New format Ultimate Bowls Championship breathes new life into the sport

The new format Ultimate Bowls Championship (UBC) is reaching a massive worldwide audience and introducing new fans to the sport.

In the UBC, teams from Australia, New Zealand and Asia compete under modified rules, which allow players to score points from every bowl and for both teams to accumulate points in the same end.

The result is much faster, higher-scoring games.

With $500,000 in prize money on offer across the three events, UBC is the most lucrative bowls competition in the world.

The excitement around the UBC is set to reach a crescendo this week, with the world’s best players gathering in Moama, NSW, for the third and final event of the year.

The event will be played at Moama Bowling Club on 12th and 13th December.

The Moama event has attracted the biggest names in the game, including world one Alex Marshall (Scotland), Ryan Bester (Canada), Aron Sherriff (Australia), and Jo Edwards (New Zealand).

UBC Chief Executive and Director Mark Casey noted the competition’s first two events in 2019, in Warilla and Melbourne, were hugely successful, stating that he’s expecting a “fiercely competitive finale” in Moama.

Casey, himself a former bowls world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, added that UBC “has breathed new life into the sport” in just its first year of competition. 

He went on to comment “we wanted the UBC to do for bowls what T20 did for cricket, and that’s certainly coming to fruition.

“With all the games broadcast across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, the UBC is reaching a massive worldwide audience and introducing new fans to the sport.

“It’s massive for the players, too, because not only do they get the opportunity to play for some serious money, they get to showcase their talents on one of the sport’s biggest stages.”

UBC has a broadcasting partnership with the Seven Network, which sees the new competition televised on 7TWO, Fox Sports, Sky Sport NZ and Fox Sports Asia.

Official viewing figures show the first two UBC events each attracted an international broadcast audience of more than 1.1 million people.  

The inaugural UBC event in April this year was won by the Dandenong Club, with Taren Point taking home the trophy and $60,000 cheque from the second event in August.   

Competing teams in the competition are: Albert Park UltraOrbs, Dandenong Club, Deer Park Chargers, Port Melbourne Borough Boyz, Port Melbourne Navigators and the Whittlesea Eagles (all Victoria); Broadbeach Bulls, ITP Queensland, North Qld Oz E Cool Roos and Weipa Crocs (all Queensland); Cabramatta Bullants, Moama, The Point, Tweed Heads Ospreys and Warilla Gorillas (all NSW); Club Holdfast Heat and Streaky Bay Sharks (South Australia); South Island Storm and the Wellington Hornets (New Zealand); Bowls Asia Eagles and Bowls Asia Dragons (China); the Southern Belles and a UBC Wildcard Team.

Image of Barrie Lester from Dandenong Club.