The Irish Lawn Bowls Association (the ILBA) was formed in March 2023 following a merger of the Bowling League of Ireland (the BLI) and the Ladies Bowling League of Ireland (the LBLI) and is recognised by Sport Ireland as the National Governing Body for the sport of lawn bowling in the Republic of Ireland.

Bowling is an all-island sport and  the ILBA is one of four associations affiliated to the overall governing bodies, the  Irish Bowling Association (the IBA) and the Irish Women’s Bowling Association (the IWBA).

There are twenty seven bowling clubs affiliated to the ILBA serving almost two thousand members. They are mostly located in the greater Dublin area including Wicklow, Meath and Kildare along with clubs in Cork, Sligo and Dungarvan. Eleven of these clubs play on traditional grass surfaces while the remainder have artificial or synthetic surfaces with one club having both. Many clubs are attached to other sporting facilities like tennis or rugby clubs or leisure complexes.

Members, both male and female, have represented Ireland at international events  and we anticipate being involved in the  World Bowls Championship in Australia in the Autumn. Four  bowlers are representing Ireland in the World Deaf Championships in Edinburgh in September 2023.

The old BLI / LBLI website will be converted to the new ILBA website over the next few months.  As webpages are updated they will be converted to ILB data and the old BLI / LBLI equivalent pages deleted.  So users of the website should first look in the ILB section and if what they want is not there consult the old BLI / LBLI sections.  When conversion is compete the BLI and LBLI sections will be deleted.

There is a lot of unpaid work involved with the conversion and I would hope users of the website will bear with me whilst it is progressing.  If you have any suggestions on improvements that could be made write to me at

A change of email name is another job I have to do and will advise when done.