A MAGNETIC GAME

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 92, 12 January 1935, Page 6

A MAGNETIC GAME

Sportin? events on which national titles depend usually excite the attention of a wide public. Although, ability to participate in the games concerned is not essential to this interest, understanding is. 'is not on record that Little Eric ever distinguished himself on the Rugby field; but who would dare face him in a discussion on the rules of the game, or on the capacity of referees to interpret them : Little Eric, that is to say, is not a player; he is an expert—a sort ol Rugby Brains Trust. Most other sports, too, command allegiance from three classes: players, those who have been players, and those who know all there is to know. . There is one notable exception. Bowls. In bowls we hud host.-, of players, but never a has-been. Joints become too stiff for tootball, eyes too dim for cricket, and muscles too slow for lawn tennis; but bowlers go on for ever. Also—happy fellows they are spare the jibes of spectators who do not play, but criticise. For only bowlei understand bowls. The uninitiated pass over with puzzled frowns the now frequent mention of “leads,” “skips,” and. “heads appealing in the papers; but the game sweeps onward in its popularity, and thousands of men, of all classes and creeds, await in every province of the Dominion the result of the championships now being played at Auckland. ... c The bowler is one of the most whole-heartedly enthusiastic sportsmen it is possible to meet; his undeniably boisterous behaviour on the green is a treat to hear. Young men may scoff at his game, and call it slow; but, ponderously grave in the strategy of cricket, or idiy resting between sets of tennis, they somehow seem to lack the bowler s joyous concentration. It may be argued that the social side of bowls is its predominant interest, and that middle-aged men delight in contact with acquaintances, a lingering afternoon tea, or the. privilege of smoking while playing. But what. cricket-pitch receives such rolling, watering and mowing as the bowling green? Or such frequent and fearful inspections on the morning of a match? l;he caretu attention invariably expended on the area of play points to the pi oportionate interest of the game itself. Its army of ..unfailing devotees, flannelled and blazered to put Joseph’s coat to shame, would hwai t to insignificance the total adherents of some other sports described as There are perhaps two classes of living beings who have a right to object to bowls. The first are bowlers’, wives, who, patienLy awaiting the return of husbands for their evening meal while the dusk deepens into night, may yet find the specialised enthusiasm of Lie green a ground for divorce. The second are cats, who, if they had the ability to understand the language of bowls, would boil with fury at the regular and heartless treatment accorded to “kitty.