Bowls bosses hope Luke Littler of the lawn emerges as sport looks to the future
Long painted as the preserve of pensioners and pipe-smokers, lawn bowls is launching an overhaul that it hopes will roll it closer to Olympic recognition – and hopefully unearth the sport's own version of darts star Luke Littler in the process.
Over 800 clubs will throw open their rinks over the upcoming Bank Holiday for the fifth edition of the Bowls Big Weekend, in which visitors are invited to try their hand at the sport for the first time.
Bowls makes no bones about its need to bolster its younger demographic. Acutely aware of the need to change with the times, the lawn bowls event at next summer's drastically truncated Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be held indoors for the first time, and features a shorter and snappier format.
Jon Cockcroft, the chief executive of Bowls England, told the PA news agency: 'From a broadcast perspective, from the advent of Sky TV and the like, some sports were winners and some were losers, and I think bowls has probably been slower than others in recognising the need to modify one's product to become more TV-friendly.
'The bowls at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be shorter games, indoor, with more jeopardy, and I think we will see that same level of excitement that is being captured in other sports with shorter forms, like Twenty20 cricket.
'The sport has been in generational decline since Covid but we are starting to grow again, to reduce the average age of our player base. What we are fundamentally doing is taking our sport on a fairly transformative journey.
'We are trying to change perceptions by presenting our sport in a more modern light, and we have got some incredibly talented youngsters coming through. We have got our own versions of Luke Littlers who ultimately aspire to play in the Commonwealth Games with the senior team.'
Bowls has been a permanent part of the Commonwealth Games programme since its inception, and made the headlines in Birmingham in 2022 when Scotland's George Miller became the oldest Games medallist at the age of 75.
While the column inches were doubtless welcome, they did little to alter the age-old perception of a sport that attracts both powerhouses like Australia and the home nations, and teams from far-flung Pacific atolls.
With the 2032 Olympics heading for Brisbane, Cockcroft sees no reason why a newly invigorated version of the sport once presided over by the likes of David Bryant, and sponsored by funeral homes and cruise liners, cannot take the ultimate step towards global recognition.
'I think it (the Olympics) is certainly an aspiration, and the Games in Australia provide a definite opportunity in the way the Olympic programme has developed, where host cities have the opportunity to pick some of their own sports.
'If there is a nation like Australia, where bowls has a significant presence, it could be a great opportunity for us.'
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