Bowling into sporting history

George Paice (left) and Gerald Reive are set to become international athletes at the ages of 69 and 73. Photo / Steven McNicholl

At 69 and 73, two old mates are going to their first Commonwealth Games - as ring-ins on a bowls team, for a British territory that doesn't have a single lawn.

George Paice and Gerald Reive are training hard and preparing for their debut in Delhi, competing in the lawn bowls pairs event, representing the Falkland Islands.

"I never thought, at 73, I'd be an athlete," Mr Reive said.

"When they first brought [the idea] up a couple of years ago I was flabbergasted. It was a bit of a surprise to be quite honest. But then we thought: 'Oh yeah, let's give it a go."'

"I never thought that we would ever be doing something like this," Mr Paice said, laughing. "Going together makes it even better. I'm coming back as an international."

The two men have been friends since they were boys in the Falklands - a friendship that continued when they both moved to New Zealand in the 1960s in their twenties.

Both married local girls and settled in South Auckland to raise families; Mr Paice in Otara and Mr Reive across the motorway in Papatoetoe.

The Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic Ocean, does not boast a single bowling green.

Mr Paice, 69, kept the news to himself for a while.

"I didn't want to make a song and dance about it because I thought it might not happen. So I didn't tell anyone. But then four or five months ago things took off and the trip was on.

"I asked my friend Gerald Reive to come with me because he's a former Falklander too," he said.

"Gerald was keen to take his wife [Shirley], so he asked the trip organiser Michael Summers if she could come along. And he said that every team needs a manager, so she got the job.

"She's had an enormous amount of work to do, the paperwork has been colossal, but it's all done, and we leave in two weeks."

When asked of what they thought their chances were of coming home with a medal, Mr Reive laughed.

"I wouldn't be too hopeful about that! But hopefully there are some teams who we can beat - it's not like we're going to be at the bottom, though, we're all right."

They will fly to India with the New Zealand Commonwealth team and meet their fellow Falkland Islands representatives - a 15-strong squad of badminton players, and skeet, pistol and rifle shooters.

Mr Reive said: "Just taking part is something special and meeting with other members of the team and from around the world. I hope the games go on without a hitch."