Betting and road bowling go hand in hand at a social and sporting occasion in rural County Cork.
Forty six year old Tedser Murphy, twice an all Ireland road bowling finalist, is challenged by rising star Denis Scully who is eighteen years old.
Both men will throw a 28 ounce metal ball over a distance of two miles, and the man with the least number of throws wins.
Gamblers enjoy a bet on road bowling. A stake is raised before the play, which can go as high as three hundred pounds per player. Betting also continues throughout the contest, which is one of the attractions of road bowling.
Anyone can get a piece of the action any time they want.
Bowling draws huge crowds to the country lanes of Cork and Armagh, where it is most popular, but it is now being played in rural parts of Limerick and Waterford also.
Spectators and players have their own bowling language - a game is called a 'score’, a ‘cover’ is the distance a bowl is lofted before it hits the road, and a ‘pudding’ is a bad throw.
The rules of this well organised sport are enforced by referees. Despite the amount of cash that changes hands, disputes are rare,
There’s a feeling of fellowship between followers and participants.
Anyone injured at a match must pay their own hospital bill, but Ból Chumann na hÉireann (the association for Road Bowling in Ireland) insures against damage to cars, houses, or someone struck while standing in their own garden.
If you attend the score, it’s your own business to avoid injury.
This episode of ‘Newsbeat’ was broadcast on 13 February 1968. The reporter is Bill O’Herlihy.
'Newsbeat' was a half-hour feature programme presented by Frank Hall and ran for seven years from September 1964 to June 1971. 'Newsbeat' went out from Monday to Friday on RTÉ television and reported on current affairs and issues of local interest from around Ireland. The final programme was broadcast on 11 June 1971.
