Pompey supporting mates basking in the glory of being crowned sporting world champions

Havant-based pair Ben Pay, 31, and Steve Buckett, 30, can be regularly found cheering on the Blues at Fratton Park.

The friends were part of a four-man England team who have just won the World Short Mat Bowls title in Belgium.

Another Hampshire resident - Liphook’s Alistair McCrea - and Essex-based Mitchell Young completed the winning line-up.

The event was supposed to take place two years earlier, but was postponed due to the pandemic. The quartet had qualified for the Worlds after winning a qualifying event in Solihull in October 2019.

‘It feels a bit surreal, a bit bizarre,’ Pay told The News.

‘It was pretty emotional because I used to play with my grandfather (Roger Flake) and my father (Trevor) and neither of them are around anymore.’

Pay was introduced to the sport by his grandfather, at a club in Purbrook. He later moved to the Crown Bowls Club, also in Purbrook, progressing to playing for Hampshire and also England.

Due to the still common perception of all forms of bowls as an ‘old man’s’ sport, Pay kept his enthusiasm for the game a secret.

‘I didn’t really tell my friends when I was 18/19 - it’s not really what young people do,’ he said. ‘They’d ask me if I was going out and I was saying ‘no’, making excuses - it’s crazy when I look back now.

‘It didn’t seem the right thing to do, to say I played bowls.

‘Since I’ve started telling people, I’ve had a really positive response. People have told me I shouldn’t have kept it a secret.

‘I guess it was difficult to do, people think of bowls as an old man’s sport. But short mat is really not, the higher the level you go the more younger people are playing it.’

In Belgium, Pay and Buckett’s quartet - competing as England A - finished second in a qualifying group also containing group winners Wales, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and the host nation.

In the semi-final they defeated England B in a marathon contest where the 10 ends - each bowler has two bowls in each end - took around two hours to complete.

England A the defeated Ireland in the final to win a trophy and the prestige of becoming world champions. But there was no huge financial prize; indeed, no financial prize at all!

Both Pay and Buckett compete in the Portsmouth & District Short Mat Bowls League. But while Pay turns out for the Crown club, Buckett plays for the 2021 champions Portsdown.

Buckett’s love affair with short mat bowls began at Barton Hall, Horndean, before he started to take it ‘seriously’ in 2015. That was the year both himself Pay helped Hampshire to win the Inter County Championships, defeating a Cheshire side who had been unbeaten for many years in the process.

Buckett and Pay were also in the winning teams in English Short Mat Bowls Association triples and fours events in 2018 and 2019.

They also won a Short Mat Players Tour ‘World Fours’ event, but as that was open to anyone - and didn’t include any qualifying tournaments - it didn’t carry any of the Kudos of the newly-won world champion status.

Asked to explain the beauty of short mat bowls, Buckett said: ‘Anyone can play against anyone of any age.

‘It’s also very tactical. When I’m trying to sell it to people, I liken it to curling which was very popular during the Olympics.

‘It’s trying to break down perceptions. Like Ben, I didn’t tell many people either (when he was younger). It’s not really cool, is it? But I’m too old to care now.

‘Everyone who plays it, loves it. It’s just getting people to play it.’

Pay and Buckett will be aiming to follow up their worlds victory with further success at the National Championships this month at Melton Mowbray.