By Jill Campbell Mackay
IT’S ALWAYS been the thought of having to wear a box-pleated skirt that has deterred me from lawn bowls. Couple that with the need to don sunglasses when entering the hallowed portals of the bowling green – essential protection against blindness from the massed ranks of bowlers clad in their spanking Persil fresh all white ensembles – and you understand why I’ve shied away all these years.
The dress code is almost as old as the game itself, with rumours that the crafty Egyptians were responsible for its origin. Around 5000BC, they conceived a game played with round stones and skittles: the object was to hit a given target, and bowls was born.
In Britain, the earliest record of bowls being played is with the Southampton bowling club founded in 1299. Shakespeare was also a bit of a bowler – in fact he mentions the game in three of his plays. Queen Anne Boleyn was another, and not only played, but followed the game on a competitive level; the little minx was a bit of a gambler and wagered huge sums of money on the outcome of bowling games, with bets of £2,000 (no doubt coming out of her housekeeping budget) being commonplace. George Washington swore by bowls as an antidote to golf, King James I was a fan, and in Victorian times bowls was seen as a ‘fine sport fit only for gentlemen, and ladies, of good character’. (These requirements are not absolutely essential in Paphos, having spotted the odd flirtation, the drawing on the odd sneaky fag behind the bushes, and a few with a definite ‘morning after’ look about their eyes.)
Of course, every English school kid recalls history lessons being spiced up with the bit about Sir Francis Drake’s refusal to leave the bowling green to engage the Spanish Armada in a life or death sea battle… well not until he had finished his game with Sir Walter Raleigh, than you very much.
Although there are over 500 clubs in England alone, many folk, myself included, have always thought of the game as a bit boring, a sort of ‘old man’s marbles’. But having visited the club, seen a game in action, and met some of the members, I have a totally different take on the game, in spite of the pleated skirts.
Bowlers really do require certain inherent skills: a really good eye helps, a good sense of balance is key, and a serious level of concentration is quite essential.
I was on a visit to the Aliathon Bowling Club, which was founded in 1995, and is currently the only official club in Cyprus, boasting 135 members, many of whom had never played the game before coming to Cyprus. And the Brits do not have exclusive reign over the bowling green, with members from Germany, Indonesia, Holland, Hawaii, and Malaysia, giving the expat crowd a good run for their money on a truly competitive level.
The members are a mixed bunch, with retired policemen, firemen, accountants, an ex-prison governor, customs officer, union official, art gallery owner, jockey, all there to test their skill by ‘throwing their balls with bias’ in an effort to ‘kiss the white’.
Seeing the success of the official Aliathon Bowling Club, other hotels in Paphos have woken up to the attraction of having a bowling green laid within their existing complex, with many tourists now coming on holiday to Paphos specifically to play bowls in the sun.
It’s not a game where everybody whoops or starts a Mexican wave every time a team scores a point. Nobody rushes onto the green to give body hugs when they score: it’s much more of a restrained sport, more cerebral, but played by a really nice bunch of people who go out of their way to make any new member feel genuinely welcome.
So if you fancy yourself as a bit of a bowler (and rest assured the pleated skirts are not compulsory in Paphos), or if you just fancy trying out the game by rolling a few balls to see if it’s for you, then the Aliathon Club has free coaching lessons every Friday morning from 8.30am until 11am.
What’s more, the high standards set by Aliathon Club members have resulted in four players being selected to represent Cyprus in the Lawn Bowling Championships to be held at Vilamoura, Portugal, in November. This will be a first for Cyprus as they have never previously been represented at a top European Championship, and the club is desperate to find more sponsors to help offset the costs of sending the team to Portugal.
So, if you would like to be recognised as a European promoter of one of the oldest sports in the world, or simply to become a member of the Aliathon Bowling Club, then telephone Norris Forster Tel: 26-948308.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
