowls was very much a “mental game” and the travelling support team including a psychologist, nutritionist and physiotherapist would help the players endure games that can run up to ten hours a day.
Aussie Bowlers, Glasgow 214
Front row from left, Kelvin Kerkow, coach Robbie Dobbins, James Reynolds, Karen Murphy, Carla Odgers, Lynsey Clarke, director Bruce Jones, Joy Forster, Team Mangager Faye Luke.
Back row from left, national coach Steve Glasson, Tony Bonnell, Tony Scott, Aron Sherriff, Brett Wilkie, Natasha Scott, Matthew Flapper, Tim Slater, Nathan Rice, Kelsey Cottrell, Wayne Ruediger, director Peter Scott. (Photo Bowls Australia)
