In our latest podcast a point was raised regarding the lack of publicity provided on the BBC website for the World Championships. Bearing in mind this was being shown live on the channel it would not be speaking out of turn to expect the daily results or a daily report to be available for anyone interested or to promote the event for any browsers.
With this in mind it also begs the question why we do not drive the great news stories we generate into the public eye for all to see and increase the awareness of what many believe was a momentous event in the sport. We will expand but by this I’m not just talking about a social media release which is seen by those predominantly within the sport.
So to elaborate let’s rewind back to the PDC World Darts Championships where a certain Fallon Sherrock was seen across almost every single media platform and on several TV shows where she was interviewed for beating a male opponent. We are not even going to look to see who the first opponent was because we know it wasn’t one of the elite like MVG, Wright, Price or Anderson although we do remember she beat Suljovic in the next round which was a fine scalp. We are sure if she had beaten one of the aforementioned elite players the story would have been even bigger.
Now we see darts as no different to bowls. There is absolutely no advantage based on strength and no reason why a female opponent could not be as successful as a male. It is purely down to talent and hand eye co-ordination but we do not feel we would be speaking out of turn to say the women’s game in both darts and bowls have some catching up to do with the men for potentially the lack of opportunities or maybe the realisation outside of the women’s elite circle that they can compete on the same stage.
So with that in mind it is very disappointing that our sport has not had the same reaction following Katherine Rednall defeating the biggest name in bowls last week namely Alex Marshall MBE or Julie Forrest’s success against her male counterparts for that matter.
In our sport Katherine’s victory is the equivalent of beating Phil Taylor on a dart board. A multiple World Champion and someone who should be one of the first names to spring to mind when naming a great in their respective sports.
Now maybe I have missed this on TV but we have not seen this given the celebration status it completely deserves and also to drive that amazing quality bowls has to offer that is complete diversity.
So why has Katherine’s achievement not been promoted on the news, TV shows etc just the same as Fallon? Some might say that bowls is not as big as darts but we do not think this is anywhere near a suitable reason for it not happening and once again it is down to the lack of having commercial expertise within the sport to sell everything that is great within all of our formats.
We have so many greats within our sport and fantastic recognition in the UK for players from the Queen with awards of MBE status yet very few outside of bowls would have a clue who they are and what they have achieved which is not only disappointing but also really sad.
Also having a female participation level of around 35-40% in England what better advertisement to show aspiring sportswomen out there that this could be a sport for them. Not only this but maybe local organisations who run our leagues could understand that having more mixed leagues is a way to increase participation and provide more opportunities for working women and parents.
Let’s hope we can start to understand the need for commercial promotion in the near future to benefit everyone involved in our great sport. A simple pre-competition promo “Will we see another Nicky Brett wonder bowl” with the accompanying video would have got the sport trending again and potentially generated interest.
We posted the above on our social media Facebook page, for those not on FB here are a few of the cracking responses we received
““Personally would love to walk on the green to AC/DC, Metallica etc would be great for each team to come on the green to a great intro, feel we really need change but, given the low numbers coming into bowls we really need to ensure we do not drive any players away. I truly appreciate these are really hard difficult, soul searching times for Bowls England and other bowling institutions in general in trying to increase the participation in bowls and not ‘turn’ any current bowlers away from our beautiful game. Great achievement Katherine Rednall.” ……. (KNA)
“I believe that one of the problems with bowls on television is that although the skill level is superb it comes over as being far too sterile when shown from Potters. Even with crowds watching there is very little audience participation when compared with darts. If a pin drops some of the players act as though a bomb has dropped. The Planet Bowls events and laterly the OSC events had far more atmosphere. The International Championships various National Championships from around the UK the Middleton Cup, Johns Trophy ect would better represent the side of bowls which would attract the general public to our great game. The National bowls authorities must find ways to get that side of our games on TV. With the plethora of TV channels and online coverage these days it should not be beyond the wit of our British Isles bowls authorities to band together and invest in efforts to achieve such an outcome.I believe that one of the problems with bowls on television is that although the skill level is superb it comes over as being far to sterile. Even with crowds watching there is very little audience participation when compared with darts. If a pin drops some of the players act as though a bomb has dropped. The planet Bowls events and laterly the OSC events had far more atmosphere. The International Championships various National Championships from around the UK the Middleton Cup, Johns Trophy ect would better represent the side of bowls which would attract the general public to our great game. The National bowls authorities must find ways to get that side of our games on TV. With the plethora of TV channels and online coverage these days it should not be beyond the wit of our British Isles bowls authorities to band together and invest in efforts to achieve such an outcome” …….. (DC)
