The
XVIIth Commonwealth Games bowls events will slip into the record books as an
event dominated by the Home Countries. Hosts England swept aside their recent
dismal Games record with gold in the men's and women's fours and blind singles,
and Scotland maintained their run of having won gold at every Games since
Brisbane in 1982 when they won the pairs and disabled triples, while South
Africa, Malaysia and New Zealand shared the remaining titles.
Inevitably in any event of the magnitude of the Commonwealth Games, there are pluses and minuses to be reflected on in the cold light of day, but as a veteran of five previous Games I have to ask the question "Does bowls need this sort of exposure?" and it's very difficult to answer with a resounding 'yes!'. Let's look at the facts. The greens were little better than ploughed fields and what makes it worse is we all knew that would be the case before the event. Television rinks had to be changed for no other reason than they had become mud heaps.
Having said that, the greenkeeping staff did a magnificent job in getting any sort of games played on them, given the restrictions and constraints they had to work with. The action saw some events reduced to just four in a section and to travel half way round the world for just three games is a nonsense, particularly as these Games were further reduced to just fifteen ends. The simple mathematics is that people were preparing, some of them over a two year period, to deliver a total of just ninety bowls in serious competition..
Restrictions were, to say the least, over the top and, in many cases, claustrophobic! Take the simple exercise of the media wanting to talk to a player after a match for a quick quote. Bear in mind these are players I talk to on a regular basis simply by picking up the phone, but come Games time it all changes. If I want a word I'm expected to speak to the event Press Officer who then puts the request to the Scottish Team Manager, he then contacts the Scotland Team Press Officer who either says 'yes' or 'no' to the request.
Now can someone tell me why I as a journalist, and bowls as a sport, should have to endure that when we see athletes barely over the finishing line, having a microphone stuck in their face and subjected to prolonged questions on their performance? The problem with bowls being part of the Commonwealth Games is that too much control has to be passed from bowls officialdom to non-bowlers who don't understand the sport, and frankly don't want to.
As
a sport the Commonwealth Games Federation have decreed that bowls should be a
core sport, guaranteeing its inclusion in at least the next three Games, but
really, do we need that? I for one would rather see a World Outdoor Championship
every two years or a World Masters or even a Commonwealth Championship, outwith
the Games staged for bowlers and run by bowlers. I know that means that the
thrill of being part of a multi-sports event would be lost to the bowlers chosen
to represent their country, but I firmly believe that you have to consider the
wider picture and the harsh facts are that the antics at Heaton Park did nothing
for bowls.
I hope these comments aren't misconstrued by the medal winners who produced some amazing performances in extremely trying and difficult conditions. Scotland's two gold medals could hardly have been more contrasting. The first came in the disabled triples where Ivan Prior, David Heddle and John Robertson finished off a great campaign with a final win over Wales. The Scots trio secured their final spot with wins over Australia, South Africa and Northern Ireland and then got off to a dream start in the final picking up six shots on the opening end. They built on that lead to show 11-3 ahead, with eight of the twelve ends completed and despite conditions that verged on the unplayable on the last two ends, ran out 12-8 winners.
Scotland's other success, almost inevitably came in the men's pairs where George Sneddon and Alex Marshall added the Commonwealth title to their World Championship win in Johannesburg two years ago. The Scots figured in some epic battles on their way to the final, having to settle for draws with Wales and Samoa, where a last end four gave them a share of the spoils. They also edged home 12-11 against Malaysia and survived the loss of a second end seven on their way to a 21-12 win over Northern Ireland. The knockout stages saw them beat Australia 14-9 in the quarter finals, to guarantee themselves a medal and a 15-13 semi-final win over South Africa put them through to a final clash with England's Dean Morgan and Steve Farish.
The England pair dominated the early exchanges and opened up a 7-2 lead after seven ends but seven shots over the next five ends pushed Scotland 9-7 ahead with three ends to play. The England duo squared with a thirteenth end double and a penultimate end single saw them take a 10-9 lead into the last end, but George Sneddon set up a great head that saw the Scots pick up a three for a 12-10 win. Scotland also had near misses in both the singles events.
In the men's, Darren Burnett moved through to the knockout stages with four wins from his five matches, losing only to world champion Jeremy Henry from Northern Ireland 21-20 in a match where both knew they had qualified for the knock-out stages irrespective of the result. That was where Burnett's run came to an end, losing 21-18 to former world indoor champion, Robert Weale from Wales. The gold went to South Africa's Bobby Donnelly who confined Henry to the silver medal after a 21-15 win.
In the women's singles, Margaret Letham can consider herself desperately unlucky to have lost out at the section stage. Letham, section winner Margaret Johnston from Northern Ireland, and South Africa's Lorna Trigwell, all finished with three wins from their four matches, but it was Johnston and Trigwell who moved through to the knockout stages with a better shots differential than Margaret Letham. The Scot paid dearly for a 21-11 defeat at the hands of arch rival Johnston.
In the women's pairs Margaret Russell and Joyce Lindores won three of their four section matches, beating Zambia, Brunei and Norfolk Island and lost only 17-16 to Jersey, but they never got going in their quarter final clash against South Africa, bowling out tamely 21-5. The South African pair, Ellen Cawker and Jill Hackland, went on to the final but had to settle for the silver medal behind Kiwi pair Sharon Sims and Joanna Edwards, who recovered after a slow start to win 22-12.
Scotland's
men's fours team, David Peacock, Gary Mackie, Willie Wood and Graeme Archer,
failed to make it to the knockout stages after a win, a draw and a defeat in
their three section games. They got off to a bad start even before a bowl had
been thrown in earnest, with Willie Wood lambasting the decision not to give him
the honour of carrying the Scottish flag at the opening ceremony and whether the
subsequent furore upset the harmony in the side is a matter for conjecture.
However, all they had to show for their efforts was an 18-16 win over Fiji,
where they counted a last end seven, a 14-14 draw with Brunei and a 19-7 defeat
from South Africa - results that left South Africa and Fiji to qualify from
their section.
England went on to take their first bowls gold medal in the men's events since David Bryant at Edmonton in 1978, when John Ottaway, Simon Skelton, Robert Newman and David Holt led from the opening end before finishing comfortable 22-8 winners over South Africa's Duanne Abrahams, Theuns Fraser, Kevin Campbell and Neil Burkett. With fewer entries in the women's fours, the sides were split into just two sections, leaving Scotland with seven matches of which they won four. They beat Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Brunei and lost to Wales, England and Norfolk Island, but still made it through to the knockout quarter final stages.
That, though, is where it ended for Sandra Steven, Betty Forsyth, Joyce Dickey and Sarah Gourlay, when they lost out 18-13 to New Zealand. England's Ellen Alexander, Shirley Paige, Gill Mitchell and Carol Duckworth struck gold when they beat Canada's Shirley Fitzpatrick-Wong, Andrea Weigand, Melissa Ranger and Anita Nevala 17-6.
In
the blind singles, Scottish hopes rested with Judith Marshall, but she just
failed to qualify from her section, winning two of her four matches. She edged
out South Africa 15-14, and New Zealand 15-11, but never really recovered from
an early 15-2 defeat from Zimbabwe's Constance Sibanda, who went through to a
final clash with England's Ruth Small. It was Sibanda's turn to be on the
receiving end in the final, failing to score as Small coasted to a 15-0 win.