World Bowls Championship countdown – episode two

In our last countdown post, we shone the spotlight on the birth of World Bowls (for men) at Kyeemagh in Sydney in 1966 and noted how the women followed suit, also in Australia, three years later. Here, David Rhys Jones looks at what happened next, and explains how World Bowls grew exponentially in size, stature and prestige.

1976 – ZOO PARK – IN THE LAND OF THE BIG FIVE
Following the second World Bowls, which was staged in Worthing in 1972, the International Bowling Board (IBB) controversially scheduled the third edition of our sport’s new flagship event to be played in Johannesburg, on the Zoo Park greens from February 18 to March 6, 1976. It was an interesting – and not universally popular – decision.
Three years earlier, in 1973, the International Women’s Bowling Board (IWBB) had bowed to political pressure, and had not accepted entries from South Africa, despite the fact that the South Africans had done so well in the inaugural Women’s World Bowls in 1969.
Very soon, as world opinion turned against the discriminatory nature of Apartheid, South African sportsmen found themselves banned from taking part in international sport, and did not re-appear on the world scene until 1994, when they competed in the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.
Determined to impress, the South African authorities created the most lavish venue the world’s bowlers had ever seen. Huge grandstands, seating 10,500 paying customers were erected around the three greens at a cost of £49.000. And the budget for the championships came to a staggering £260,000 – a lot of money in those days! It really was the greatest bowls show on earth!
These days, we take things like scoreboards and close circuit TV for granted, but in 1976 it was unheard of to have a main scoreboard giving up-to-date details of all eighteen matches in progress, or to enjoy what we would now call a ‘live streaming’ service to nine bars across the complex.
Everyone who was there, as a player or a spectator, still speaks of the extraordinary sight of those grandstands, and the impressive way in which the event was presented – and the third World Bowls certainly set the standard for future events.
Under pressure, the host country’s players were keen to strut their stuff – and they came up trumps with an unprecedented clean sweep of world titles. Doug Watson won the singles, and, with Bill Moseley, the pairs. Meanwhile, a young Kevin Campbell teamed up with Nando Gatti and Kevin Lightfoot to win the triples, and, when the trio were joined by Moseley at skip, they struck gold in the fours.
Naturally, having won everything on offer, the meticulous South Africans also lifted the Leonard Trophy – yes, you could call it ‘The Big Five’ – and became the third country to be crowned as world team champions, following in the footsteps of Australia (1966) and Scotland (1972).
A below par David Bryant, who lost four times in the round robin, managed to bag bronze, and had the satisfaction of inflicting on Watson the only defeat he suffered in 15 round robin matches. In the triples, Bryant won a silver medal with England colleagues Bill Irish and Tommy Armstrong.
It was a particularly disappointing championships for Welsh left-hander Maldwyn ‘Mal’ Evans, who was hoping to retain the singles title, but finished down the order in sixth place, one place ahead of Scotland’s Willie Wood. Wales and Scotland failed to win a medal of any kind, while Ireland had to settle for a bronze in the triples, thanks to John Higgins, David Hull and Willie Murray.
1977 – WILKIE WINS AT WORTHING
Of course, these were the days before unification and men and women bowlers still kept themselves very much apart. However, the IWBB had been impressed by the IBB’s initiatives, and, having staged their own world championships in Australia (1969) and New Zealand (1973), were determined to develop their own global event.
The third Women’s World Bowls in 1977 was therefore scheduled for Worthing, where the men had held a successful event five years earlier. Beach House Park had four greens, looked after brilliantly by Jock Munro, in those days, and also boasted the infrastructure to cope with a major event.
It was generally a disappointing championships for the UK countries, though Wales put in a strong performance, winning the triples, thanks to Joan Osborne, Margaret ‘Pom’ Pomeroy and Enid Morgan, and bagging bronze in the pairs and fours, in both of which disciplines a young Janet Ackland (who was destined to win the singles title 11 years later) led consistently.
England, who came tantalisingly close to striking gold in the fours, had to settle for silver, which turned out to be the host country’s only medal. Leading their league table, Margaret Lockwood, Joan Hunt, Mabel Darlington and Joan Sparkes lost their last game, 21-17, to Scotland, a defeat that allowed Australia, skipped by Dot Jenkinson, to pip them to the title on shots countback.
New Zealand’s Elsie Wilkie, the reigning singles champion, retained her title, but it was a close run thing, with no-one really stamping their authority on proceedings. In fact, Elsie lost four of her 13 round robin matches, and got the nod on shots difference from Canadian June Bell and Norma de la Motte, from Papua New Guinea, who also won nine of their matches.
The rapid emergence of Hong Kong as a force to be reckoned with on the world bowls stage was underlined with the success of Helen Wong and Elvie Chok, who won 12 of their 13 matches in the pairs, while, as mentioned above, Wales won the triples, and Australia came out on top in
the fours.
The Aussies also won the overall team title, and it’s worth noting that neither Scotland, who were taking part in women’s World Bowls for the first time, nor Ireland returned home with a medal. Out of 12 medals which were up for grabs, only four were won by the home countries, and eight of them went abroad.

INTERMISSION – WHERE NEXT?
The Commonwealth Games in Edmonton (Canada) in 1978 followed, but it was not until the 1982 Games that women were invited to the so-called Friendly Games party. In World Bowls terms, we would have to wait until 2008 before men and women would play alongside each other at the same venue at the ground-breaking 11th World Bowls at Christchurch in New Zealand.
However, we didn’t have to wait very long for the next World Bowls. The men competed at Frankston, near Melbourne, in 1980, and the women at Willowdale, in the middle of Toronto, in 1981. Both prestigious clubs still exist, Frankston with its four greens on the Mornington Peninsula, and Willowdale with its three greens on the busy Beecroft Road in North York.