“I think Katherine’s achievement is better than Fallon’s as Katherine beat one of the great’s in Tattie (although both were great achievements). Darts has a much bigger advantage as it has a huge audience thanks to Sky, tournaments throughout the year and every match is shown – the full TV coverage doesn’t just start towards the end of a tournament and probably more importantly, there is enough prize money to allow there to be sufficient professional players. Darts is also a sport that a lot of people can relate to as most people have attempted to throw some arrows at some point whereas not a lot have tried bowls that don’t already play – people can appreciate the skill a lot more. That level of tv coverage makes the darts story so much easier to promote.” …… (CD)
“As long as the competition is happy to accept sponsorship from a retirement group, the sport will never move on in how it’s perceived by younger people. I am 42 and rolled my eyes when I saw who the sponsor was. You want a bigger, more general audience then align with a more generic (and cooler) brand that will insist on broader media catchment. Darts sponsored by Just Eat in the past not Just” …… (NR)
“Totally agree with you,I think Katherine could win the world championship based on how good her drawing has been for many years on the portable rink and how many sports could you genuinely say that a female could beat a male in an open World Championship? It’s a great selling point for the sport. It was great to see Fallon Sherrock do so well at the darts but I think Katherine’s achievement was better to beat Alex Marshall and nearly beat David Gourlay. The BBC like promoting women in sport so surely we could get World Bowls Tour,Bowls International, the EIBA or another bowls organisation to contact them and make a video clip of Katherine beating Alex to promote bowls’ equality alongside Nick Brett’s wonder bowl that a lot of people would remember” ……. (PM)
“The sport needs a very good copywriter. From my experience the media is lazy but if you can provide them with some excellent copy, particularly with some uniqueness and public interest – Which Katherine’s story had – then you have more chance of getting it published / broadcast.” …… (TA)
“Dont normally enter into these online discussions but I think many good points are made. I would add that promotion , publicity , communication as always been a problem in the game at all levels from club to World Level so that it is not just a problem at the televised events . For example picked up some various news papers at Xmas with the sporting calendar for coming year and most of them only advertise the World Indoor at Potters , World Outdoor is supposed to be in October but no mention !!
Until bowls engages with the man and woman on the street it will have problem developing at any level from grass roots to Elite .
David Bryant won the English Outdoor Singles 3 times in a row and followed up by winning 3 British Isles in 1970,s , a remarkable feat, he was English Bowls most marketable commodity at the time . But the powers that be still made him start in the first round of Nationals every year in early April rather than give him a year exemption into National Finals and pay him the expenses to go out and use his face to promote the sport . Problem is we do not respect our great champions for very long in bowls before we despatch them to the dustbin, we rarely use them to promote the sport but are very quick to abuse them and criticise them for just about everything . Needs a culture change in our sport , I would suggest Wrong Bias that you might invite David Rhys Jones on to your podcast . David was the foremost bowls journalist for many years and I am sure he would be happy to reveal all the difficulties and obstacles he has faced in trying to promote and publicise our sport ,even within his own adopted country at English Finals.
Finally I would agree we should be using young players like Katherine and many more but that it is a problem from club level upwards and that there probably needs to be a discussion at all levels on how to utilise the talent we have in the sport” ……. (JP)
I don’t believe this is just a WBT issue, nor is it a Press Corporation issue. Why would anyone want to report on something that has such a dreadful image? Is not seen as exciting? It is an issue that is endemic within our sport. We have a complete inability to promote ourselves. Tournaments, success nationally, international honours, MBE’s EVERYTHING!
Little snippets may appear in local newspapers but there does not appear to be anyone with the drive, determination and expertise to spearhead a movement to actively change the ‘old person’s recreation’ image that is still widely perceived by many outside of bowls. Whilst I applaud the current sponsors and their support is welcomed (and indeed without it we would lose what little exposure we currently get ) if we cannot attract sponsorship from anywhere other than retirement companies and funeral directors we are never going to rid ourselves of the ‘old persons pastime’ image. Big sponsors attract big press and TV. There were several comments posted on social media regarding Wayne Ernie Willgress celebration after his match against Paul Foster, most of it complaining. What was wrong with him celebrating? Is it ‘bad form’ to display emotion in this sport of ours? Of course it isn’t!
We need new life breathing into the sport – we need the media to acknowledge and report on those achievements, and quickly – otherwise we will simply remain as an ‘old person’s pastime’ and not worthy of air/column time…….. (VT)
“I believe with the coverage and audience figures many will have seen bowls for the first time on tv. The need for a wider discussion group is probably essential but for now many people are not invested in such. The publicity gained many years ago was led by Carol Ashby when the Sun newspaper featured her. Carol was a winner at Potters and also a WIBC World Indoor Singles winner. Yet no matter what the obvious publicly was and it was considerable, the position of our sport never changed within the sport hierarchy, media attention or public perception. If a holistic approach is to be taken then it will needs input from all aspects of the sport but ultimately tv is the biggest influencer. The events at Potters were heavily criticised by some on social media but yet it provided a platform for many younger players and others to shine. This would have not happened of the detractors had succeeded it getting it off tv. Our sport needs support in every form, I await for the powers at all levels to get the message.” ……. (DW)