Terri Kennard on Bowls Uniform

Bowls uniform is a bit like football uniform – it keeps changing.

There is County uniform, indoors and outdoors. Club uniform indoors and out, Umpires uniform, and then the inevitable wet gear. England Uniform is even more complicated: There is the England kit and then something very different for the British Isles series.

All in all, I think I have single-handedly floated the market of Ikea, as I buy new wardrobes to fill up with my various kit. But once the bowls bug has bitten, you won’t be able to stop yourself from buying all those ‘must have’ bits and pieces which fill up all your available space in that bowls bag that is getting heavier and heavier as time goes on.

 It was the wet gear that flummoxed me the other evening. The league had started out nicely in sunshine, with a few dark clouds threatening to make their presence felt over the moors. Everything was going just dandy, when there were a few spots of rain felt. I stripped off the top layer, consisting of a thick fleece, and rummaged around in my rink side bag for my waterproof top. I managed to get that on quite well just before the heavens opened  – crikey. Then I needed to get the waterproof trousers on over my white trousers. All I can say to you is thank goodness for team mates. In the desperate struggle to get into these leggings I managed to get my left foot stuck down the right leg hole. Hopping around the green looking for someone to cling to, I grabbed hold of our lead. Just as well she has a strong constitution because I thought she would choke with laughter. It took 3 of us to keep me upright and get me sorted out. In the meantime, some wag on the next rink, seeing this fiasco called out – “Hey Kennard, would you do that again I missed it the first time”. Don’t you just love these comedians? Thanks gang.

It is the modern way, that we are wearing trousers and crops and breaking away from the long skirts that had to be checked by kneeling down on the green in front of the Uniform Police at Leamington. But thank goodness we are moving away from the beads and tweeds image of the ‘old school’.

The way we were! (Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/4461092309/)

Mind you, we’ve come on tremendously since these days. I remember a time when there was a rule about wearing earrings. Studs only or sleepers were allowed, nothing dangly, heaven forbid, and 1 single string of pearls was the only thing that you could wear around your neck.

Hats and cravats, and worst of all stockings had to be worn. It was only in the last 6 years that the rule on hats and stockings has been revised. It used to be more of an endurance test in hot weather, rather than a game.

I even remember asking to join a club in my native Essex when I first started bowls (1980), and was told that they would not even consider me, as I was a ‘working girl’. I was having a terrific career in the Police Force in those days, but they still refused my application.

New crop trousers - image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/diongillard/326385060

I love to see the new and vibrant club colours, the crop trousers and the more sporty look than the former drab apparel of the sport. Even if some us do look like beach balls in these new tops, it will, I am sure breath new some life into the sport.

Also by encouraging a younger element into the sport, with the new colours, and more fashionable kit, we are securing the future of bowls for the generations to come.

The major companies dealing with bowls and bowlers are doing their very best to change this flat image of bowls. We need that shot in the arm that was given to Darts a few years ago, and now sees that, as a major event on TV throughout the year.

Bowls, I’m afraid, will not get a showing on prime time TV until we learn to get some excitement into the game. Lets try to make a start. Get the old kit off and the new kit on, and lets get it moving, for the future.

That’s all folks

Signing off,

Terri Kennard