Western Sydney club launches Australian grass bowling talent

Never a runner or a sprinter, Carl Healey has always loved the sport, so when he took his uncle’s advice to play lawn bowling in 2000, he found his calling and never looked back.

Key points:

• Several Australian team representatives call Cabramatta Bowling Club home
• The club says its success is due to its facilities, professional culture and retention of senior players and staff
• The bowling club faces an uncertain future with an aging member base

More than 20 years later, Healey represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

“If you take something, and you’re pretty good at it and you have support, you’re more likely to move on,” Healey says.

Carl Healey will represent Australia in grass bowling at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. (Provided: Commonwealth Games Australia)

Looking to take his game to another level, Healey joined the competitive Cabramatta Bowling Club in 2014, the home of a number of state and national representatives.

“When you compete with top-class quality all the time, it makes your game better,” Healey said.

He is one of four members of the Cabramatta Bowling Club, or Cabra Bowl, that will compete in the Olympics.

Ellen Ryan and Aaron Wilson are club bowlers who also play for Australia, while Carmen Anderson will represent Norfolk Island.

Three coaches on the Australian team also came from the club including head coach Gary Willis, assistant coach Karen Murphy and bowls coach Ellen Falkner.

Bowls club executive manager Michael Ibbotson said competitive players wanted to join Cabramatta because it invested in a professional culture.

It also makes efforts to retain elite players and coaching staff at the club.

“Our high-level players have been here for some time so we have the opportunity to improve,” said Ibbotson.

“We have high performance expectations in sport. The level of professionalism is very important.”

Some Commonwealth Games athletes call the Cabramatta Bowling Club home. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)

The national governing body of the Australian Bowls also notes the club’s success.

Participation and programs general manager Chris Wallace said having a national-level coach was a major attraction for good quality players.

“If you go back through the state competitions, you’ll see the Cabramatta players strewn all over the honors list,” Wallace said.

“Attracting good quality players and a good coach will always help attract other players.”

One advantage the club can be proud of is the covered bowling alley which means they can say the bowl is always on.

Cabramatta Bowling Club offers bowling fields that are sheltered from inclement weather.(ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)

“Weather is a factor with outdoor sports, we want to keep the surface clean,” says Ibbotson.

“It really helps us to always be able to give something to our bowlers. They can show up and they can train or play whenever they want.”

Challenging future

Sydney’s oldest club, Balmain Bowling Club, merged with St Johns Bowling Club in 2020 after high maintenance costs and fees pushed the club towards closure.

Balmain is a symbol of the problems facing the club, despite the professional success of Australian athletes and the popularity of the social barefoot bowl.

Michael Ibbotson of Cabramatta says the key is leaning on community connections and engaging people at a younger age.

“If you talk to almost all bowlers, they all wish they had started early,” Ibbotson said.

The club, based in Sydney’s multicultural west, is also looking to the future with initiatives to recruit people from more diverse backgrounds.

Community connection is key to Cabramatta Bowling Club.(ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)

Chris Wallace of Bowls Australia said a generational shift saw club facilities move to retirement villages, where older bases could live and be near the green at the expense of community clubs.

Mr Wallace said community clubs need to move with time and adapt to changing participation.

“The commercial reality of today’s recreational landscape is that you need a strong board and good governance within the club,” Wallace said.

The aging grass bowler demographic is a challenge for the club. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)

Carl Healey says sports marketing needs to focus on the fact that lawn bowling is a sport you don’t have to be too fit to play.

“The whole thing is trying to get your bowl closer to the jack on the other end,” Healey says.

“No matter what level you are in life, you can always play grass bowling.”

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