Irish Road Bowling Rules

Irish road bowling has been played in the Irish countryside since the 1600s. A 28-ounce iron or steel ball about the size of a tennis ball (a bowl or bullet) is hurled down a country road to the finish line. The player or team with the fewest shots to the finish line wins. The road chosen can be one to two miles long.

1. Irish road bowling is played as singles competition, or with teams of two- four persons. Only one bowl is used per team, with players throwing in rotation.
2. The point of the competition is to traverse the course with the fewest number of throws.
3. Before each throw spectators and team members other than the throwers move 20-30 yards down the road to mark the desired path of the bowl. They stand like human croquet wickets, feet apart, straddling the desired path for the bowl to take to achieve maximum distance. Often teammates will place a tuft of grass (called a sop) in the road at a spot where the bowl should first strike the surface. An experienced bowler can "Split the Sop."
4. The bowl should be held in a C formed by the thumb and the index and/or middle fingers. The bowl should be thrown from the fingers, not from the palm of the hand.
5. Throwing:
1. The bowler may back up anywhere from two steps to 15 yards from the throwing line (the butt).
2. As the thrower runs to the throwing mark, in the Northern or County Armagh style, he extends the arm and bowl behind him as he runs. At the throwing mark the arm is snapped forward by arching the back and shoulders, releasing the bowl underhand before stepping over the mark.
3. In the southern or County Cork style, as the thrower runs to the mark, the arm and bowl are lifted up and back, then whirled downward into an underhand throw, releasing the bowl before stepping over the mark.
4. The bowl should fly through the air a few yards before striking the road.
5. Topspin, which is imparted as the bowl comes off the tip of the index and/or middle fingers, will help the bowl continue down the road after it first hits the surface.
6. A smooth Irish bowling "stroke"' imparting accuracy and topspin often gains more distance than a more powerful but less accurate throw.
7. It is the responsibility of the thrower and teammates to ensure that everyone in the road ahead is facing him/her and paying attention. Shout out "Rolling!" before throwing.
8. Never stop the bowl with your foot or hand. Use a jacket or towel instead. These things aren't entirely safe.
6. A competitor's next shot is made from wherever that competitor's (or team's) bowl last stops, not from where it first hits the road or where it leaves the road surface. If the bowl leaves the road, it is moved to the nearest point on the road. A chalk mark is made at that point, and the next throw is taken from behind that mark by the competitor or the next teammate in rotation, and so on to the finish line. It is customary to write the cumulative shot count on the road under each mark.
7. When throwing around a bend or intersection, the bowl may be thrown through the air (lofted) over the corner rather than rolled around it. The loft must strike the road surface or pass over the road. If the loft fails to reach the road then it counts as one shot, but the next throw must be taken from the same mark.
8. If two or more players or teams have an equal number of shots crossing the finish line, the winner is decided by which final shot goes the farthest distance past the finish line.

In Ireland, the thrower's teammates often shout Faugh a Ballagh (pronounced FAWG un BAA-lakh), which means clear the way. That was also the battle cry of the 69th New York State Volunteer Regiment, the Fighting Irish, during the American Civil War.