Bowled over by a sport which gives them a new lease of life

YOU have to talk to them,” winks Frank Quinn, as he watches another of his bowls bend around the 15-inch piece of timber halfway down the mat and meander its way through his opponent’s bowls towards the yellow jack. It’s a good roll. Quinn smiles with delight.

Welcome to Short Mat bowls, which, by and large, is the most popular sport among the elderly in Galway and, perhaps, around the country. Indeed, many hotels are cashing in on the opportunity to run their own competitions, enticing Active Retirement groups to plan outings and holidays around these events.

On this Friday morning, Talking Sport ambles into Galway Lawn Tennis Club, where Salthill Active Retirement Association’s bowls section are enjoying their morning social. In all, 16 players have turned up to play and when the greetings have been exchanged, and the boiler has been fired up, pegs are drawn to determine on which mat the players have been assigned.

Earlier that morning, four mats – 45-foot-long and six-foot wide – were laid out and, now, four players have been sent to each. The four divide into two pairs and the first contest of the day begins – nine ends with each player given three bowls to attack the jack.

Two of the leading lights in terms of the organisation – and, indeed, playing – are Noel Maher and Tom Quigley of KARA (Knocknacarra Active Retirement Association) and SARA (Salthill Active Retirement Association) respectively.

It was they who extended the invitation to Talking Sport to visit them on this fine morning. “I suppose, one of the reasons (for the invite) is because we are trying to drum up publicity in an effort to attract new blood,” begins Tom, who, in addition to his club duties, is also Competitions Organiser for the Western Bowls Association.

“This club, SARA, started up about 18 years ago, or thereabouts. Knocknacarra was started up a couple of years before it. Apart from those now in nursing homes, the membership has not changed all that much although I think Active Retirement has a very underserved image of being an old people’s organisation,” he says.

The ethos of the group on a whole seems to be you are only as young – or old – as you feel and there is something sprightly about the SARA members on this morning. Although ranging in age from 50 to 80 plus, there is a vitality, exuberance and, dare we say, competitive edge that could be found in any sport.

Just like any sporting organisation though, they are only as strong as their membership and, so, now they are encouraging more people over 50, particularly those retired, to get involved with any of the 14 bowls clubs spread around the city and county.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.