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Lawn bowling is reinventing itself by marketing to a new generation. Monica Saliba explores the rising phenomena of barefoot bowling.

The lawn is perfectly manicured, the sun is spilling out warming your face and the grass feels tickly soft between your toes. There is happy chitchat everywhere and two little waddling toddlers are rumbling their dad at the sideline. 

It is Sunday noon at Paddington Bowling Club and the ambience is peaceful.

At the rink there is concentration and backslapping banter among the bowlers, whilst others laze about on the verandah soaking up the atmosphere and sipping their favorite drink.  

Lawn bowling has reinvented itself and its new players are the twenty to thirty somethings. The rules: no shoes, colourful clothing, lots of beer and don’t be afraid of the occasional dance.

Maria Pepanastasiou, 29 and Liza Fogg, 27 are here with friends to celebrate Maria’s birthday. “I have heard really good stuff about it…so we thought let’s do something different.”

“It is better than being cooped up in a club, it’s nice to be outside. There are not much outdoor activities going on anymore,” says Liza.

The young and the hip are not the only ones catching on. Casual lawn bowling has caught the imagination of families for social gatherings too.

Daryl Stevens, 60, says he and his wife have come all the way down from Hawks Nest on the central coast to spend time with the family just for the day. “This is the first time we have ever played, I have really enjoyed it. It’s just a matter of getting the idea of the bias and the length of the greens.”

While Daryl is frolicking with the family, others have a different sort of agenda.. Warren Barnes, a 27 year-old English chap says he has been a member at Paddington Bowling Club for the last couple of years mostly because there's a good sports bar, lot's of young ladies and it’s “good to go with a group of lads.”

On that note very little has changed – lawn bowls was once a meeting place for gentleman playing good old English sports. The only exception of course is that women were not permitted to play back then.

For Australia, back then refers to 1845, when the first-ever recorded game of bowls took place at the back of the Beach Tavern, Sandy Bay Tasmania.

The NSW Bowling Association was formed in 1880 - even before Australia became a federated state and was the first of its kind in the world.

Currently there are 650 bowling clubs in NSW alone, close to one in every postcode. They are as familiar and accessible to us as the ‘local’ or the RSL.

However, despite a strong tradition, leisurely participation in the sport has only emerged mostly in the last decade. Statistics from the Australian Sport Commissions’ annual Exercise, Recreation and Sports Survey show non-organised participation in lawn bowls increased from approximately 14,000 to 40,000 between 2001 and 2004.      

Paddington Bowling Club, which no longer runs traditional men and women’s competitions, boasts a membership leap from 30 to 2,700. Elaine Hanly, Functions Coordinator at the club says there are three barefoot bowling sessions run every Saturday and Sunday and corporate games can range from 20 to 50 a week.

For the really outrageous there is the Rock’n’Bowl program. Bruce Malouf, former Australian Wallaby, has been selling the social game for years. ‘Rock’n’Bowls’ promises to be “The Best Fun You Can Have on Two Feet” with its concoction of booze, bbq’s and blaring music. 

Exactly when and where the social craze began is not known with certainty. But thanks must go to Aussie pop flicks such as the ‘Secret Life of Us’ and Mick Molloy’s hit ‘Crackerjack’ that brought lawn bowls to the big and small screen.

The industry is still riding high on the wave of resurgence. Enormous marketing efforts are being made on a national level right down to individual clubs.
           
Only one year old, the ‘Get on the Greens’ initiative by Bowls Australia, specifically targeted at 25-35 year olds, has seen 16,000 new members sign up across Australia.

Mark Rendell, CEO of Bowls Australia, says the ‘Get on the Greens’ program has “smashed” the general community psyche of lawn bowls being a retirees game. “It has been a major barrier to the sport. The changed perception of [lawn bowls] is going to be the lifeblood of the sport going forward.” 

In the wake of ‘barefoot’ bowling, clubs have had the option to either continue with these new initiatives, or stick with a traditional approach to the sport. Meaning, they can either choose to sink or swim. About 20 clubs have closed over the last 10 years or sold greens to developers to fund renovations and attract younger generations.

Tucked away in the suburbs southwest of Sydney, Padstow Bowling club is undergoing changes, but the local members push on.

“We just can’t compete against the bigger league groups because they have got more money behind them – like the RSL’s” says Bettie Colvin, 73, a loyal member of the Padstow BC.  

Beneath her green and white mesh bowling hat and faded ‘NSWBA’ badge, Bettie explains the club will be changing to artificial greens soon and cutting out the greenkeeper because it costs too much. “But we love the greens, I am going to be terribly disappointed when they go.”  

“The trouble with us now, we are an older aged group trying to encourage younger people. We do have a couple of younger ladies with us but we were a group of over-150 or something and now we have dropped down to about 60,” she says.

“[The ladies] don’t always come. They come for lunch or they come as social, but they don’t play. It is a bit discouraging that they’re not playing as much.”

Occasional, social and ‘barefoot’ bowling will soon, if not already, be vital to the long-term survival of bowling clubs in Australia.

Yet some of the older members are excited that they can share their passion for this pastime with a new generation.

On a cold drizzly autumn morning the greens at Balmain are bare apart from a few undeterred members. John MacDonald, 87, who appears to be enjoying the relaxed dress code, says he is “surprised and delighted” that young people are taking up bowling.