In The name of Allah The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful
Assalamualaikum w.b.t
Bowling is one of the oldest and most popular games in
the world. Bowling is a sport that can be dated back to circa 3200 BC. In the
1930's, a British anthropologist named Sir Flinders Petrie discovered a
collection of objects in a child's grave in Egypt that appeared to be used for
a primitive form of bowling. There was a crude version of the bowling ball and
pins that were all sized for a child and were very primitive. This find was
discovered along with a couple of artifacts that could actually be dated back
to 3200BC. This makes the origin of bowling more than 5000 years old!
The next historical bowling related find was in Germany
by a historian named William Pehle whom said that there was evidence of bowling
in Germany around 300AD. England took the reins about 1366 as bowling was
forbidden by King Edward III. The game was taking archery practice away from
his troops. It is also known that Henry VIII brought bowling back. Several
types of "pin games" started to exist where balls were hurled towards
objects for points. These objects were somewhat pin shaped but crude renditions
of modern day bowling pin design and shape. As you can see, the history of
bowling is rich and deep.
There are several different games that resemble modern
bowling, there are ninepin variations in Europe and Petanque is popular in
France. Bocce ball originates in Italy and is similar to British lawn bowling.
Dutch and English immigrants each brought their version of bowling with them
from their country's to the United States also. In America, the very first
mention of the word "bowling" is found in the book Rip Van Winkle, a
famous story by Washington Irving, who gets woken up by the sound of
"crashing ninepins" that was published during 1812.
Bowling history continues on in the United States. A
lawn bowling site was made in the heart of New York's battery area that was the
very first permanent location to bowl and is now still called Bowling Green and
is in what is now the financial district. Bowling became very popular over the
years in America and had become one of the biggest betting games. Connecticut banned
any ninepin games at all in 1841.
Because of mass popularity bowling was brought back. In the
1800's the tenpin game was popular because of nine pin being outlawed as a
gambling game. Adding an extra pin gave people a way to keep bowling and exploited
a loophole in the law. Ball and pin formations still varied by region and it
wasn't until various regional bowler's clubs came together with the owner of a
restaurant on Sept. 9 1895 and formed the American Bowling Congress at
Beethoven hall in New York City. Consistency was born from there as was
national competitions. The congress was only for men, however women had been
bowling since the late nineteenth century. The women of bowling formed their
own congress called the Women's National Bowling Association in 1917. Bowling
really exploded from here due to the organized, agreed upon standards. The game
grew in popularity and became very popular all over America.
The equipment used for bowling also had a great advance
in technology as far as the first rubber ball, made in 1905 called the
"Evertrue" was introduced. The Brunswick Corporation in 1914
developed a ball using what was called "mineralite". The balls before
this new "mysterious rubber compound" had been made mostly of hard
wood. With the ball standardized, in 1951 the America Machine and Foundry
Company purchased patents to eliminate the "pinboy", a person
responsible for setting up the pins, by adding an automatic
"pinspotter" in 1952. After these innovations in the sport, media
embraced bowling by the 50's and NBC had "Championship Bowling", the
first airing of network coverage of bowling. Bowling for Dollars and several others
followed. The sport of bowling grew and grew because of all the media
attention.
The sport of bowling has grown leaps and bounds from
its humble carved beginnings and is still growing today. Bowling history
continues to be written. New technologies have improved the bowling ball,
electronic scoring, monitors that show the path and speed of your ball, and
many other aspects of the game. Several different types of games and strategies
have been born and so has the standard of the sport. Many people bowl on leagues
and for fun, families gather for birthday parties and fun which is what the
sport was based on. Bowling alleys are actually growing in numbers across the
country due to popularity.
The fifties were the decade of the bowler but we have a
new spin on the old days with things like "lunar bowling" with all
black lights and "prize bowling". The truth is, bowling is still
growing today and we are forming the way people will bowl in the future. Sports
like bowling are hard to keep up with because it is constantly changing. People
think of new and unusual ways of bowling and scoring every day. Ninety five
million people across ninety countries still bowl every day. In the Federation
Nationale des Quilleurs, bowling's best athletes regularly compete in Olympic
Games and worldwide competitions and championships.
Bowling today remains one of the best activities for
bonding with friends. It's always a good time getting together with friends and
family for a little friendly bowling competition. As always, have fun bowling
out there.