Irish Road Bowling
Road bowling an Irish sport in which competitors attempt to take the fewest throws to propel a metal ball along a predetermined course of country roads. The sport has a long history - it apparently started in ancient Ultster at a time when Ireland had kings, at Eamhain Maca near Armagh, in the county of Cork, Ireland. In the early days, stone balls were used, but nowadays cast-iron balls are preferred.
The standard ball size or "bullet" is 58 mm diameter and 0.8 kg (28 ounce), about the size of a tennis ball. The aim of the competition is to cover a prescribed distance with a set number of throws, thus the basic premise is similar to golf. They follow along a country road course, up to 4 km long, and the fewest throws to cover the distance wins the contest.
You may think that such competitions are casual affairs, but there is a controlling body which have set down the rules and international competitions are held, and there is usually betting on the outcome.
See a video of the Road Bowling being played
Related Sports
- Tenpin Bowling — a player rolls a bowling ball along a wooden or synthetic lane to knock down pins.
- Lawn Bowls — the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty".
- Klootschieten — German sport in which participants throw a ball as far as they can.
- Golf — players use a club to hit balls into a series of holes on a course, using the fewest number of strokes.
- Long Drive — competitions in which players attempt to hit a golf ball the longest distance.
Related Pages
- About the general sports of bowling
- All About Tenpin
- sport in Ireland
- list of all sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
- alphabetical list of unusual sports
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