Barefoot Bowls Launches Successfully in the UK

• By Sam Parton
• In Blog
• May 31, 2015

Barefoot Bowls Launches Successfully in the UK

The 28th May 2015 marked the UK launch of Barefoot Bowls at the iconic Finsbury Square bowling green, slap bang in centre of London. 144 barefoot bowlers descended on to the bowling green for an evening of casual lawn bowls with beer, music and of course lawn bowls.



The launch event event showcased the joint initiative between Barefoot Sports, OpenPlay, Bowls England and Aerobowls to bring lawn bowls to a younger audience. This relaxed format of a notoriously antiquated sport, provided a very positive experiment for Bowls England who are struggling to attract a younger audience to their game. Whilst there are over 5,000 bowling greens across the UK and over 300,000 players, Bowls England faces a huge task trying to challenge perceptions of an ageist sport. The vast majority of attendees had never set foot on a bowling green and were surprised by the simplicity and enjoyability of a game which ought to be so much more accessible than it is.

Aerobowls and Bowls England provided instruction

OpenPlay powered the online booking, registrations and website, whilst Bowls England helped with promotion and Aero Bowls provided all the lawn bowling equipment. The evening was organised and coordinated by Will Goy of Barefoot Sports with teams of four given an hour of bowling time. They were allocated 30 minute slots across six rinks with another 30 minutes to receive professional instruction on technique by Bowls England and Commonwealth Champion, Ellen Faulkner. Overall there were eight rinks spread out across the green, with two practice "activity" rinks for bowlers to receive instructions. Crucially these were located near to the bar provided by Purity Ale and street food stand provided by Mama's Jerk chicken.



Feedback on the event and format has been incredibly positive, with bowling greens all over the UK looking to try out this new, exciting version of the sport. For further information on upcoming events check out www.barefootbowls.co.uk who are also able to run corporate events as well as larger events with suitable bowling greens.



By Sam Parton