Prior to 1963 separate championships titled All-Ireland were held in Ulster and Munster. Although, strictly speaking, they were not All-Ireland titles as understood today - winning players were granted the title All-Ireland Champion.
In 1963 the two codes got together for the first open All-Ireland Road Bowling Championships.
The basic premise is the same as golf, but with the subtle difference that:
• Billions of dollars have not been wasted trying to improve the game,
• You don't go around trying to hit a small defenseless ball with a stick,
• No holes are cut into perfectly good grass,
• THERE CAN BE ANY NUMBER OF “NINETEENTH HOLES,”
• And, it can be a lot more exciting to watch.
It is not as easy as it sounds however. When the ball chooses to take a bad bounce and go off the road, it still must be retrieved. Retrieval is hazardous since there is usually a cold flowing stream adjacent to a portion of the course, or soft ditches where one can easily sink to the knees are all along the route. But the most dreaded difficulty along some courses is a very soft and juicy barn lot whose mud contains a toxic percentage level of bovine excrement while guarded by a 1500 pound Black Angus bull. Some of the local farmers consider it fair game to let the cattle wander a little when the roads are so quiet.
You don't have to be a he-man to be good either - one of the best bowlers is a 90 pound-soaking-wet sophomore.
