The news that Michael Simpson from Auchtermuchty in Fife has decided to retire from para bowls to spend more time with his family is not surprising but of course disappointing. As well as being a successful high performance bowler, Michael is a leader and his influence will be missed greatly in the national squad. In the past decade he has risen from Fife champion to a silver medallist at the IBD world championships in New Zealand. Michael may be retiring but he will be remembered as one of Scotland’s leading para bowlers.
In 2005 Michael was runner up in the Strathmiglo Bowling Club singles championship and a member of the under 25 Fife County team. Vascular illness resulted in a double below knee amputation and a radical rethink of his future as a performance bowler. Following a year in hospital and with massive support from family and Strathmiglo Bowling Club friends and committee, Michael launched a career in Para bowls after leaving hospital in March 2008. The occasion was the 2008 Disability Sport Fife Championships at the Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy in June and he has never looked back since.
Michael’s progress as an international para bowler has been impressive. The year following his first involvement in the DSF Championships, Michael returned to win the Fife title. In the same year he won his first SDS Scottish lawn bowls title at Westburn Park in Aberdeen. Michael then played a significant role in the Scottish victory over England’s leading physically and visually impaired bowlers at the Beveridge Park in 2009. In 2010 he travelled with the same strong Scottish team to Nottingham for a rare indoor bowls victory over England.
It was a natural progression that Michael would be selected for Scotland’s team to travel to South Africa for the IBD World Championships in 2011 to try to better the third place team finish at the Championships in Australia in 2007. After a comfortable start in singles, the heat and humidity of South Africa took its toll on Michael, but in true Simpson fashion he rallied for the pairs and won a bronze medal with Kevin Wallace in the toughest classification section of the tournament.
Michael then focussed on trying to gain selection for Team Scotland for the Para-Bowls triples at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. In the summer of 2013 at Kelvingrove, Michael enhanced his chances of selection by being a member of the Scottish physically disabled triple that won gold at the 4 Nations and then repeated the performance a few months later at the 8 Nations. That outstanding physically disabled triple included Kevin Wallace and Billy Allan. They played 13 matches, won 10, drew 2 and lost only 1 in two major events against the world’s leading para bowls nations. It may be argued however that Michael’s finest international achievement was winning a silver medal in mixed pairs with Rosemary Lenton at the IBD World Championships in New Zealand in 2015.
Michael received support from the organisers of the Reelers Ball in North East Fife and also St Andrews Kilrymont Rotary at key stages in his international career. In addition he is appreciative of the role played by Disability Sport Fife, Scottish Disability Sport, Bowls Scotland and the Scottish Institute of Sport in his development as a para bowler. This is a young man who has always had ambitions of winning a Commonwealth Games medal and regularly challenging for a place in Team Scotland for the IBD World Championships.
As well as successes in para bowls, Michael is proud of the role he has played as a member of the Strathmiglo Bowling Club team that won the Fife Top 10 in 2010 and went on to finish runners up in the Scottish Top 10 in 2011. In 2005 he was proud of his runners up spot in the club championships and a very important milestone in his career was repeating that performance in 2012, four years after losing his legs. Michael went one stage further in 2014 when he won the club championships at his beloved Strathmiglo BC. The club recognised Michael with the highest honour available by awarding him life membership in 2018.
Michael Simpson is a double Commonwealth Games representative and an inspiration to mainstream and para bowlers throughout Scotland and beyond. Michael is an exceptional role model to performance athletes across all sports. Michael will retain an active interest in SDS and DSF bowls progress and may even consider coaching. DSF has already offered to support his coaching journey. Michael has made the correct decision and we all wish the Simpson family well.
Richard Brickley, MBE – Chairman DSF (SCIO) Board of Charity Trustees