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Womens Lawn Bowling |
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Lawn Bowls for Women: Does bowls bias run to glamour?
ALAN MacDERMID (The Herald, 6 January 2005 ) AT one end are solid, matronly figures in white skirts and blouses, maintaining decorum founded on years of tradition. At the other are the lithe young things in figure-hugging outfits and T-shirts emblazoned with the names of their sponsors. This is the setting which, it is being claimed, has led to the stalwarts of women's bowling being snubbed for a major televised event in favour of younger rivals perceived as being more glamorous. The allegations brought simmering resentment to the surface yesterday at the World Bowls Tour women's matchplay event in Norfolk . "The World Bowls Tour are going for young bits of things," said Linda Brennan, a 38-year-old, self-confessed size 18 pillar of the sport, a view supported by leading Scottish players with distinguished track records who said the current system of inviting selected players was leading to worthy competitors being excluded. The lucky eight went into the quarter-finals when the tournament opened on Tuesday, including two Scots, Julie Forrest from Hawick and Caroline Brown from Motherwell, and expatriate Scot Lynne Whitehead from New Zealand . Forrest and Brown made it through to the next round on Saturday, when they will face each other. Also still in the field are the title-holder, Carol Ashby, the sport's current pin-up girl after posing with a bowl, jeans, open leather bomber jacket and not much else, and another English entrant, Ellen Falkner, also regarded as easy on the eye. However, the issue is far from clearcut. The current competitors have respectable track records, and at the same time being young, gifted and trim is no guarantee of selection. The one definite criterion is membership of the Professional Bowls Association, and some of those selected were non-members invited on condition that they join the PBA. Anne Dunwoodie, The Herald's bowls correspondent, said she believed the issue would be laid to rest if players had to qualify to reach the tournament, now in its third year. "In the first year, unusually, they invited participants, but the PBA was just starting, so that was acceptable," she said. "However, it was anticipated that there would be qualifying events for future tournaments. They never transpired, and some of the women who went into the PBA have now resigned." Dunwoodie added: "I think it has a lot to do with the tournament being televised. They are looking for sponsors and obviously you want to encourage that."Carol Ashby has a figure to die for, and wears skin-tight pedal pushers. That is OK if that is what you want." Kate Adams, the 44-year-old world singles champion who plays at Auchinleck and has been an international since 1987, said: "I agree totally with Linda Brennan . . . It seems that everyone who plays is a size 10 and under 40. I am very big. But I still compete internationally. Margaret Letham, who has won the Scottish indoor singles title four times, the latest in November, said: "It seems to be mostly English women who get selected for the WBT matchplay, and hardly any from any other country. They call it the world matchplay, but it is hardly world - they may just be looking for younger-looking girls." Nigel Oldfield, chief executive of the WBT and tournament director, denied the players were being selected on anything other than merit. He said: "We took into consideration how they had performed in open PBA events and in other indoor championships. We would like to extend the event so that there is a qualification procedure."
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