the death of ten pin bowling!!!!!!

piequat said:
Well i'd have to say the one thing that sticks out for me is media coverage, or lack thereof.
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Yes, thats true, anything to do with tenpin bowlind is simply ignored by the media, against popular opinion (at this site at least), the game simply is not popular enough, it is percieved by the Mr and Mrs joe Average as nothing more than a social activity, you would be hard pressed to find someone off the street who has never bowled league to consider the game as a sport.

The limited media exposure the game does get, is generated by T.V commercials advertising for school holidays, the thing which stands out for me about these commercials is how the game is portrayed...........it's basically a cartoon, animated pins shaking in fear of a animated ball, a lane board comes loose and catapults the ball into the pins...................hardly appealing, how can the serious or not so serious sportman consider the game as a competition sport, is it any wonder the game is not considered a legitimate sport by the general public of Australia?

The commercial T.V stations and the ABC have broadcast Tenpin bowling on a number of different occassions over the last 3 decades, all with the same result. Not enough veiwers tuned in to watch, if your a non-bowler, watching bowling on T.V isn't very appealing, in fact it is extremely boring, but that could be said about a lot of sports shown on t.V which do indeed prove to be popular veiwing for the non-competitor..........for example Golf or Lawn bowls, not exactly riveting T.V, however very popular.
What about motor racing, cars going around in circles, not very exciting again, yet very popular on T.V..maybe everyone is waiting for the big pile up?

Simply put, Tenpin bowling has a image problem with the average Australian, how do you change the image of a game? What's needed?, what about what Kerry Packer did for the boring game of 5 day test cricket? Changed it completely!
 
"Tackle Tenpin" - similar to Mugby but will prove highly popular with TV viewers.

If you want bowling to be on TV it has to be exciting and have "showmen" on it. Bowlers getting excited. A Pete Webber or Brian Voss.
 
Easy Tiger said:
"Tackle Tenpin" - similar to Mugby but will prove highly popular with TV viewers.
If you want bowling to be on TV it has to be exciting and have "showmen" on it. Bowlers getting excited. A Pete Webber or Brian Voss.
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Excellent idea, Tiger.................I'd tune in to watch tackle tenpin......LOL

Those commentators, Chris Bombalas and the lady bowler, who's name escapes me.....................talk about boring, their commentary is the pinnacle of boredom.............:(

Gail Torrens has been around for a few years now and she is really woking hard to enhance the game, to bring about a well overdue change to the game of tenpin.....................however throwing good money after bad is not going to fix the problem.
The problem, as I see it, is a image problem which is growing worse and worse every year...........I've been involved in the bowling industry in every facet, both here and overseas for around 30 years, I have retired from active duties, however I am still closely associated with the bowling industry in Queensland, there is no doubt in my mind that 2005 was the worst year to date for bowling centres that I am familiar with.

IMO funds should be funneled towards changing the projected image of the game in Australia, once that is achieved, you won't have to try and buy bowlers......the funding situation at the moment is a "catch 22"

Somebody said..............Cheer up, enjoy the sport and the sport will also be happy................wishfull thinking indeed!!! Why don't we all just ask our fairy godmother to make bowling popular again.........:rolleyes: ............LOL
 
i have researched alcohol served in bowling alleys a little and here are my findings

1) correct me if iam wrong but the only place i know that serves alcohol at an alley is ACT

2) alcohol is classed as a drug, its just legal, so according to the anti doping rules, said alcohol should not be consumed before or during a league/tournament

3) according to the australian sports drug agency, which the tba follows, said alcohol is banned in most sports, iam not sure weather this applys to bowling

but quoting the adsa
"Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that slows down the actions of the brain and body. Combining alcohol with other drugs can magnify the effects of alcohol or of drugs administered at the same time. Some sports prohibit alcohol because it may be detrimental to athletic performance and/or may be considered a safety hazard."

according to this i believe said alchohol is banned, or if it isnt should
 
Bowler_X said:
i have researched alcohol served in bowling alleys a little and here are my findings
1) correct me if iam wrong but the only place i know that serves alcohol at an alley is ACT
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Every bowling centre I know of in Brisbane, Queensland, serves alcohol. I have worked at 2 that currently do.
 
