Irish road bowling

Road bowling (Irish: Ból an bhóthair; also called [long] bullets)[1] is an Irish sport in which competitors attempt to take the fewest throws to propel a metal ball along a predetermined course of country roads.[2] The sport originated in Ireland and is mainly played in counties Armagh and Cork.

Irish road bowling
Characteristics
Equipmentcannonball of c.18 centimetres (7 in) circumference and 28 ounces (794 g) weight
Venuea road
Presence
Country or regionIreland
Olympicno
World Championshipsno
Paralympicno

Spectators often bet on the outcome and proffer advice to their favoured competitor in the course of a match or "score". Road bowling in Ireland is governed by the voluntary Irish Road Bowling Association (Irish: Ból Chumann na hÉireann). The 2016 All-Ireland Series took place in Madden, County Armagh.[3]

Rules and playing style

The "bullet" or "bowl" (Irish: ból) is a solid iron cannonball of c.18 centimetres (7 in) circumference and 28 ounces (794 g) weight.[2][4] There are two or more players or teams in a match or "score".[2] The one with the fewest shots to the finish line wins. If two players or teams approach the finish line with equal shots, the winner is decided by which throw goes farther past the finish line.[5]

A road shower advises the thrower about the throw (or shot) much like a golf caddy, while another helper stands ahead of the thrower, feet apart, to show the best line or path in the road.

The thrower runs to the throwing mark and, in the Northern or County Armagh style, extends the arm and bowl behind him as he runs. At the throwing mark the arm is snapped forward by arching the back and shoulders, releasing the bowl underhand before stepping over the mark.

In the Southern or County Cork style, as the thrower runs to the mark the arm and bowl are lifted up and back, then whirled downward into an underhand throw, releasing the bowl before stepping over the mark.

Wherever the bowl stops (not where it leaves the road surface), a chalk mark is made at the nearest point on the road and the next throw is taken from behind that mark.

Over tight curves, or corners where two roads meet, the bowl may be thrown through the air (lofted). The loft must strike the road or pass over it. If the loft fails to reach the road, it counts as one shot, and the next throw must be taken again from the same mark.

History

Fintan Lane, in his book Long Bullets: A History of Road Bowling in Ireland, traces the sport to the 17th century and suggests that it was once far more widespread than it is today.[1] Until the 19th century, the game was also played in Scotland, the north of England and in North America.[1] In the past, players were given twenty shots (a score) each, the winner determined by who went the greatest distance. Though the modern game is a fixed distance in fewest shots, the expression "score" for a match survives. Disputes between competitors or spectators often created public disturbance and courtcases resulted down to the 1950s.[6]

Bol-Chumann na hÉireann was formed in 1954 to replace the less organised All-Ireland Bowl Players Association.[6] There were irregular contests between Cork and Armagh champions over the decades,[6] but the first national championship between them was in 1963.[7] The first World Championship was as part of Cork 800 in 1985.[8]

Geography

The Irish form of road bowling is concentrated in counties Cork and Armagh (especially south Armagh).[1] It is also played in Mayo (Castlebar), Limerick, Waterford, Louth, Monaghan and more recently in Tyrone and Wexford and also in Dagenham, London, UK.[2]

Klootschieten is a similar game played in the Netherlands and northwest Germany (Friesland and Schleswig-Holstein) and international events have been staged between these regions and Ireland.[8]

The Irish game also has players in Boston, Massachusetts;[9] Cambridge, New York, and Bennington, Vermont, vicinity;[10] Syracuse, New York;[11] Middletown, Connecticut; Traverse City, Michigan;[12] the Bronx, New York; New Zealand; Asheville, North Carolina;[13] Savannah, Georgia [14] and is growing in the fairs and festivals of the state of West Virginia.[15] The largest Irish road bowling event in the world is held annually in September in Wheeling, West Virginia, with 737 bowlers participating in 2016. The event is hosted by the state's sole division of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The first contest in Colborne, Canada was held on May 26, 2007. An annual tournament during the weekend of or prior to Saint Patrick's Day takes place in Portland, Oregon.

The song Out the Road by Gaelic Storm is about a road bowling score. Additionally, footage of a road bowling score is included in a YouTube video shot by band founders Pat Murphy and Steve Twigger about their trip to Murphy's native County Cork during the production of their album Chicken Boxer (which includes Out the Road).

Terminology

Game terminology (as used primarily in Ireland) includes:

bowl of odds
when one bowler is one full shot fewer than his opponent, i.e., when a bowler is equal to or farther in distance than his opponent, but has thrown one less shot.
break butt
To step over the butt before releasing the bowl
bullet
the bowl that is thrown or "shot"
bullets
County Armagh name for the game of road bowling. Also long bullets. See also bullet.
butt
the throwing mark on the road. See also break butt
corner
a sharp curve in the road or a corner where two roads meet. See also open the corner
fág a' bealach!
anglicised as Faugh A Ballagh and meaning "clear the way" (to warn spectators on the road in front of the thrower)
get sight
see open the corner
kitter-paw
a left-handed thrower (from Irish: citeóg[16])
loft
to throw through the air.
long bullets
see bullets
open the corner
also get sight. to throw so deeply into the curve that the next throw is a straight shot out.
score
a match
shot
a throw
sop
a tuft of grass placed in the road at a spot where the bowl should first strike the surface. An experienced bowler can "split the sop". (from Irish: sop, meaning a "small bundle (of straw)")
stylish bowler
a bowler with a smooth well-coordinated delivery.

Notable bowlers

See also
  • Klootschieten - a similar sport played in the far eastern parts of the Netherlands, and in northern Germany.

References
  1. Lane, Fintan (2005). Long Bullets: A History of Road Bowling in Ireland. Cork: Galley Head Press. ISBN 095421594X.
  2. "General Introduction". Road Bowling. Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. Ó Tuama, Seamus (25 November 2015). "Classy Killian Kingston pulls off double". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 26 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  4. "Bol Chumann na hEireann - About Us". irishroadbowling.ie. Irish Road Bowling Association. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  5. "In This Kind of Bowling, the Lanes Have Cars". WSJournal.
  6. "Early History". Road Bowling. Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  7. "Ból Chumann na hÉireann/The National Assoc". Road Bowling. Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  8. "International". Road Bowling. Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  9. WBUR report on road bowling in the Boston area
  10. State Line Irish Road Bowling, Cambridge, New York, & Bennington, Vermont Archived 2012-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
  11. https://irishroadbowling.org/
  12. Northern Michigan Banshees Road Bowling Club
  13. Asheville Irish Road Bowling Association, Asheville, North Carolina Archived 2010-03-12 at the Wayback Machine
  14. http://www.aohsavannah.com/#!__road-bowling-home
  15. Washington Post - Go Play in the Road
  16. McArthur, Thomas Burns; McArthur, Roshan (2005-12-15). "Hiberno-English". Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. p. 717. ISBN 9780192806376. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  17. "Mick Barry 'The Bowlplayer of all time'". Road Bowling. Ask About Ireland. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  18. "'King of the road' dies, 95". Irish Examiner. 8 December 2014.
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