The bowler clutched the metal ball and eyed his mark, a clump of grass, and studied the surface of the tarmac and the bend in the road ahead.<\/p>\n
The crowd lining the ditch went silent, some praying for a good shot, others betting on a misfire. In an adjacent field, ponies munched on grass, oblivious to the tension.<\/p>\n
The bowler bounded forward and unleashed a blur of motion: 737 grams (26oz) of solid iron hurtled past the spectators, hit the tarmac with a sharp clack and sailed on up the road. A perfect shot. A cheer erupted, startling crows from trees.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the King and Queen of the Roads, an annual tournament in the Irish village of Ballincurrig that is the equivalent of Wimbledon for the ancient sport of road bowling.<\/p>\n
In road – or lane – bowling, players hurl a heavy iron ball down country lanes.
Photograph: Johnny Savage\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
It is no longer played with cannon balls, but the rules have remained largely unchanged for centuries: players take turns throwing a bowl along a 2km stretch of rural road and whoever reaches the finish line with the fewest throws \u2013 usually about 17 \u2013 wins.<\/p>\n
The three-day tournament that concluded on Sunday, however, showcased some radical innovations that have underpinned a revival<\/a>. It featured players and TV crews from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands and was livestreamed to a global audience that has turned the sport into a viral sensation that attracts podcasters and celebrities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re experiencing an upsurge, especially among young people,\u201d said S\u00e9amus \u00d3 Tuama, a member of the organising committee in Ballincurrig, in east county Cork. The Covid pandemic boosted popularity \u2013 the sport had few lockdown restrictions \u2013 and social media then turbocharged the appeal, said \u00d3 Tuama. \u201cTikTok and Instagram have had a big impact. Plus drones supply aerial footage that makes it more exciting to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n Spectators celebrate a player\u2019s throw at a bowling festival in Midleton, County Cork. Photograph: Johnny Savage\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It is a remarkable turnaround for a sport that once united all classes in Ireland <\/a>before declining in the 20th century, leaving just a handful of communities in Cork and County Armagh to sustain the tradition. \u201cThere was a sense of inferiority complex, that it was for men with flat caps,\u201d said \u00d3 Tuama.<\/p>\n This weekend, the 40th festival drew hundreds of people to Ballincurrig as well as thousands of online spectators and top players from European countries with their own bowling traditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most iconic tournament,\u201d said Silke Tulk, a Dutch champion who has won eight Queen of the Roads titles. \u201cIt\u2019s our Wimbledon. You feel the crowd\u2019s energy out here on the roads just as you would in a stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n Anke Kl\u00f6pper, 33, a German champion, nursed hopes of beating Tulk and Ireland\u2019s best female player, Kelly Mallon. \u201cIt\u2019s my dream to be Queen of the Roads.\u201d An Italian contingent from Umbria, making its first appearance at the tournament, was awed. \u201cBeautiful,\u201d beamed Marcelo Carloni.<\/p>\n The US actor Bill Murray<\/a> made his road bowling debut in a visit to Ballincurrig last week \u2013 too early for the tournament, but he reportedly respected another tradition by buying a round in Smart\u2019s bar.<\/p>\n Facebook group Road Bowls in Ireland film the spectacle from the top of a cherrypicker. Photograph: Johnny Savage\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Other celebrities have tuned in online via the live feeds of people such as Michelle Smith and Eamonn Bowen, who run the Facebook group Road Bowls in Ireland<\/a>, which has 129,000 followers and has amassed 59m page views this year.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to This is Europe<\/p>\n The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans \u2013 from identity to economics to the environment<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The pair started livestreaming in 2017, giving expert, rapidfire commentary. They and have built a devoted following among Ireland\u2019s diaspora and new converts to the sport. They covered much of the tournament from the platform of a cherrypicker that trundled behind the action.<\/p>\n The sport is amateur, but a lively sideline in gambling raises the stakes. Some tournaments generate hundreds of thousands of euros in bets.<\/p>\n Players need fitness and skill as well as strong nerves to play in front of crowds. Photograph: Johnny Savage\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cA player needs fitness and skill and good nerves, especially if he knows his followers have \u20ac50,000 riding on him winning,\u201d said Gerard McVeigh, 74, a veteran bowler from Armagh. The days of spectators betting only on their own side are gone, said Malachy Donnelly, 66. \u201cNow you back the one that you think is going to win.\u201d<\/p>\n For all the modern innovations, the sport\u2019s core appeal remains tradition, said Ronan McClelland, a 31-year-old competitor. \u201cIt\u2019s bred into you.\u201d In keeping with his Armagh heritage, McClelland used an underarm throw, versus the rotating overarm technique favoured by Cork players.<\/p>\n Assistants called \u201croad showers\u201d act like golf caddies by advising bowlers on throws and angles. They also mimic tees by standing in the road as targets for bowlers to aim at \u2013 a job that requires nimble footwork to evade the ball.<\/p>\n Competitors build strength by swimming or cycling or using resistance bands but the key quality is mental toughness. \u201cEveryone staring at you, and you don\u2019t want to let them down,\u201d said PJ Cooney, 53, a veteran champion. \u201cThe best sport in the world when you win, the loneliest when you lose,\u201d said Cormac Gribben, 33.<\/p>\n Bill Daly, 68, who won the first King of the Road tournament in 1985, said he loves that foreigners now compete for the crown, and that people across the world tune in, but that at heart the game remained unchanged. \u201cIt\u2019s the same magic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bowler clutched the metal ball and eyed his mark, a clump of grass, and studied the surface…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-35992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}