Out of the 6 closest centres to my home, all 6 have a license to sell alcohol, the only difference is some are more restricted than others as far as the rules are concerned which govern their license.

That's interetsing, league bowlers could be contravening the rules if they consume alcohol during or before competition.........I wonder if the authorities are aware? who' should be enforcing these rules?
 
i m sorry to say but bowling is dead, gone and bowling centres will soon end up like pool halls. Bowlers no longer have a say in the way a centre is run. It all comes down to money. There is no money in league or tournament play for a bowling centre, social play is where he money is and centres aren't cheap to run.

Give a centre a choice of whether to run a tournament for a weekend at 4 dollars a game or have social play all weekend at 9-10 dollars a game I know what i would choose.

Yes bowling is exciting to watch from a bowlers point of view and yes I could probably watch it forever but from the public's point of view it is boring. Lawn bowls gets on T.V. but is tucked up on the ABC at 5pm on a saturday or Sunday where no-one knows about it.

Now to the other thing about scoring. If you can prove to me that lanes bowling equipment are not the main contributors the level of scoring in our sport then you have rocks in your head. Ditched lane conditions and Reactive balls are a sure fire way of getting averages into the 230-240 range. The last Melb Cup I bowled I was bowling 3 games a week for league and shot a 212 average for the tournament. Only god know what i would have shot had i practiced 50 games a week (if anyone could afford it at current prices).

The sport these days has been ruined by whinging bowlers that couldn't throw on challenging lane conditions that then in turn created ditches where any idiot that could throw within a 10 board area could score a million.

Lets go back to 33ft lane patterns and a polyester bowling balls and bring the talent and skill back into the game.

Thats my 2 cents worth

Matthew Lambrick
 
None of the suggestions made here can be implemented without money.

Our National body is basically underfunded because of its pitiful membership structure.

If 20,000 people walked into Centres and joined a league tomorrow and signed up and paid their registration fees, not one dollar from those twenty thousand people would go to the National Body.

A little more courage from our National Board might at least help the situation.


(Sorry - pet subject - I'll go away now)
 
Good post Resurrection...............your knowledge of the bowling centre operation and the tenpin industry in general, is obvious.
Lawn bowls is on channel 2 between 5 and 6 on a Saturday evening, the shear fact that you are able to recall when it's shown on T.V points to the popularety of the game.

It is not humanely possible to prove the fact that computerised lane maintenace machinery and the technological advances of the bowling ball has not significantly increased scores and averages.............it's a fact not fiction!!
No successful bowling centre operation of today can possibly afford to operate without a top of the range $50,000 + lane machine and continue to attract league bowlers, which is why league bowling will eventually be basically non-exsistent in the near future................the average bowling centre cannot afford to satisfy the whim of the league bowler, when their numbers are so pitiful.

The number of centres who have switched their marketing and promotion target to concentrate on attracting social bowlers has and continues to increase annually...................if league bowling numbers do not improve in the near future, league bowling will go the same way as the dinosaurs.

It's quite obvious that the Tenpin industry has shifted course............bumpa bowling, cosmic bowling, flashing lights, loud music, glow pins, glow balls, glow evrything, alcohol and varying degrees of changes to the game, i.e highway 66, have all contributed towards the game being veiwed as a entertaining social activity, not at all associated with a sport or a sporting game.

One only needs to look at the graph of Tenpin membership numbers with the graph of honour scores (if you can call them that) the huge spike in scores has coincided with a dramatic drop in league numbers, worldwide!!

The governing authorities in Australia, namely the now defunct ATBC put a knife into game more than 20 years ago, instead of channeling money towards improving the sport through better marketing and promotional ideas theY recklessly threw money around like there was no tomorrow................unfortunately tomorrow has arrived and the game/sport is not prepared for it.

If you can remember the board members of the old ATBC, you will know what I mean, they dressed like they were admirals in the royal navy, they took holidays on bowlers membership fees, they flew all over Australia and the world, supposably on business, hired luxurious cars, stayed in 5 star hotels and resorts ate at the finest restaurants and to cap it off...............achieved NOTHING but negative results. There conduct was the beginning of the end of tenpin bowling.

