Road bowling in Ireland needs more meaningful competitions

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE: Young boys enjoy a game of road bowling in an Irish country lane in the 1940s. We are still using the same blueprint for our national bowling championships as we did in 1954. Pic: Three Lions/Getty Images

Ireland in 1954 was a very different place to the Ireland of today, yet we are still using the same blueprint to conduct our national bowling championships.

Rural electrification was more or less where the national broadband rollout is today. Bowling itself was primarily played on roads that were not tarred. The emergence of the new hard surfaced super-highways, to many afficionados, seemed certain to end road bowling. It survived and thrived of course and went through a new golden age, the age of Mick Barry. He in his way did for bowling in Ireland what Tiger Woods did for golf globally.