'They call me grandad': Former Jersey first teamer swaps rugby for indoor bowls

ITV Channel's Sophie Dulson went to meet Luke as play got underway at the Island Games...

A former Jersey winger has swapped rugby for indoor bowls as he competes in the Island Games.

Luke Le Sueur played for Jersey RFC since he was a teenager, and quickly made his way to the first team - until he quit the game in 2021.

Now he's turned his sights to the entirely different sport of indoor bowls - which he describes as "more relaxing".

He says: "It's nice to wake up in the morning without being battered and bruised.

"With this you get both the social and the competitive side of it."

Whilst rugby has been the focus for most of his life, bowls caught his attention from an early age.

"For my 11th Birthday, my grandparents thought it was a great idea to take me down to the bowling green," he remembers.

"I threw an absolute tantrum, not wanting to go, played a couples of times on the green, loved it and it was from 11-18 I carried on playing."

Luke's friends from his rugby past have their own views on his sporting gear-change.

"They give me stick all the time - they call me grandad," he says.

"It was considered an old person's sport but now you've got the likes of myself, Michael Rive, the Guernsey lot - lots of younger people starting to take up the sport and I think that's brilliant.

"It's starting to be recognised globally as well."

Luke is competing in the open triples and pairs alongside 78-year old Cyril, who says "it makes me feel younger, but I'm not."

The former rugby player says his focus is now on bowls for the rest of his sporting career.

"I might go out for the odd run and continue lifting weights and stuff but bowls for me is my competitive sport," he adds.

"I'll continue doing it until I can no longer play."

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