Tenpin bowling............RIP
 
There has been a lot of talk about alcohol being available in centers, this is fine - they are licensed to serve. What they really need (controversially) is an are set aside full of pokies !!! - turn the centers into a club affair ! Look at the centers in the US - particularly Nevada, massive 70+ lane centers full of the most up to date equipment, $1 games, great big $$ tourns, and a floor full of pokies !!, How many sporting clubs do you know who don't have a gaming room ?... Maybe with this money generating facility, the clubs (I call them clubs now), would have the $ to sponsor TV covered events like the old Coke Classic - This incidentally would require in the order of $150,000 to gain TV coverage again.. Not a great deal of money in reality !
 
Alcohol and tenpin bowling goes hand in hand, if the bowling centres in the U.S didn't serve alcohol, there would be a massive revolt.................so the serving of alcohol is ceratianly not a considerable factor in the demise of tenpin bowling in the U.S...................is Austarlia any different, I wouldn't think so, we are becoming more and more Amercanized every year.

However, don't be fooled, there has and there continues to be a massive decline in the number of lane beds in American bowling centres, there have been many centres in America who have closed down...................bowling isn't exactly gaining momentum in the states.

Castaways (showboat) with 106 lanes closed it's doors for the last time on the 11/1/06, the biggest centre before that was "Edison lanes" with a 112 lanes in a row.
Out of interest, the biggest in a row centre currently in America is "Freeway lanes" with 96 lanes in a row under the one roof span, there are bigger operating centres both in Japan and America but they have roof support posts between the lanes.
The Hilton in Reno from memory is the largest operating centre in the states, at the moment, further from memory, Japan has a centre with 156 lanes in a row, but it may have been reduced to 120.

I personally helped rebuild 12 machines and install 12 lanes into a centre in Austarlia in the 80's, these lanes came directly from Japan.........amazingly some of the machines had lane numbers in the range of 300+, it was reported they were removed from a 5 story centre in Japan after the bowling scene had burst in that country. I was told that the japanese mechanics had motorised scooters to zoom up and down the back aisle to answer trouble calls and there was a lift at the back of the centre exclusively for the use of the mechanics to go from level to the next.

Lane maintenace alone, was a full time job in these big centres, by the time the lane crew had completed morning lane maintenance, it was time to do the afternoon lane maintenace.......LOL ...........but that was back in the days when the oil was applied to the laquer topcoated lanes directly by a atomised spray bottle and simply dragged back down the lane towards the foul line.

Lane conditions may have possibley had a negative impact on bowling popularety, tenpin bowling was certainly more popular and I might add more enjoyable in the days before computerised machines took over the job of appling and the removing the lane oil.

Showboat, imploded............ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060111-0809-nv-casinoimplosion.html
 
Hi Everyone

This topic has really got me thinking the last day,And I see a few people saying how we should turn back time and bring back polyesters and 33ft of oil, now I think alot of us would like to turn back time on a few other non bowling related things such as cars, alot of us would like to turn back something on it:) But in my opinion I think turning the clock back and bringing polyesters and the 33ft of oil would be one of the worst things u could do for the sport,The world today is moving forward every single day and the younger genration are turning more towards computers and electronic games which I think is the cause of alot of sports losing the popularity,why get off ur arse and go play bowling at a centre, when u can sit at home bowl any where in the world and have a better chance of geting that magic 300 or winning the big tournements with the pros,And that is why the people in the world are becoming FAT and LAZY every single day,I think we need to turn the clock forward not back and intruduce the future in to bowling scene.Maybe its time for something NEW in bowling .Banning reactives another bad idea, to make that ball re-act we the people have to
1st line up throw that ball a certain way to make it re-act properly, Now alot of people would miss watching the crankers throwing the ball with all those revs and coast to coasting it.
 
You have some excellent points in that post, John..........we can't turn back time nor shold we try and turn back time..............neverless looking back at the past can sometimes be a pointer to the future..........look at how some thing have gone the full circle!!

