An unconventional sport brings together thousands of spectators every year to observe athletes to throw iron balls against lawn tufts.
The Ballincurrig road in Cork, Ireland is the scene of an annual competition of a bizarre sport.
It’s bowling, but it’s not in salon. It’s a wilder bowling: we talk about road bowlingo “road bowling“, Where 794 grams iron balls are projected below, having as target a tuft of grassthe “SOP”, installed in the tar.
If the ball comes out of the 2 km road, the move counts, but it has to be resumed from this point, explains the. The conventional street, used daily by the local community as a simple road, becomes in October, for 40 years, in a real stadium, with up to 5,000 people to meet in the small town to observe the athletes’ matches.
Tradition is already part of Cork’s culture, and Seamus Ouma, founding member of the tournament, recalls the first edition of the tournament, which has 4 decades. “We talked to two famous players of the time, Bill Daly and Harry Toal during the national final. We invite them to play here on October holiday. We never thought it lasted more than one weekend. We just wanted something special“.
“It was new to East Cork; we had never seen Ulster men on our roads,” he recalls Ouma. “Thousands came. The first year went to the second … And here we are, 40 years later.”
The event even became usual, and now brings together thousands on a day that brings together sports to local tradition.
