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Tony Bryant
Malaga
Friday, 21 February 2025, 10:11
Lauro Golf Bowls Club is hosting the lawn bowls Provincial Cup this weekend, during which Team Malaga will face their old rivals Almeria once again. The two teams consist of 16 men and 16 women who go up against each other in a total of 32 games spread over two days.
Team Malaga is made up of the best players from the various clubs in the province and they have won this tournament eight times in the last ten years.
“This tournament brings together some of the best bowlers from the different clubs from both provinces. It is a very popular tournament that once attracted a few hundred players, but since Brexit, and Covid, the numbers have gone down, but it’s still a very popular contest,” Paul Hughes, captain of the Lauro Golf Bowls Club team, said.
Lawn bowls, believed to have been developed by the Egyptians, has been popular in Malaga since the late 1970s, when a group of like-minded expats founded the first English-speaking club in Fuengirola, appropriately named the First Lawn Bowls Club.
The sport’s popularity in the province continued to flourish over the years, with the opening of well-established clubs like Lauro Bowls Club, and others in Benavista, Mijas, Marbella and Mollina, along with La Cala de Mijas, which opened last month.
All of these clubs are governed by the Malaga Committee, an association that acts as administrative facilitators and is also the governing body for umpires.
The Lauro Bowls Club was founded in 2009, and has since established itself as one of the top clubs in the province. The club is made up of various nationalities, although, as Hughes points out, the “Spanish have not taken to bowls”, instead preferring pétanque.
“At a time when bowls membership in general is declining, we are very happy to have attracted a steady influx of new bowlers. Few of the original members had bowled before, but they quickly learned from some of the more experienced bowlers, keeping the standard of the club at a competitive level. Our members are mainly foreign residents, although we have one Spanish player,” Hughes explained.
The members have the benefit of a full size, eight rink, all-weather green that offers disabled access. The club, which hosts several in-house competitions throughout the year, first opened as a private business, but in 2011, the owners passed control to the members and it has since been run as a non-profit members club.
The construction of the buildings and development of the facilities has been carried out by the members themselves and they have continued to develop the grounds, with a new extension to the pavilion recently completed.
Lauro Golf Bowls Club welcomes new members, whether seasoned or novice bowlers: it also offers free coaching sessions.
The club, which currently has around 40 members, organises weekly competitions among its members, and also participates in other competitions along the coast.
Malaga province hosts a lot of competitive bowling events. Every club has its own Open, plus the varied federation competitions that are held, along with the weekly winter league programme, which consists of three divisions: the Tigers, Lions and Jaguars. Lauro Golf Bowls Club won the Lions division in 2015, and the Tigers in 2018.
The team’s captain and some of his companions from the club have been busy preparing for this weekend’s competition, which starts today and continues on Saturday. In preparation, Team Malaga recently played against the international Spanish squad, which, strangely enough, is made up mainly of British players.
“We have won this competition eight years on the spin, and we have lost it for the last two years. This year’s cup is being held at our home ground. It obviously makes a massive difference when we play on our own green, so we are hoping to reclaim the cup again this year,” the captain said.
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