Sport
From Edinburgh to Moama and everywhere in between: A sit down with bowls legend Alex Marshall
As I walked into the Moama Bowling Club on Wednesday afternoon, a thought crossed my mind: how often do you meet someone who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever in their respective sport?
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It was an apt musing, because in a few minutes time, that is exactly what I would be doing.
I was there to meet with Alex Marshall, a man who is often considered to be the best person to have ever played the sport of bowls.
A statement like that in concerns to Marshall isn’t just hyperbole, it is a title that is very much deserved.
Marshall, who is from Edinburgh in Scotland, is a seven-time World Outdoor Champion, a 14-time World Indoor Champion and a five-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
When it comes to the sport of bowls, he has been everywhere and won everything. And now he is here to play for Moama.
I walk in to the club and there he is, decked out in his Moama Steamers gear.
Marshall has been playing for Moama in the Bendigo Playing Area weekend pennant competition, and he is also set to represent Moama at the Ultimate Bowls Championship next week — the richest bowls tournament in the world.
We take a seat at a table overlooking the greens and we start to talk all things bowls.
My first question is a simple one – what brought him to Moama?
“I have always been very friendly with the Moama Bowling Club,” Marshall said.
“I played with them in the Australian Premier League (now known as the Bowls Premier League) we managed to win it in the very first year with Ryan Bester and Michael Walker.
“They have absolutely awesome facilities, here, probably the best bowling facility in the whole world. It is a massive attraction for myself to come along to something like this and represent Moama in this big event.
“It is brilliant, it is absolutely fantastic. I love coming here, it is great to be part of the Moama team.
“This is definitely the best club in the world with its facilities, and it is always great to be part of the Moama Steamers setup.”
From Scotland, Marshall started playing bowls when he was eight.
His father and grandfather played bowls too, and he always felt a stronger connection to the sport compared to others like soccer or darts.
“Bowls has been my whole life,” Marshall said.
“I was very lucky, when I was eight, the school was right across from the bowling club.
“Rather than playing football or any other sports or games at the school, I would nick over to the bowling club.”
Now, 47 years later, the sport has taken him places he said he could not have imagined when he first began playing.
He still lives in Scotland, but after first coming down under in the ’90s, he returns to Australia every summer to play in what he said is the top bowls country in the world.
“I would never have thought that I would travel the world,” he said.
“I have played in Hong Kong, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and Australia.
“I love the sport I play and I have had the opportunity to play for some of the best clubs in the world.
“Australia is the biggest country in the world for bowls.”
Marshall’s reputation certainly proceeds him. The entire bowls world knows who he is, and everyone I have spoken to has lauded his playing abilities.
Many refer to him as the GOAT, the ‘greatest of all time’, something Marshall said was quite humbling.
“I am very honoured,” he said.
“To be recognised and called the GOAT, I just laugh it off. But it is good to be called something like that.
“It is great to hear people talk about you in high esteem, but there are a lot of people out there who are every bit as good as myself.
“Bowls has been my life, and to be held to that high standard, is very pleasing.”
Marshall said the key to being the best comes down to one, simple thing: hard work.
“It is like any other sport, you have to put the hard work in, and I certainly did that when I was younger,” he said.
“I played seven days a week for years. I would practice sometimes for seven or eight hours a day, and I think that is something that has got me where I am now.”
Even today, while he still might not practice quite as much as he used to, Marshall said preparation was still vital.
And he said he would be working hard in the lead up to the Ultimate Bowls Championship next week.
“No matter what you have won or achieved in the sport, you just can’t go and pick up a bowl and get it as close to the jack as you want, you still have to put the work in,” he said.
“It is a huge event, it is the biggest prize fund of them all.
“Everybody loves it. I love coming over and competing in it. It is another great event for the calendar. The more events we get, the better.
“I’ll be preparing for it the right way, that is what you have to do. I’ll go along and bowl an hour on every single rink over two days.
“It will be a tough six days, but I am definitely looking forward to it.”
For somebody who has achieved so much in the sport at the highest level, Marshall is, without doubt, bowls royalty.
And in 1997, the sport gave him an opportunity to meet a fellow royal – Queen Elizabeth II.
He met her at Buckingham Palace in 1997 when he was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) — a memory Marshall said he would always remember.
“It will be a day that I will never forget,” he said.
“I even got the opportunity to have a 40-second conversation with the Queen, that is right up the top.
“It was probably the most nervous I have ever been in my life.
“Not every person got an opportunity to speak to the Queen, but I was one of the lucky ones.
“It was actually quite hard to speak back to her knowing who she was, but that will certainly be one day that will live with me for the rest of my life.
“It was very, very enjoyable, and she was so nice. It was fantastic.”
On the green, Marshall said one of his favourite memories was beating England on home soil at the Commonwealth Games in Glascow back in 2014.
“We were one shot down on the last end. I had to get one shot to take it to an extra end,” he said.
“I drew one right in front of the jack. My opponent missed with his next bowl, and then I drew right at the back of the jack with my last one.
“To draw two bowls as close to the jack as that … you never would have thought that could happen. Doing that for your own country in front of your home supporters was wild.”
As we finish up our chat, a bowls novice like myself had to take the opportunity to ask for a few pointers from a legend.
Sure thing, Marshall said, and we make our way down to the green.
He explains the basics around the correct technique, before sending a bowl down the rink as a demonstration.
Of course, it is near perfect, stopping an inch or two away from the jack. What else was I expecting?
After that it is my turn to have a go. My first bowl is pretty darn good — beginner’s luck, surely — but the next one, not so much.
Marshall offers little tips as we go along, and sure enough, soon I’m getting the hang of things.
It was a surreal moment, casually getting coaching from one of the greatest ever bowlers on a Wednesday afternoon.
Our interview was over, but Marshall still took the extra time to hang out and show me a few tips. The moment of generosity is just the kind of person he is.
“I always try to give something back to the club, and I think that is what you have to try to do,” he said.
“I play a lot of social bowls here with the members, I like to mix in with everyone. I like to speak to everyone.
“I don’t single myself out. Yes, I have been successful, but I still mix with everyone. At the end of the day, what I have won doesn’t change me as a person.”