Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

    The gladiatorial arena that is the Potters Holiday Park resort in Hopton-on-Sea in Norfolk will see at least one of the above over the next week.

    Yes, the World Indoor Bowls is back on! Every year, I forget about this, and every year, it pops back up on the BBC schedules like an old friend. I know mumpo will be sliding his slippers on and sitting down with a cup of warm vimto.

    Pairs final this afternoon kicks off the televised stage - and talk about David v Goliath. Paul Foster and Alex Marshall, who've dominated the singles titles between them in recent years and were last year's (outdoor) Commonwealth Games champions at pairs, against young qualifiers Andy Barker and Michael Stepney.

    The singles event will be what it's all about, though, as the week goes on. The last 16 includes no fewer than 7 former world champions including holder Greg Harlow, but bowls being bowls, some of them are not exactly spring chickens - John Price (who plays Harlow in round two) was champion in 1990, and Andy Thomson, in the other half of the draw, won in 1995. Joint favourites for the singles will be this afternoon's pairs finalists, Marshall and Foster, who've won 8 of the last 13 titles between them but strangely have yet to meet in a final.

    Sadly, my favourite, Devon's own Ian Bond (who I went to school with) is already out.

    #2
    Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

    Well brew up the cocoa and get the cat on your lap, it's quarter-finals day. And what a line up.

    First up, Five-times champion Alex Marshall against 2000 champion and Tim Curry lookalike Robert Weale.

    Then holder Greg Harlow (who appears to have dyed his hair blonde this year, bit of mid-life crisis there Greg?) against Brett Arkley, the only one of the QFists I'm not sure I know anything about.

    This afternoon, a proper legends match between Andy Thomson (champion in 1994 and 1995) and Paul Foster (champion in 1998, 2001 and 2005).

    The finally this evening the only QF between two non-former champions, Mark Royal versus Darren Burnett. Burnett (who bears a not passing resemblance to the fat bloke off the Real Hustle) won the televised UK International Open a couple of years back, so has been knocking on the door of a tilt at the world title.

    Comment


      #3
      Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

      David Bryant is no longer a player, so I stopped watching... until David Gourlay has grey hair.

      Comment


        #4
        Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

        I should chuck my job in and become a bowls expert for a major on-line betting company.

        Alex Marshall and Paul Foster, as I predicted a week ago, will meet in tomorow's final.

        It means between them they'll have won 9 of the last 14 singles titles. Now it's just whether that record becomes 6-3 to Marshall or 5-4.

        Comment


          #5
          Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

          It's back!

          And just to get the bowl rolling on the 2012 championship, last year's finalists, Paul Foster (who did win his 4th world title in a belated update to my last post on this thread) and Alex Marshall, have both gone out in the first round, Foster to an 18-year-old lad from Wales who looked more like 14, called Ross Owen, who played some simply brilliant bowls to beat the world champion - highlights here for those who like this kind of thing.

          Comment


            #6
            Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

            Dispelling any thoughts that bowls is a game for the elderly, the first televised quarter-final is between the spritely John Price, 51, and the positively junior David Gourlay, 45.

            Comment


              #7
              Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

              Ah, how foolish of me. Both of those whippersnappers were of course upstaged by Andy Thomson, 56, who joins an elite list of those to have won 3 world championships.

              £40,000 to the winner. Is that the smallest world championship prize for a sport played by so many people? I wouldn't mind betting there are as many bowls players in the UK as there are tennis players. Probably as many as snooker, too, and their world champion gets about £200k, don't they?

              Comment


                #8
                Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                Rogin the sunlounger fan wrote:
                I wouldn't mind betting there are as many bowls players in the UK as there are tennis players. Probably as many as snooker, too, and their world champion gets about £200k, don't they?
                I think that is one you would lose, Rogin. This research by Sport England has more than double the number of Tennis players compared to Bowlers. Results are just for England, but given the descrepancy between the two, I doubt the Celtic countries will cover the gap.

