ONE of Glasgow’s oldest sporting clubs has hosted the UK’s first Bools and Bards competition.

In a wacky twist to the traditional game, three local poets had to recite verses before battling it out in a bowling ‘penalty shoot-out.’

Hampden Bowling Club, a proud supporter of the Evening Times Keep Hampden Roaring campaign, teamed up with football bards Stephen Watt, Thomas Clark and Jim Mackintosh for the event.

It was sponsored by Nil by Mouth, the anti-bigotry charity set up by former Evening Times Scotswoman of the Year Cara Henderson, as part of its Kiss Bigotry Goodbye campaign celebrating the diversity of Scottish football and the positive role sport clubs play in communities.

Dumbarton FC’s Stephen Watt beat Selkirk’s Thomas Clark and St Johnstone wordsmith Jim Mackintosh to lift the Henderson Cup, named in Cara’s honour.

The ‘Kiss Bigotry Goodbye’ campaign was set up by Nil by Mouth in 2015 with the aim of highlighting the positives of football and all the weird and wonderful ways the game enriches people’s lives.

This visit to a site which lays claim to being the original home of Scottish football is the latest in a nationwide tour which sees the charity link up with fans, players, pundits, authors and poets to celebrate the ‘Beautiful Game.’

Graeme Brown, from Hampden Bowling Club said: “Our club was delighted to host the first ever Bools and Bards event and to welcome three of the best poets in the country to take part..

“We have a natural tie with football, as our grounds are on the site of the first Hampden Park. It is always an entertaining evening when we dip our hat to our footballing past with a bowls twist.”

Nil by Mouth Campaign Director Dave Scott said: “It was a fantastic gesture by Hampden Bowling Club to host this event.

“It is a historic venue. There was a real buzz in the room when the poets performed - and a lot of happy faces after the decision to keep the national team at Hampden earlier in the week.”