54th National RSL Bowls Championship National RSL Championships

Over 200 players, as well as family members, from all over Australia, descended on Perth recently, and more specifically Manning Memorial Bowling Club, for the 54th staging of the National RSL Bowls Championships.

State Representatives from Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and a composite 'Allies' side, filled with players from Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia joined WA in the race for the Jack Hamilton VC Trophy.

It has been 47 years since WA tasted success in the event, however all that history would be re-written with a thrilling finish to what was a magnificent event.

After the qualifying rounds were completed, it was down to Western Australia and Queensland to battle it out for the title. The final match didn’t go all WA’s way – in fact with just three ends to play, WA trailed by 7 shots with just one rink remaining on the green.

With a large crowd huddled around the green, it was WA that produced the goods down the stretch to win by two shots, 107-105. A remarkable victory and the first for WA since 1976.

The National Fours then followed and once again it was WA that prevailed in a close final. Played on a wet day at Rossmoyne, under the comfort of its covered carpet surface, it was WA’s Mike Sweeney, Blake Butler, Matthew Ngui and Leo Mola that defeated Victoria in the final 18-17.

The victorious WA team:

Marc Abonnel, Jeff Adams, Blake Butler, Adrian Chesson, Brian Collins, Neville Costello, Frank Fletcher, Scott Gallon, Phil Griffiths, David Gurr, Allan Hornsby, Paul Hutton, Ross Knapp, Brian McMurdo, Leo Mola, Steve Mulhall, Jeff Murray, Matthew Ngui, Les Phillips, Murray Piggott, Daryl Radford, Ken Stower, Michael Sweeney, Willie Tan, Bianca Taylor, Bill Taylor, Lindsay Thorn, Brad Williams.