                N.B. I love the idea of moderate intensity angling. What does that involve, exactly? You celebrate every fish caught with ten star jumps?

                Comment


                  #9
                  Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                  Those figures for bowls appear to be just participants over 65, unless I'm reading it wrong, and bowls is something of the national sport in Scotland, although you're right they do seem to show far more people playing tennis regularly than I'd imagined.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                    I think it's unclear in it's meaning. I think it means all participants at moderate intensity, plus anyone over 65 who plays, regardless of intensity.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                      It comes around again every year so soon! This year's most-eagerly anticipated annual sporting event, the World Indoors Bowls Final, will be between Paul Foster (four-time former champion, bidding to become only the second five-time winner) and Stewart Anderson (playing in his second final after losing the final in 2010).

                      So at least one Scot will be lifting a major trophy tomorrow.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                        This year's version of the world's most anticipated professional sporting contest to be played in Norfolk is on BBC2 in the afternoons this week, just after nap time, leading up to a Sunday final.

                        Almost everyone through to the last 16 so far has won this event at some point in the past, including John Price who won it in 1990. I think it's fair to say this is not a sport (or at least this organisation's version of it) bringing the young talent through. The current version doesn't even have a wiki page.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                          The crowd are going wild.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                              Our new world champion, Darren Burnett, looks remarkably like Mr Tumble, the famous BBC children's entertainer.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                The purity of another sporting event tainted by showbiz razzle-dazzle.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                  That's like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers at the Superbowl, that.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                    The Light Supperbowl?

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                      It's back on this afternoon, for those of us who need to calm down a bit after the Masters snooker. The men's pairs final is up first, featuring the seemingly unbeatable Paul Foster and Alex Marshall (3-time former champions, World and Commonwealth outdoor pairs holders, and 9 indoor singles titles between them) up against Simon Skelton and Robert Paxton. Paxton is a name that is new to me but he has risen to be number 3 seed in the singles, and is from Exeter, so it'll be interesting to see how he gets on this afternoon. The singles follows on for the rest of the week; Marshall and reigning champion [strike]Mr Tumble[/strike] Darren Burnett (who also won the Commonwealth gold outdoors last year) are in the top half of the draw, and Foster and Paxton the top seeds in the bottom half, but most other recent champions and nearly men are all back again, so the tournament will as usual be as familiar as your favourite slippers.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                        It would be remiss of me (because this thread will now lay dormant for the next twelve months) not to point out that Alex Marshall won the singles title for the sixth time, in the end, breaking his own record for most wins. That might come up in a pub quiz, you never know.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                          It's back! BBC2 this week will be all about the bowls. Watch it on i-player if you can't see it live. Highlight this year is the introduction of new quite tight-fitting shirts for the bowlers, which shall we say are not that flattering at all for the players on the rink at the moment, Ireland's Gary Kelly and reigning (and six-time) champion Alex Marshall.

                                          Kelly's making only his second appearance in these championships (and at 26 is one of the youngest men in the draw), but has already caused enough of a stir at home to be the victim of a sectarian arson attack in Ballymoney.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                            Is the pitch still bright blue? If so not watching.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                              Yes, alas. And the players have walk-on music.

                                              Some of them are choosing Burt Bacarach songs.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                                Nicky Brett and Robert Paxton both make their debut in tomorrow's final, having dispatched multiple former champions Alex Marshall and David Gourlay in two extraordinarily tense semi-finals today, both of which went to tie-breaks.

                                                Bowls just cannot more tense than the judges having to mark a second counting (and potentially match-winning or match-saving) bowl from a jack in the ditch. Catch up on i-player if you don't believe me.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Blood, sweat, tears, guts, gore, savagery

                                                  Brett wins, breaks down in tears in his acceptance speech a la Roger Federer.

                                                  £55k for winning! Not to be sniffed at.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X