Nottingham Indoor Bowls Club – Etiquette

House Rules

1. In order to protect the bowling carpet please DO NOT enter the club in your bowling shoes, only change into them once inside the building. If you need to leave the building for any reason please change OUT of your bowling shoes and into your normal footwear.
2. For safety reasons, bowls bags should be left in the changing rooms and not taken down to the rinks. Lockers are available for personal/valuable items at a cost of £10.00 per year. Ask at reception if you would like to hire a locker.
3. Mobile phones should be switched off and not used within the bowls playing area. In exceptional cases (i.e. for emergency calls only) mobile phones should be kept on silent but not used until you are completely off the rink and playing area.
4. It would be very useful if you could help the canteen staff by returning empty cups and plates after use to the kitchen counter.

Etiquette Guidelines

The etiquette of the game of bowls is a combination of good manners, sportsmanship and sociability. These courtesies are best described as the unwritten Laws of the Game.

1. When playing bowls, all members should wear flat, smooth soled bowls shoes. Dress for most matches shall be white above the waist, a Club Shirt or a regulation bowls shirt obtained from a Bowls Retailer, with grey below the waist, Club Trousers or regulation bowls trousers obtained from a Bowls Retailer. Smart casual wear may be allowed for casual play (see club dress code rules).
 For some matches (for which you will be notified) white tailored regulation trousers should be worn.
2. Before you bowl check the rinks adjacent to you (both ends) to see if there is somebody on the mat ready to bowl before you. If this is the case give way to that bowler as a matter of courtesy.
3. When you are on the mat and getting ready to bowl it is your mat until such time as you move off the mat or your bowl has come to a stop at the other end. Do not let yourself be rushed. You must be in a position to move to the rear of the mat to afford your opponent the rink. It is acceptable to walk a short distance down the centre of the rink, being aware of the bowlers on either side of you. However, it is not acceptable to wander down the left or right edges of the rink as this could well interfere with players on adjacent rinks.
4. Before you bowl the last thing that you should do is to check the bias on   your bowl so that it does not go onto neighbouring rinks.
5. Always stand still at the head when a player is about to bowl– movement at the head or talking at the mat end is distracting.
6. When a match is in progress the skip or the number three (in fours) or the number two (in triples) should be at the centre of the head making the decisions and providing advice. All other players should stand aside well behind the jack.
7. Always pay your skip the respect of waiting for their decision. Don’t step onto the mat and indicate which way you intend playing – wait for the skip’s instructions.
8. Never applaud or complain about lucky bowls – accept them graciously – they tend to equal each other out over the game.
9. When the players at the mat end have finished bowling their woods they should walk down the centre of the rink without stopping so that they do not obstruct play on the adjacent rinks. Any discussion by skips should be at the bowls head.
10. When you have bowled your end please replace the mat flat on the top of the wooden shelf behind you ensuring that it is not hanging over the front edge.
11. At the finish of the end all players apart from the two players measuring should keep out of the way and not get involved both physically and verbally in the decision process of identifying a winning bowl. It is for number twos (in triples) and the number threes (in fours) to make the decisions. Other bowlers should not start kicking back until instructed to do so by those measuring any bowls for the count. If the players measuring the bowls cannot agree then the skips should measure, If an agreement cannot be reached the end will be considered tied.
12. It is courtesy that when an end has been bowled all bowlers in both teams move back the bowls to the back of the rink, to a place where they will not be tripped over. (Bowls collectors are available by the rink side).
13. When you have bowled your end please replace the mat flat on the top of the wooden shelf behind you ensuring that it is NOT hanging over the front edge.
14. At the conclusion of a game skips must ensure that the scorecards are fully completed, signed and posted in the box on the shelf by reception.
15. If during a match a player is taken ill or for some medical reason is unable to continue playing, the Skip of that team can use a substitute player, provided that somebody is available, but only if it is with the agreement of the opposition skip.
16. If a team is being beaten heavily in a match the skips can agree at any particular time that the scores will no longer be recorded on the scoreboard for the rest of the match. However, the scorecards must continue to be recorded after each end as usual.
17. At the beginning of the game you may cast the jack before the buzzer but bowls must not be delivered until the buzzer sounds. The game will end on the buzzer. Any jack that is cast prior to the buzzer (irrespective as to whether or not it remains on the rink i.e. the skip can place a miscast jack) will mean that the end will be played in full. Under no circumstances must a jack be cast after the buzzer. 

Published by the NIBC Bowls Executive Committee 26 October 2021