Bowls: Veteran Willie Wood's reputation set in stone

Willie Wood, the only Scot to represent his country at senior level in his sport in six different decades, from 1966 to 2011, is in elegiac mood having just announced his retirement from international competition in the outdoor version of the "other" sport of which Scotland is the "home" - lawn bowls.

"People don't realise that Scotland is the home of the game," said Wood, "And that the rules were written here and the headquarters is here. We are still a force to be reckoned with and have dominated the international game over the years.

"We should be doing more to promote the game, here, for instance, seniors singles for 60-plus people. Young people prefer the indoor game, but with our weather can you blame them?"

Wood has been a huge part of that Scottish tradition. As he looked back on a haul of caps and medals of every colour in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships, Wood was not viewing past or present through rose-tinted glasses.

He may be a silver-haired 73, though he looks much younger, and he admits the years are catching up with him in a playing sense, but his mind and opinions are razor sharp, and the latter are quietly but firmly expressed.

"The best days of the sport are over," said Wood. "Guys like David Bryant and me, we had the best of the bowls. Crowd-wise, there were more tournaments and they were far bigger than what they get now.

"It's hard to put a finger on why it's happened. People don't follow the game like they used to, and the players don't keep going in the sport the way that people like David and me did.

"Younger guys have mortgages and things, and want to drop out for a year or more and spend time with their families, so I can't blame them for that."

According to Wood, the sport has changed in an essential way that non-bowling people have perhaps not noticed. "Tight-running indoor bowls are taking the skill out of the game," he said. "It started in Australia mostly, where they took indoor bowls outside, and though it's quite legal, with the old bowls you used to be able to have big wide draws. You just don't get that now, so there's less skill in the game."

Tributes at the weekend when he was part of the all-conquering Scottish team at the Home International tournament in Edinburgh spoke of Wood as the perfect ambassador for bowls, and he is excited about Bowls Scotland's plans to develop the game in this country.

He is also monitoring the Scottish squad - "We have good players at every age," he notes - but wants the Glasgow Commonwealth Games organisers to get their green fingers out: "The green on which the medals will be decided should have already been laid and should be being played on now. I was supposed to be involved in laying the first turf. I am still waiting."

Wood was also shocked to learn that the Irish players had had to cough up 500 to make the trip over last weekend. "You shouldn't have to pay to represent your country," he observed. "And the expense of things makes me think international team bowls might only last another 15 years or so."

The world's most capped internationalist, with more than 140 caps, will continue playing indoor bowls for his country "if selected" - as he is always careful to say - so don't rule out more headlines about the wonders of Wood.

It has not always been glory days, however. He lost in the finals of both the world outdoor and indoor singles, yet he remains remarkably philosophical about the disappointments he experienced, crushing though they were at the time.

The worst calamities were the World Singles finals of 1984 and 1988. In the former, he lost to Peter Belliss of New Zealand in Aberdeen.

"I lay game two or three times, and then he had a fluke to get out of trouble when the bowl fell over and put an angle on the jack, and then two ends later his bowl flipped up and came back down and nicked my bowl, and it went to a measure. I lost the world title on a measure - can you believe that?"

By 1988, the rules had changed: "They made it '25 up', instead of 21, and at one point I was beating David Bryant 21-12, which means I would have won under the old system. David came back and the rain came on at 22-all, and we had to go off for an hour and a half.

"David said to me as we were going back on that we could be finished in one end, and I then played the best end I had played the whole game and still finished with no bowls on the green. He knocked them all off, though he wasn't trying to and didn't even realise the one at the back had gone.

"Tony Allcock was sitting behind us and had to say 'David you've won the game' before he knew he had won the championship - and I had lost the Triples final the week before. Talk about bad luck..."

His friendship with Bryant endures: "He was the best player in the world and hard to shake off. We still keep in touch and he was on the phone on Sunday saying what a great career I had had. He is the perfect gentleman."

Wood remains Scotland's most prolific competitor in the Commonwealth Games, having been selected eight times from 1974 to 2010. He won singles gold in Brisbane in 1982, but was banned from competing in his home Games in Edinburgh in 1986 for "professionalism", a memory which brought a rueful smile.

"I took the money all right," said Wood, "But so did plenty athletes. The difference was that I put mine in my bank account and they put theirs in trust funds. It was all nonsense."

In 2002 at Manchester, when he surpassed shooter Alister Allan and set the record with a seventh appearance for Scotland at the Games, Wood was passed over for the honour of carrying the flag at the opening ceremony. "It annoyed me at the time, but I got over it, and then it reared its head again last year in Delhi, and to be honest I wasn't that interested, I just said I am here to win a medal if that is possible," he said. "As it turned out, the greens in India were terrible, which brought the skill level down and we didn't manage."

The green at Gifford, by contrast, is flat and smooth. Here is where it all began for a 12-year-old introduced to the game by his father William and mother Jenny. Their names are on the roll of honour in the clubhouse, as is that of Wood's wife of 44 years, Morag, originally from Leith in Edinburgh. Mentioning the capital, Wood confirms that Hearts FC remains an abiding passion. He is still a shareholder: "I tried to sell them when Vladimir Romanov was offering, but I couldn't find the share certificate." Wood will keep playing at Gifford and West Barns indoor club, and doing a spot of coaching.

He is adamant that he has played his last outdoor international, however. "I'd be 76 by the time the Commonwealths come to Glasgow. It's time for younger people," he said. That's some remark for a man who has outlasted such talents as Richard Corsie and Hugh Duff, and could still give more contemporary talents like Alex Marshall a tough time. But he is right - the jack must pass to new talents, even as we praise this great, great player.

Wood is already in the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and received his MBE from The Queen in 1992.

"Her Majesty said to me 'How long do you think you can keep going?' and I replied 'I hope to keep going for a wee while yet, Your Majesty.' I didn't know then how long I would last."

Two decades on, surely more honours should be heaped on a man who has given so much for his country and his sport, and who is nothing more nor less than a sporting national treasure.