The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (Unknown Year). Woman Partakes in Pumpkin Bowling [Photograph].
Lawn Bowls are a familiar sight for any RSL Club. But if you stroll through the Woolworth’s Fresh Food Dome, you might encounter a very peculiar version of this much beloved sport. As players step onto the green, you will notice that they’re playing with greens! Bowls are swapped for baby-blue pumpkins, and the lone jack is substituted for an onion. To add to this vegetable themed absurdity, the distances between bowl and jack are determined with the finest measuring tool, a carrot! Obviously, a sight like this will make anyone shout: “What the heck is going on?!”. It may be hard to fathom, but this odd approach to playing with food does have a name and a passionate community behind it. For the members of the District Court Exhibition, Pumpkin Bowling has been their go to for a ‘Gourd Game’.
Watching folks underthrow a pumpkin down a bowling lane might seem bizarre. But The Royal Agricultural Society’s very own president, John Bennett, will assure you that it’s “very similar to normal bowls”. With four hand-picked pumpkins, players have four shots to roll the pumpkin as close to their tear-jerking jack as possible. Out of the 15 contestants, only one will be able to clench the pumpkin bowling trophy.
With a bumpy vegetable as your bowl of choice, it could be a challenge to control it. Mr. Bennett will agree. But after years of watching the game attentively, he does believe a bit of skill can be found amongst the luck.
When asked about the natural curve (bias) of a pumpkin, Mr. Bennett gleefully explains: “They do have a bias…and the bias is actually on the edge where the stalk is. So, some people work that out”.
To add to the twist, this colorful game also has a colourful past. When waiting for the show to open at lunchtime on Good Friday, court members sort to combat boredom with a homebrew game. Thus, Pumpkin Bowling would become an ‘unofficial’ staple for the District Exhibits. The earliest tournament dates back to 1972. Decades later, it has been kept alive through a community that embraces its quirks.
