Nothing stuffy about our sport, say new champions

BOWLS is the new rock 'n' roll.

Those are the words of actor Paul Kaye in the British film, Blackball, currently running on Sky. Kaye plays Cliff Starkey a gifted young bowler with a rebellious streak who upsets the stuffy establishment with his wild antics on and off the green.

While not upsetting as many people as Starkey, there are comparisons between the Mel Smith film and Guernsey's duo of Daniel de la Mare and Matt Le Ber. For a start, they are both young, de la Mare is 19 and Le Ber is 20, and they are both certainly talented.

They were crowned the British Isles outdoor pairs champions in Belfast this week, when they beat Scotland in the final, the youngest ever pair to lift the title.

How much are they are like Starkey, and do they stick out in a sport dominated by old men in white trousers and matching cardigans?

Le Ber does not agree with this perception.

'It's not like that at all,' he said.

'People still see it as an old people's sport and that's unfair.'

De la Mare agrees.

'There are definitely more youngsters getting involved in the sport,' said the IT technician.

'It's becoming more popular as the awareness is getting better. The schools are trying to push bowls, which is helping.'

The lads both started the sport at an early age. Le Ber was eight and de la Mare seven when introduced to the sport by their parents, all keen bowlers. They are a part of a new breed of young adults who are running the sport in the island.

Garry Collins, just 25, is the chief executive of the Guernsey Bowls Association and the president of the Bowls Guernsey council, which looks after outdoor bowls is Ian Merrien, who is also in his twenties. Merrien's wife is Alison, one of the world's top female indoor bowlers is in her early thirties.

There are a number of other top bowlers on the island who do not fit the classic image of an old codger with blue rinse playing bowls on a village green on a Sunday afternoon. According to legendary commentator David Rhys-Jones this perception of bowls is wide of the mark.

'I'm furious about it,' he said.

'I want to shake the general public. People base their view on seeing old people playing at the local park. They don't play bowls, they just roll their bowls up and down the green and they might get close to the jack occasionally and that's fine.

'It is a great way to spend an afternoon. But the truth is young players dominate the top of the sport.'

Rhys-Jones points to the fact that the only over-40s player to win the world singles title in recent years was 46-year-old Tony Allcock in 2002. As in Guernsey, young players are coming through, but the commentator does not believe that this is something new.

'I'm 63 years old and I've been playing for over 50 years now,' he said.

'Youngsters have always played, its not a new phenomenon. Everything points to bowls being a sport for young people.

'There's no stuffiness in the sport. Okay, you do get some stuffy officials but you do in every sport.

'Yet the media love it to be stuffy and they play it up. They think it is marvellous when something controversial happens.

'But bowls is like any other sport and it does have its scandals. We have had our share of drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll stories.'

Talking of scandals, Rhys-Jones is a friend of Griff Sanders, the man who inspired the often hilarious Blackball movie.

During a south-west counties bowls match in 1999, the 26-year-old Sanders was reprimanded by the officials for allegedly swearing while on the green.

In response, Sanders signed off his card at the end of the match: 'John Smerdon is a tosser.' Smerdon as secretary of the Devon Bowling Association took exception to this and so did the rest of powers that be who sought to get the Torquay bowler banned for life.

This was reduced to 10 years after lengthy discussions and eventually Sanders was just placed on probation after the English Bowls Association stepped in.

Rhys-Jones is a fan of the film.

'It's a good little film,' he said.

'However it does play up the sport quite a bit and it does take liberties. It's a caricature as it makes out the sport is just played by stuck up old men and that's cobblers.'

But is bowls really the new rock 'n' roll?

'Yeah I think it is new rock 'n' roll,' said de la Mare.

'It certainly is in the bar afterwards.'