Tony Allcock

Anthony Allcock OBE (born 1955) is an English bowls player. Born in Leicestershire, England,[1] he is considered to be one of the leading bowlers of his generation and was twice world outdoor singles champion (1992 and 1996) and three times World Indoor Singles Champion (1986, 1987 and 2002).[2]

Tony Allcock

Personal information
Nationality	England
Born	11 June 1955 Thurmaston, Leicestershire
Sport
Sport	Bowls
Club	Belgrave BC Cheltenham BC
Medal record Representing  England World Outdoor Championships 1980 Melbourne triples 1980 Melbourne team 1984 Aberdeen fours 1984 Aberdeen pairs 1988 Auckland pairs 1988 Auckland fours 1988 Auckland team 1992 Worthing singles 1996 Adelaide singles Commonwealth Games 1994 Victoria singles World Indoor Championships 1986 Coatbridge singles 1986 Bournemouth pairs 1987 Coatbridge singles 1987 Bournemouth pairs 1989 Preston pairs 1990 Preston pairs 1991 Preston pairs 1992 Preston pairs 1997 Preston pairs 2002 Yarmouth singles 2003 Yarmouth pairs

Bowls career

World Outdoor Championships

Allcock won double gold at the 1980 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Melbourne in the team event (Leonard Cup) and triples with Jimmy Hobday and the legendary David Bryant. Four years later he won two more medals including the gold medal in the fours with George Turley, John Bell and Julian Haines at the 1984 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Aberdeen.[3] After winning three more medals at the 1988 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Auckland he went on to win two singles gold medals at successive championships. They were at the 1992 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Worthing and the 1996 World Outdoor Bowls Championship in Adelaide. With his eleven world indoor titles he has won seventeen world titles in total.[2][4]

Commonwealth Games

Allcock played in three successive Commonwealth Games in 1990, 1994 and 1998. He won singles silver medal in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[5][6]

Allcock was appointed the bowls performance coach for the England team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.[7] He is the current Chief Executive of Bowls England.[8]

World Indoor Championships

Allcock was also three times singles and eight times pairs champion at the World Indoor Bowls Championships.[9] The singles wins were in 1986, 1987 and 2002 and the pairs (five with David Bryant) were in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 1991, 1992 (and one each with Mervyn King and David Holt) were in 1997 and 2003.

National

He has won eight National Championship titles, singles (1990, 1991), triples (1990, 1995), fours (1994) and junior singles (1975, 1977, 1981) bowling for Belgrave BC and then Cheltenham BC.[10] He has also won the singles at the British Isles Bowls Championships in 1992.[11]

Personal life

Allcock is now chief executive of Bowls England. Already Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to lawn bowls.[12]

Publications and videos

Allcock has written several books on bowls, and released a series of instructional videos on the subject.

Books

• Allcock, Tony (1987) Improve Your Bowls, HarperCollinsWillow, ISBN 978-0-00-218271-3
• Allcock, Tony & Rhys Jones, David (1988) Bowls Skills, Golden Books, ISBN 978-0-600-55778-4
• Allcock, Tony (1989) End to End: A Year in Bowls, Heinemann Kingswood, ISBN 978-0-434-98160-1
• Bryant, David; Allcock, Tony & Horton, Edward (1994) Bowl to Win, HarperCollinsWillow, ISBN 978-0-00-218523-3
• Allcock, Tony Winning Bowls, Hutchinson, ISBN 978-0-09-173677-4

Videos

• Tony Allcock's Art of Bowls (4 volumes)

References

1. Gordin, Joel (1996) "Goodwill Ambassador", Jerusalem Post, 22 October 1996
2. Whyte, Derrick (2002) "Bowls: Allcock rolls back the years", The Independent, 21 January 2002, retrieved 2010-05-06
3. Newby, Donald (1987). Daily Telegraph Bowls Yearbook 88. Telegraph Publications. ISBN 0-86367-220-5.
4. "Profile". Bowls Tawa.
5. "COMMONWEALTH GAMES MEDALLISTS - BOWLS". GRB Athletics.
6. "Athletes and Results". Commonwealth Games Federation.
7. "England job for Allcock", Evening Standard, 5 June 2001
8. Perris, Jeff (2008) All About Bowls: The History, Construction and Maintenance of Bowling, Sports Turf Research Institute, ISBN 978-1-873431-06-1, p. 3-4
9. Footman, Tony (ed.) (2000) Guinness World Records 2001, IBS, ISBN 978-1-892051-01-1, p. 205
10. "Past Records". Bowls England.
11. "Previous Winners". British Isles Bowls Council.
12. "No. 62666". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 June 2019. p. B10.