1980 – FRANKSTON FROLICS
We said that Frankston is near Melbourne, and so it is – by Australian standards. In fact, it is some 50 miles from Melbourne International Airport, and it will take you an hour or so to get to the home of the palatial club on the west coast of the spectacular Mornington Peninsula.
Johannesburg may have taken World Bowls to a new level in 1976, with the magnificent grandstands and electronic scoreboards, but Frankston add a new dimension by choreographing a sensational opening ceremony.
Graham Howard, one of the great characters of English bowls, described the scene in World Bowls magazine.
“As well as an orchestra, there was a choir of 150. There were also 100 ballet dancers and 2,000 pigeons, pipe bands and a capacity crowd of 5,500. Then, following the opening ceremony, came the clashes between 20 nations in the pairs and triples event.”
In his book ‘Bryant on Bowls’, David Bryant added: “Perhaps mindful of the superb presentation by South Africa in 1976, the Australians launched the fourth World Bowls with all the razzmatazz of an Aussie Rules football cup final. The Navy band let its hair down, on came a bevy of scantily clad, typically gorgeous Aussie dancing girls, and the Governor of Victoria looked on in total amazement.”
Sadly, for them, the South Africans, who were the holders of all four individual titles, plus the Leonard Trophy, were in sporting exile, and were not allowed to compete – indeed, they would not appear again at World Bowls until 1996, when they made a welcome return in Adelaide.
A record number of 20 countries took part, and the round robin format, where everyone played everyone else, was extraordinarily gruelling. Graham Howard reported: “They began play at 9am and would not sit down for their evening meal in their hotel in Melbourne until 10.15pm – a long day by any standards!”
While home advantage paid off for the South Africans in 1976, it didn’t seem to do much for the Aussies at Frankston. They medalled in only two disciplines, winning the pairs, courtesy of Alf Sandercock and Peter Rheuben, and John Snell took the silver medal in the singles. A host country quartet finished fourth in the fours, and the Aussie trio finished fifth in the triples.
The Aussies may have been disappointed with that modest haul – but it was good enough to put them in contention for the Leonard Trophy. Ultimately, Australia tied with England and Scotland on 72 points. David Bryant had not only won the singles, but had skipped young duo Tony Allcock and Jim Hobday to the triples title, while John Bell and Mal Hughes finished fourth in the pairs, and Hobday, Allcock, Bell and Hughes finished in sixth place in the fours.
As for the Scots, they collected silver medals in triples (John Summers, David McGill and Willie McQueen) and fours (Summers, McQueen, Alex McIntosh and Willie Wood). McGill bagged bronze in the singles, and there was a fifth place finish in the pairs for Wood and McIntosh.
What gave England the nod over the Aussies and the Scots? Computers were not available in 1980, so, reportedly it took officials three hours after the last bowl stopped rolling to work out which country had the better shots percentage. It turned out that England came out on top, 0.023% ahead of Australia, and 0.08% ahead of Scotland.
There’s a bit of a mystery about Bryant’s record in the singles. There’s no doubt he played 19 matches, and the reports of the time all state he won 18 of them, losing only once – to Jersey’s Arthur McKernan. But the stats as published by Wikipedia have him as winning 17 and losing two. If anyone can throw some light on this anomaly, please let us know!
What a record, though! I believe Bryant did win 18 out of 19 matches in the singles, and we know he won 18 out of 19 in the triples. That’s played 38, won 36, lost two over 17 days of World Bowls. Not bad, eh? And that’s in the world’s toughest event.

1981 – TORONTO TRIUMPH
On to Toronto, then, for the fourth Women’s World Bowls in 1981 at the Willowdale Lawn Bowling Club, which claims to be the biggest lawn bowls club in Canada, and where England added the world women’s team title to the men’s they claimed in Frankston eighteen months earlier.
Yes, England pretty well dominated the event, with the one-and-only Norma Shaw winning the singles and a quartet skipped by the formidable Mavis Steele winning the fours – and, if the last day had not been rained off, England’s Eileen Fletcher, Betty Stubbings and Mavis Steele might well have won a third gold medal.
England were only two points behind league leaders from Hong Kong, Linda King, Rae O’Donnell and Lena Sadick, whom they were scheduled to play in that last round. With a superior shots difference, a win over Hong Kong would have given England the title, but only three ends were played before rain washed out play for the day, and, to the disappointment of the England team and their supporters, the session was abandoned.
Cornwall’s Gloria Thomas, who was picked to play second in England’s four and lead in the pairs, was unfortunately taken ill after eight games in the fours and was forced to sit out the rest of the tournament. Oxfordshire’s Irene Molyneux, England’s team manager, came in as a sub, and helped Fletcher, Stubbings and Steele strike gold.
Molyneux, who also took Thomas’s place in the pairs, helped Norma Shaw to a bronze medal, so England managed an impressive haul of two golds, one silver and one bronze. Ireland’s Eileen Bell and Nan Allely struck gold in the pairs.
Visitors reported that while the organisation was excellent, the greens were extremely poor. One writer in World Bowls magazine actually alleged that the greens had been cut only once during the whole championships, and that the playing surface in Canada was heavy and patchy.
Perhaps that’s why England did so well, and teams from the southern hemisphere, like Australia and New Zealand, did not figure among the medallists.