It smells like teen spirit on the parched lawns of Broadbeach Bowls Club this week, as a new generation of bowlers are looking to wrest the sport from the blue-rinse brigade and drag it dancing and singing into the 21st century.

Mention bowling in Britain and thoughts almost inevitably turn to the crown green version of the sport, long the preserve of the pipe-smoking David Bryant and pootling Sunday sessions scheduled around the cream teas.

But at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, a 19-year-old from Norfolk Island and a pair of Maltese sisters who already have one bronze medal in the bag are spearheading the sport’s path towards appealing to an entirely different demographic.

Lawn Bowls
Youth and experience mix at the Commonwealth Games lawn bowls (Mark Staniforth)

The juxtaposition of old and young is most evident in the ladies’ doubles team from tiny Norfolk Island, skipped by 62-year-old Carmen Anderson, who won her first and only Commonwealth Games medal in 1994, five years before her team-mate, Shae Wilson, was even born.

Anderson, who is also a former double world champion and is nicknamed the ‘Tiger Shark’, says she is keen to encourage more young people to take up the sport.

“It is becoming a much better sport for the younger ones and I am really enjoying playing against them and hopefully inspiring them,” said Anderson. “I only wish I still had the legs like before so I could still wear the mini-skirts like the rest of them.”

Rebecca Rixon
Maltese sisters Rebecca and Connie-Leigh Rixon hope to attract new energy to their sport (Mark Staniforth)

Wilson was born and brought up on Norfolk Island, and works part-time behind the bar of one of its two lawn bowling clubs as she contemplates the inevitability of having to leave her home to pursue her academic career.

“I only started bowling four years ago and I’ve gone places already that I would never have gone to without my sport,” said Wilson. “I finished school two years ago and I am deciding what I want to do. But if I want any further education I will have to move elsewhere.”

Norfolk Island will play Canada in the women’s pairs quarter-finals on Thursday but Maltese sisters Rebecca and Connie-Leigh Rixon, who have already won bronze at these Games in a fours team including their mother Rosemaree, bowed out.

“If we could get the atmosphere like we have in Australia all the time, the sport would be amazing,” said 17-year-old Connie-Leigh. “The younger people have got to look beyond the stereotype and not think of it as an old person’s sport.”

Their exploits are breathing new life into a sport often seen as an anachronism on the Commonwealth Games programme. But Anderson has a warning for the new generation who believe they are on the cusp of a lawn bowls takeover.

“It is a huge challenge for me to play against the young ones,” said Anderson. “But I am never going to lose that hunger. I am like a hungry shark – they call me the ‘Tiger Shark’. I enjoy it and I’m happy and the challenge pumps me up.”