What do outdoor lawn bowlers of all ages, from juniors to veterans, need to know about the laws and Bowls South Africa domestic regulations? Dress and footwear, touchers, dead bowls and jacks, possession of the rink, scoring, bowls stamps, reserves, coaches and becoming an official.
Bowls South Africa's domestic dress regulation (A.3) applies to all representative matches, meaning every match other than social games and club competitions:
Men: caps or headwear (approved insignia or hatbands allowed); shirts with conventional or Mandarin collars; full-length trousers or knee-length tailored shorts with pockets, or Bowls SA-approved shorts. No cargo, combat, denim trousers or rugby shorts. String-tied (cricket) trousers or tracksuit trousers or shorts without a front zip are acceptable if approved by a club, district or Bowls SA. Ankle socks, secret socks or golf hose must be worn with shorts.
Women: caps, peaks or headwear allowed; a collared bowling dress, or a skirt or tailored slacks of any length with a conventional or Mandarin-collared blouse, not made of Lycra or other body-clinging material. The skort is approved.
Controlling Bodies may authorise variations, and may declare a variation unacceptable, even retrospectively. At national events such as the SA Masters, players are expected to wear their highest honours.
The laws require players, umpires and markers to wear flat-soled ("heel-less") footwear on the green (Appendix A.2.1).
Bowls South Africa's domestic regulation (A.2.2, Circular 40/2010) allows conventional shoes or sports shoes with:
Sandals are acceptable if they have a back strap. Bowls South Africa can allow or disallow specific colours and brands of footwear.
From laws 14 to 16 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition):
Marking: a member of the delivering team, or the marker, must mark it with chalk as soon as it stops. If marking it would likely move it or disturb the head, it is nominated as a toucher instead. If it is neither marked nor nominated before the next bowl stops, it is no longer a toucher.
Remove chalk from your bowl before delivering it. If you forget and it doesn't touch, the opponent or marker removes the mark.
A toucher in the ditch is marked with a brightly coloured indicator (no more than 50 mm wide and 100 mm high) against or on top of the bank in line with it.
Under law 17 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition), a bowl is dead if:
A bowl is not dead if it:
The skips (or singles opponents) decide; if they disagree, the umpire decides. A dead bowl is removed from the rink as soon as it is declared dead.
From laws 18 to 21 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition):
A jack moved by a bowl in play into the front ditch (within the side boundaries) is still live. Its position is marked with a white indicator.
The jack is dead if, after being moved by a bowl in play, it:
It is not dead if it stops on top of a toucher in the ditch or on top of bowls within the rink. A jack that rebounds off the bank back onto the rink stays in play.
What happens: the end becomes a dead end. It doesn't count, and is replayed in the same direction (unless both skips agree otherwise), with the same player playing first. A Controlling Body may instead choose to re-spot the jack and play on. The skips (or singles opponents) decide whether the jack is dead; if they disagree, they call the umpire.
From laws 12 and 13 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition):
Possession of the rink belongs to the player or team whose bowl is being played. It passes to the opponents as soon as each bowl comes to rest, after time to mark a toucher. You may not deliver until the previous bowl has stopped and possession has passed to you.
Positions:
Penalty: if you bowl before the previous bowl stops, or distract or interfere with the players in possession, the umpire warns you the first time (in front of your skip). On every later occasion your side's last bowl is declared dead, and if it disturbed the head the opposing skip chooses to replace the head, leave it, or declare the end dead.
From the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition):
Events can set stricter conditions, for example the 2026 SA Masters required a stamp of the current or a future year and bowls registered before play.
Bowls South Africa's domestic regulation on law 32.9 allows reserves and substitutes in all formats except singles:
Using a reserve or substitute this way does not count as fielding an ineligible player.
Yes, within limits. Under law 44 of the Laws of the Sport of Bowls (Crystal Mark 4th edition), a coach (or their named deputy) may advise a player during play as long as:
If the umpire thinks the coach is breaking this law, the umpire asks them to comply, and if they don't, asks the Controlling Body to act. Event conditions of play can add rules, for example requiring coaches to wear identification.
Bowls South Africa trains technical officials through courses set by its National Standing Committee for Technical Officials (Technical Officials Students Training Manual, revised March 2023). The path is:
Candidates who meet each course's requirements are certified by Bowls South Africa.