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BOWLING NOTES.

oust oms Ain> oanmjßs. ! i i —— i Thus "Boomerang''' in the. Sydney "Referee":— "On quite a number of occasions 1 have been asked what impression the ■visit to New Zealand has left uppn me, 'not from a tourist's point of view, as words fail, me in that respect, but in the bowl 9 sense. Well, one has to be candid to be kind, at times, audi while ii have the greatest admiration for the manner in which they do things here, I have also come to the conclusion that they need to put the clock om considerably in certain directions. "New Zealanders are nothing if not. •conservative, and some of, the customs and rules would make the average; Aus* ! tralian bowlers not familiar with,them gape in wonderment. As I predicted, very few survived after the first djay of ■four rounds, not because they were outclassed, but rather because they had to stand up to, a stiff proposition every round, and play under condition? entirely foreign to. them. "I have seen bowls games umpired for a quarter of a century in Australia, in every state, but never in the fashion, I and in the loose and utterly perplexing manner as practised in Wellington. ILet us hope that it is not applicable to Dominion tournaments generally. Takes Active Part. "Enquiry of the visiting • contingent generally the same complaints were voiced, and the New Zealanders must take these remarks and incidents Ii am about to rolate as something that may be helpful to them in future events, where Australians are bound to be par • ticipating, "In our country, one of the most important considerations, is good and efficient umpiring. In this tournament many did not seem to have an ideat of acting correctly. All were eager tojdo well, and kindness itself, but seldom did one see the man at the other end but that he was taking a most active part in the proceedings. • "Signalling, the shot, and more if there were any, after each bowl, .is common. They move about, stand in the line of sight, invariably chalk upj a toucher before the next shot, and while you are on the mat, and hold animatod conversations with any player who likes to engage them in one, despite the fact that the opponent is standing waiting to concentrate on his delivery. His Word Was Law. "It is all most, disconcerting. A player will send up a bowl, advance some distance up the green, and ask the scorer to tell him all about the lip. Meantime his opponent is waiting on the mat. It was pointed out, in good spirit, and for information only, that in Australia it is the custom to inform the man on the mat only of the standing position of the head; then he may ask as many questions as he pleases, in conformity with the rules. "In one instance certain scores apjpeared on the board. The players agreed that they were but the scorer said that they were wrong, and insisted that what he had on the card were correct, and must.be accepted. He; was told in kindly spirit that the play-; ers were agreed on the point, and to | make them correspond with his card.; But he was adamant, and in the end. had his way. In Australia, he is not in; the picture at all; nor should he be. "One other illustration, which was. general: A player will ask, 'Who is, shot?' Umpire will reply: 'Threoshots against you,' or whatever tha number may be. He will chatter on about other things as well. "

Strange Procedure. "In some instances a man will be ; on; the mat, and not seeking informa- ; tion at all. Many Australians not seek* ling 1 information beheld the umpire adj vance to the head and begin to signal, jand talk as well. Where the. opponent l|is anxious to know the lie, as New pZealanders are, as a custom, the man jon the mat doesn't know whether he is ;being addressed, or the other, chap.

; "Now, there is no venom in these remarks, but, if Australia and New Zealand are ever to adopt a universal code of rules, thiswill surely be one of the first things they will have to scrap on this side. As Maxwell "Walker and other prominent players say, it is nice to know, but everything must be governed or regulated. Umpires or scorers have an open go, and do the most extraordinary things imaginable." Bowl Testing-—Where is the Fault?

TJie annual meeting of the Australian Bowling Council will be held on Tuesday, April 2nd (writes "Back Wood" in the Sydney Sun). A great deal has been said, : and written, regarding Law 17 of the Australian laws of the game," which regulates the size,, weight and shape!;of bowls; but I think it is most unlikely that any amendment for the alteration of this law will be tabled. ; No fault can be found with the conditions set out in Law 17, and as a matter of fact bowlers should be grateful to the committee that formulated Okis law. It has given bowlers an ideal bowl, and any player who has used bowls complying with the regulations referred to would never go back to the old-fashioned pudding shape..' At the end of February, all bowls, 'of whatever, shape, and size, must conform to the specifications set out ;in Law 17. There are some die-hards ;ia some of the States who say they will ignore this dictum. That will be their funeral,, as they have had plenty of; time to have their woods properly alteredjj and if they still, persist; in their short-sighted ideas, they will find themselves out in the cold when.it comes to playing in matches. Any opponent will be quite justified in objecting to such bowls, and he would be shirking his duty if he failed, to. protest. Minimum -Draw.

The real fly in the. ointment is. the minimum- draw of the standard bowl. This is a matter quite apart from the

size, weight and shape regulations, although many people have been- inclined to confuse, the two issuee> The trouble is that the Victorian | tester, in collaboration with the A.B.C. I test committee, has lessened the minimum draw of the standard bowl, and [many protests have been' heard from i Queensland and New South Wales. At | last, the strongest outcry of all came from Victoria, and special meetings [have been held with a view to urging ■jfor,.' an increased draw, and it- is understood that this will now be obtained. I Anyway it seems certain that delegates will havo something to say on jthis subject- at the annual meeting, 'especially in. view of the fact that some thousands of new bowls last year- were passed and stamped, which the tester afterwards acknowledged were not up to the standard.

The reason given for this serious breach was that a : change had hecn 9iade in the covering of the testing table. This cause is very difficult to understand, as the newly manufactured bowls would only be required to do the same run on the table as, the •Standard test "bowls, and, obviously, the fault would lie with the test bowl and not the table covering. All these bowls have been recalled, and the tester agreed to rertest them and stamp them free of charge, It would appear that the Teal weakness of our bowl testing in Australia isj allowing the manufacturers to be the tejsters., Surely the time has ..arrived when official testers in the various States should be men who would bo independent of any manufacturing interests. I would not be surprised to see thjs phase of the question, freely ventilated at the meeting.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SNEWS19290215.2.13

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Shannon News, 15 February 1929, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,283

BOWLING NOTES. Shannon News, 15 February 1929, Page 3

BOWLING NOTES. Shannon News, 15 February 1929, Page 3

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