The definition of change is – to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone:to change one’s name;to change one’s opinion;to change the course of history.
The thought of change fills most bowlers of a certain era with dread, why change things that have been in place for years, why why why?…….. Well ultimately if you don’t change or move with the times you are left behind and when the penny finally drops it’s to late.
Over recent years the calls for change have been deafening, is the sport anti-change? Well if you actually sit down with a cup of tea & a slice of Victoria sponge and think about the bigger picture the sport has actually made massive changes many of which the newer generation probably take for granted.
Take for example anyone from the 1980’s, most dress codes would have been white shirts, grey trousers, blazer and ties, for the women a white starched hat, three pleats in the front and two in the back of a grey or white skirt that had to be six inches below the knee and god forbid if you showed a bit leg flesh.
A coloured bowl back then was brown as most played with black, remember the sizes how many had 4 7/8th Henselite’s. The footwear – brown shoes more akin to a Clark’s shoe shop, white waterproof’s (well a creamy colour) that felt like they were made out of whale skin as they were that heavy – nothing breathable about them, plus you got the trousers as well with pockets that went down to your ankles.
On the green you would regularly see someone with a tab in their mouth (not the women as they had to go behind the bike shed for a tab). The scoreboards were still metal jobbies and when you managed to turn the numbers it was like a creaking door opening in a horror film, it was also the time of stringing out the rinks with string that was thick enough to hoist a ships anchor off the ocean bed, how many times did you see a bowl going over the string then not being able to get back into the rink as it hit the string and ran along it.
Now let’s jump 20 years on and look where we are, the blazers may be still kicking around but days of shirt and tie have competition with the arrival of jazzy new coloured tops with modern designs that both sexes can wear, the headwear has moved to a sporting baseball cap and those starched hats now only hold a pound of King Edward potatoes, a move to coloured shoes with a modern trainer twist to them although the traditionalists are still catered for by the brown option plus but even they have a white, grey and black choice now.
The women might still suffer those skirts but a revolution has taken place with cropped trousers introduced, the fellas now get a chance to wear more sporty jogging bottoms alongside the traditional grey trouser option and if you have a decent set of pins then shorts are an option.
The water proofs have turned all uni-sex, new lightweight with breathable linings, detachable hoods, showerproof, windproof you name it you can proof it. The days of being wetter inside off your body sweat are all long gone and a move to colour trimmings as well.
As for the bowls, the choice is vast, if you said in the 80’s you played with tigers they would have thought you worked in a zoo, now it’s a minefield ranging from the groove, the blaze and of course the tiger and even more. Then it’s the grip the zig zag or extreme and that’s before you go for surf’n’ski, calypso or even ocean green in the choice of colours. You can now even build a bowl to your own liking, the options now would have been laughed out of court years ago even a simple bag can nowadays be the size of a mountaineers rucksack.
So to say the sport hasn’t changed would be a long way off the mark, yes there is more work to do, the sports stereo image is like a lead weight around the neck and remains the hardest to shift.
So to conclude with – change is not a dirty word if it’s for the progression of the sport rather than just a change just for the sake of it.
Disclaimer – The following blog may not be a representative of the Wrong Bias Podcast views, it was a blank canvas given to a guest blogger.