Let me give you the gun needed to kill Disrespect, which is slowly killing Lawn Bowls and Lawn Bowls Clubs. As culture changes with new generations and new technology creating a society of total disrespect, so also does this disrespect affect our sport and fellow player. What we accept in daily life results in changes of our more agreeable character strength. A sincere respect for others..
First lets understand why the recent "Lost of Respect" in society has reached the point where the U.S President attacks and name calling of individuals as well as disrespect attacks on countries and allies is acceptable. Today, with our computers and cellphones,we are at a distance from the individual behind them. On a bus everyone is with their phones and like reading a newspaper or watching TV, it does not concern other around them. But it does, because as it is introduced into our society and daily life it also bleeds into our the sports. We see more acceptance of really bad disrespect of rules, laws and other individuals.
In this week World Cup Soccer play, we saw a "Red Card" was given to a player for putting his hand over his mouth. He was expelled from the game (or the next game) and could have been expelled from the complete tournament. WHY ?. Because it is ok to swear, insult and attack others, as long as you are not caught. It is ok to rob a Bank as long as you are not caught. In Lawn Bowls where we has rules (much like laws) and controlling individuals like umpires (much like Police) and club executives we do or say things, and accept similar things which are now becoming acceptable in our daily life... If we are not caught.
My wife uses the computer to play Scrabble and when I saw 5 games of scrabble on her gaming website, I asked "Why 5 ?" to which she replied "I have had as many as 10 waiting to be played. She explained that sometimes she will wait several days for a player to make a move. Disrespect to those you're playing with. I play Domino late at night and often someone of the 4 players to a game has moved and then gone off to do something else. We sit and wait for several minutes for them to move. Disrespect for us waiting and for the game administrators as when the game is over and we have all left the table; those individuals are still sitting at the table 10 ro 20 minutes afterward because they are away from the game..
Last year while coaching a Novice doing her first Novice Single Finals I was not aware that the Provincial Federation President and the Provincial Chief Umpire sitting within a few feet of this Novice Player on the mat. They were doing a loud discussion or private conversation and although both of these individuals are elite players and are expected to respect the rules of the game. But their lack of "Respect" for the player on the mat, a unknown novice, directly in front of them; only show that they didn't care how their "Loud conversation" affected her game and performance. Showing their total lack of respect, they felt that their conversation was more important which I believe is a common change happening in society, A change, which if allowed toward our sport and toward our fellow players, will lead to the lost of membership and clubs in our sport.
. In the photo (right) from "Youtube video " of the New Zealand Regional Single's Final, where are the spectators. A lot of empty seats behind the two players (Look down at the 2nd photo (below) or check out the video (of that screen capture) and see all the people presence but off to the left and right of game play.
When after the game, this Novice explained the problem I explained that although they were provincial exectives deserving of respect; she should have confronted them. How ?.. (Take her Bowls Gun and Blast them. What Bowl's Gun ? Answer - "The Mat" When a player leaves the "Mat" for a problem it draws everyone attention. Bang, Bang look here at what is happening).
Because a player has only 2 minutes to perform their delivery and if in stepping off the mat, because of a distraction. the time limit is exceeded; the player or their coach should also expect an extension of the game time limit. (Often I now use a timer at such times) I explained to my Novice that she should always expect that the game officials and club executives will address the problem. This week at that same club, I noticed that the spectator benches were now not 2 feet by 3 meters behind the rinks.
I explained to her that she should have step off the mat, turned directly to them and waited until they stop talking and then return to the mat and did her best delivery. I explained that if the game umpire saw her standing there, it would be the responsibility of the umpire to come over and address the two individuals and warn them that they could be requested to move or leave. Yes the Game Umpire is expected to do that.
The "Mat" is the Gun to kill "Disrespect" In our game, as new members learn the rules of play; they certainly also see a total lack of respect when certain things happen by fellow players or by club members. Do you think that their opinion of our club and our sport also receives a lacking grade of respect ? Certainly with them being proud individuals I am afraid that they would seek out another sport the following year. It is the same if sitting at a table with an individual who is always using foul language (Fuck, Shit etc) and we eventually get up and move to avoid those people. Did my use of those two words caused a reaction in You; yes, so also an incident of disrespect on the green causes a reaction and opinion of our new members to our sport or club.
The rules of the game of Lawn Bowls request that the club executives and game officials (club and umpires) not allow spectators within 3 meters of the boundries of the game in play or the mat's location, and that all players respect the player who is on the mat in the middle of a performance. Even players who are on neighbouring rink, but in the Line of Delivery of a player on the neighbouring rink is expected to not move. When you are on the mat and your delivery is interrupted by something you should step of the mat and redo your Pre-Mat preparations.(check bias, decide on weight, placement of feet on the mat..etc),
Very often the skip is giving instructions to a player while they are doing their delivery. This lack of respect by skips is the same as a player having done a good delivery and moved the jack to give their team a point or two not seeing the skip gives no indication of a "Great Shot". (if not verbal then with a sign of point gained or body language)
Yesterday while travelling home I was told of an incident where the skip was talking to their players between ends of play and a player from the neighbouring rink (or green) came over to their rink and said "Would you two stop talking so much", I explained that this individual is a winter curler who bowls during the summer and expect the same rules of respect that applied in Curling to also apply in Bowls. Actually both games have this rule of Respect.
However, I believe that in the sport of "Curling' it is the club or rink administration that is addressing this problem. Probably warn the individual of removal from the club or refused membership in the following year. In Lawn Bowls the game rules expect the umpire to address this problem. However, the problem is two sided as the individuals should have notice the player was on their mat.
In another sport , Petanque, because France wants the sport of Petanque to be included as a demonstrattion sport in the next Oylmopic in Paris, they have introduced the Red, Yellow and Green cards. (Green is used for a stop timer). Maybe we will see it in Bowls... Like stepping of the Mat which everyone sees and judges the offence, so also the umpire giving a card to a player will indicate what warning applied and what had been said to the player. Often we have no idea what the umpire said to a player.
Because in this incident of a "Club Invitation Tournament"; there were a lot of newer players doing their first year of club game play and them not knowing about what is expected by experience lawn bowler. If they had been told in their coaching I am sure they may have done things differently as to not be a distraction. Also the clubs need to build this education as a part of their bowl's education.
However, the method and words of the offended player also show a lack of respect. The player probably indicated how the distraction caused a lack of concentration or focus. Competitions are meant to teach us what we are lacking and with our next practice, we can work to correct those problems. Also, that individual should have stepped off the mat and waited or looked at the offence.
As an example, this year, because I had not done competition for several years, I discovered my mind wander to sounds. a bowl pick-up device metal click behind me, a long voice on the neighbouring green. for one week in my daily life when I was interrupted I stop (walking, or what ever I was doing) and re-did my thoughts. This was my week of training to stop my delivery and step off the mat with a distraction. It was hard and strange but it worked and the following week I did the Provincal Singles the best and performed well.

























