The comments below are not those of Jack, however he thought it would be a good discussion point. Jack does agree there are some valid points, however he would also like to note there are points he does not agree with and will comment on his thoughts underneath the Post.
There can be no doubt that, in keeping with many activities today, the sport of lawn bowls is in decline. One does not have to be a genius to project the numbers forward to the point in about 4 years time that the levels of club membership will be below critical mass and the sport unsustainable. Yet most bowlers seem comfortable with the way things are - resisting change and bowing to the inevitable. Perhaps they think the sport will out-survive them? A defunct bowling club is a very sad legacy to leave future generations after the enormous effort of their predecessors who fought to build those facillities. So what is wrong - why is this happening? The answer from this juinior bowler is simple - not enough young people wanting to play bowls. This has a most unfortunate outcome in that it produces an image looking over the fence of a lot of old people standing around all day playing outdoor marbles. Hardly dynamic and entertaining. And why is that one might ask? Well- there are a number of obvious answers. Firstly, the demographic has changed markedly over the last 20 or 30 years. Males are no longer the sole breadwinner selfishly spending their entire weekends re-creating by playing bowls. Time is exceedingly precious to the average working couple today. What, with shopping, home maintenance, and running the kids round to their precious activities, there is simply no time for these people to play bowls in the traditional formats. The sport has to change to a format that these people can participate in. It must be short, sharp and entertaining. An entire match in the writer's view must be no longer than one and a half hours tops. Secondly, the timing of events is wrong. Competitions must be run when people have discretionary time available. Interestingly on early evening week days there are absolutely no bowling events when prospective bowlers do have time available. What all this indicates to me is that synthetic surfaces are the way of the future. But not stopping there. Covered and lit surfaces that can be played on all year and at any time, subject of course to appropriate resource consents. The potential utilisation of facillities would increase from the appalling under utilisation traditional grass greens currently receive. A side benefit of this is that a synthetic surface remains absolutely true after they are laid. The writer predicts that unless clubs provide a quality synthetic surface for bowlers they will cease to exist in 3 years time. Thirdly, the public profile of bowls is under the radar. A top game of bowls is a facinating spectacle - particularly in a short duration format like "Jack strike". But even top matches struggle for TV time. Certainly club matches run over a weekend are never going to attract a large audience but much can be done to make it more attractive. For example who ever would have thought the sport of darts would attract such enormous crowds. That has come from a back room in the pubs to prime time TV viewing. The anwer is profile. In the case of darts the profile of individuals. A similar thing has happened to netball over the last 20 years. From almost no profile, albeit with a very large participant base, that sport now has a huge profile with televised games - and it did not happen by accident. It was a deliberate ploy by Lois Muirhead to raise the profile by fostering Regional competition. Bowls NZ could take a leaf from Lois's book. Perhaps not with Regional competitions but certainly main centre rep games. Television, sponsorship, and advertising would all assuredly follow. The popularity of Bowls can only be thus enhanced. What is required in conjunction with this are of couse covered synthetic surfaces unaffected by weather and lighting. Doing nothing is not an option. It must start right at the top in Bowls NZ, through the Regional Centres and down through the clubs. Change must be made in a three pronged approach to the format, appeal and facillities. Elected representatives at all levels must take the matter in hand in their committees and resolve to make the necessary changes. The time is nigh. Alarmed Junior Bowler
There can be no doubt that, in keeping with many activities today, the sport of lawn bowls is in decline. One does not have to be a genius to project the numbers forward to the point in about 4 years time that the levels of club membership will be below critical mass and the sport unsustainable. Yet most bowlers seem comfortable with the way things are - resisting change and bowing to the inevitable. Perhaps they think the sport will out-survive them? A defunct bowling club is a very sad legacy to leave future generations after the enormous effort of their predecessors who fought to build those facillities. So what is wrong - why is this happening? The answer from this juinior bowler is simple - not enough young people wanting to play bowls. This has a most unfortunate outcome in that it produces an image looking over the fence of a lot of old people standing around all day playing outdoor marbles. Hardly dynamic and entertaining. And why is that one might ask? Well- there are a number of obvious answers. Firstly, the demographic has changed markedly over the last 20 or 30 years. Males are no longer the sole breadwinner selfishly spending their entire weekends re-creating by playing bowls. Time is exceedingly precious to the average working couple today. What, with shopping, home maintenance, and running the kids round to their precious activities, there is simply no time for these people to play bowls in the traditional formats. The sport has to change to a format that these people can participate in. It must be short, sharp and entertaining. An entire match in the writer's view must be no longer than one and a half hours tops. Secondly, the timing of events is wrong. Competitions must be run when people have discretionary time available. Interestingly on early evening week days there are absolutely no bowling events when prospective bowlers do have time available. What all this indicates to me is that synthetic surfaces are the way of the future. But not stopping there. Covered and lit surfaces that can be played on all year and at any time, subject of course to appropriate resource consents. The potential utilisation of facillities would increase from the appalling under utilisation traditional grass greens currently receive. A side benefit of this is that a synthetic surface remains absolutely true after they are laid. The writer predicts that unless clubs provide a quality synthetic surface for bowlers they will cease to exist in 3 years time. Thirdly, the public profile of bowls is under the radar. A top game of bowls is a facinating spectacle - particularly in a short duration format like "Jack strike". But even top matches struggle for TV time. Certainly club matches run over a weekend are never going to attract a large audience but much can be done to make it more attractive. For example who ever would have thought the sport of darts would attract such enormous crowds. That has come from a back room in the pubs to prime time TV viewing. The anwer is profile. In the case of darts the profile of individuals. A similar thing has happened to netball over the last 20 years. From almost no profile, albeit with a very large participant base, that sport now has a huge profile with televised games - and it did not happen by accident. It was a deliberate ploy by Lois Muirhead to raise the profile by fostering Regional competition. Bowls NZ could take a leaf from Lois's book. Perhaps not with Regional competitions but certainly main centre rep games. Television, sponsorship, and advertising would all assuredly follow. The popularity of Bowls can only be thus enhanced. What is required in conjunction with this are of couse covered synthetic surfaces unaffected by weather and lighting. Doing nothing is not an option. It must start right at the top in Bowls NZ, through the Regional Centres and down through the clubs. Change must be made in a three pronged approach to the format, appeal and facillities. Elected representatives at all levels must take the matter in hand in their committees and resolve to make the necessary changes. The time is nigh. Alarmed Junior Bowler
