Borders bowler Danny still hoping to be a champion of the world

Now aged 34, the Langlee bowler is known worldwide, having gone to England’s 2022 Commonwealth Games as an aspiring Scotland athlete, won a European pairs title and competed for podium spots in world championships in Australia and South Africa.

He just missed out on qualification for this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow due to a combination of ill-timed injury and intense competition for one pairs spot, but he has his eyes fixed firmly on major world titles in the years to come.

“It is really disappointing to miss a home games but the good thing about bowls is that you can play this sport for a long time, and there is much more to come,” he said.

“There are a lot of big tournaments and Australia are pushing hard to get bowls into the Olympics in 2032, so, ultimately, that’s the big aim.”

What bowls has provided Porter with, however, is not primarily a pathway to international fame but, rather, simply into sport and respect within his local community.

He was born in 1991 with metatrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism and, growing up in Galashiels and attending Langlee Primary School and the town’s academy, recalls that opportunities to be included in sport were never easy to come by or straightforward.

Porter’s subsequent development is part of the legacy of Jedburgh’s late Jed Renilson, a coach remembered for inspiring many young people with disabilities, and their parents, to tackle barriers to participation in competitive sport.

“Obviously, in the condition I am in, PE at school was effectively a free period for me as I wasn’t able to be included in activities, so when Jed encouraged me to try bowls, it gave me something to keep active a little bit,” recalled Porter.

“Metatrophic dysplasia means I’ve got brittle bones, and to try and keep me straight, I’ve actually got one of my ribs standing upright to give me support.

“I had maybe 20 operations in my younger years because you get numerous fractures and broken bones, but that’s why bowls has been quite a good sport for me because there’s no physical contact.

“It’s also a sport where you can play with able-bodied people – about 80% of my bowls is with able-bodied bowlers – and for as long as you want.

“Willie Wood (a former Scottish and world champion) was playing against my club recently and he’s in his late 80s – it’s a very inclusive sport.”

After completing a degree in architectural engineering and returning to work in the Borders, Porter was appointed as Gala Bowling Club’s youngest president ever at 26, inspiring his mum Roseanne to follow in his footsteps in 2021 and become the first female president in their 163-year history. Both have also been champions and presidents of Hawick’s Teviotdale Indoor Bowling Club.

Porter won his first Scotland cap in 2019 and was part of Team Scotland’s mentoring programme at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games three years later, having won Bowls Scotland’s first national para pairs with Michael Simpson, and he was then selected for the World Bowls Championships’ first para competition in Australia’s Gold Coast in 2023.

“That was huge to be a part of and a very enjoyable three weeks in Gold Coast,” said Porter. “Unfortunately, we just missed out on bronze medals on shot difference and that was a kick to the guts, but to get so close to a medal in my first major tournament was encouraging and spurred me on more.

“In 2024, I went to South Africa for the International Bowls for the Disabled world championships, and as there’s no funding in Scotland for that, I had to self-fund, which was really tough, but it was amazing.

“I narrowly got beat on shot difference again and, even more brutally, I was the only bowler to beat the eventual gold medallist, but I was very happy with my performance, and to experience two major events and find I could compete with the best in the world was brilliant.”

Porter says he has Scottish Borders Council’s athlete support programme to thank for the sporting successes he’s enjoyed as it has enabled him to access strength and conditioning training with coach Stuart Paton, as well as physiotherapy and massage to help him recover from injury, support otherwise unavailable in Scottish bowling but on offer to many of his rivals across the world – daily, if required, and for free – via national programmes.

He’s also grateful to his employers, Foundever Global Services in Galashiels, as they allow him to fit his job as a client manager around training camps and competitions and to Cumbernauld-based sportswear firm XX20 Sports, for whom he acts as a brand ambassador.

Recovering from a ligament injury last year, Porter has just finished an indoor season that saw him defend his gents’ singles crown at the Teviotdale club and reach the quarter-finals of the inaugural para open single circuit in Bristol.

He is now setting his sights on Bowls Scotland’s podium competitions and assessments to remain part of Scotland’s high-performance squad, with the defence of his European para pairs title and the sport’s home international series among his plans for the latter part of 2026.

“There is a lot to look forward to,” he added.

“When I look back to when I started out as a young kid in Langlee, things are much better for people with disabilities now.

“I’m fortunate to have become part of a bowling club because they don’t see me as a para athlete. They just see me as a guy, a friend and part of the club and take my talent on merit rather than looking at my disability.

“If there are kids with a disability out there reading this who wonder if they could compete in sport, I’d say get along to your local bowls club because that’s a great place to start.”