Banning anything that is currently available is most definetly going to be hugely negative, however we should certainly be looking at restricting new equipment and most definetly putting a condition on the lanes which doesn't assist the bowler in getting the ball to the pocket. What ever the reason you think has affected bowling popularity, something must be done to make scoring a perfect game a little more difficult or challenging than what it is now, in its current format.

Maybe a shift or change in the scoring format, maybe make a game of tenpins, 20 frames long, there is plenty of possibilities to choose from without making any dramtic changes to the lanes, machinery and the bowlers equipment, which will both keep the cost down of implementing such changes and gain approval from the bowling centre operators who approval and help will be neccessary to implement said changes.
 
i enjoy todays high scoring because the person who loses is going to be the one that screws up by missing that spare or strike
it keeps it exciting and on the edge of your seat.
all we need now is more interest in the sport
to anyone that says bring back 33ft oil patterns and plastics, that is the most insanely idiotic thing ive ever heard
 
Hey Brunswick Tech, that 12 lane instillation of ex Japan gear wouldn't have been Mt Gambier back in 1980 by any chance?
 
Getting back to the original topic about things that could improve the sport would be getting rid of those people that like to talk crap about the sport and put it down because it is so "easy". I dont believe that this kind of attitude is helping the sport any.
Just my two cents.[/QUOTE]

Like anything in life you must look at the negatives and well as the positives to help the sport grow. On a personal level I am doing something about it. Im a P.R. Manager at a large bowling centre working for little pay but I love the sport and have scarficed a high paying job to help fix the problem. I represented the sport at all levels of the game so my opinion is certainly not unfounded. I do more than play the game. What ruins the sport is know it alls that dont listen to a good opinion even if you dont agree, I have the experience and the knowledge to know alittle about the game.
The attitude of getting rid of people in the first place goes against what we are all trying to achieve, we need all the peolpe we can get. We shouldnt discourage people because you dont agree with them. Any input is good input.
 
All the comments are great on here but remember that bowling is very much different to other sports.The bowling centres are in business to make money not promote the sport. They will go and promote that which is profitable. The sport of bowling has a governing body, first the ATBC and now the TBA who do very little for the game. They as has been stated before have paid holidays at our expense. We need a PBA in this country that is made up of bowlers who want to promote the game. These people will need to market and promote ,organise tournaments gain sponsorship and get television coverage. It will be a hard job but if someone starts this thing then we may save the sport.
 
I certainly agree with the last post. Bowlers that arent involved with the financial side of bowling would not be aware of just how serious it is getting. There are centres that havent made a profit in years and our associations are barely able to contribute with membership down. This topic has stirred up some people and in response Ive spent some time looking further into the sport on a global basis. Ill tell you straight up there are bowling centres closing all over the shop and the only people that can stop it is us. In these desperate times my centre has $4.50 games (social), thats half what I paid 20 years ago. Its debatable that this was the right decision by management but I tell you we arent the cheapest in town. Where to next two for one.
 
Ten Pin Bowling IS NOT DEAD. It just needs a revival in this country.
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Here are my suggestions for a "revival"...

I would challenge everyone that loves the sport of bowling to recruit 1 friend (not currently in a league) to join their league this year and then talk to them about how difficult bowling really is! Discuss things like oil patterns, pin action, all the stuff that makes our sport tough. If they fall for the sport, perhaps they will tell their friends and they will tell another friend... a dominoe effect. Lets see if we can get the participation rate of league bowlers going up instead of down.

For competitive bowlers, perhaps the revival should be what the USBC (and me in Victoria) are doing and that is Sport Bowling LEAGUES. I am conducting training weekends for Sport bowling in February because, interestingly, the bowlers that participated in January actually "enjoyed" the sport bowling oil patterns that were on the lanes (See Victoria forum for more details). I thought it was going to be a weekend of frustration and "temper tantrums", however, people actually enjoyed the challenge!

Perhaps the revival needs to be in challenging those who want to be challenged and improve, and recruiting those who don't know much about our sport... what do you guys think?

Chris
 
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