Commonwealth Games Wrap

Birmingham 2022, a tournament to be remembered amongst the Australian bowling fraternity for eternity… History books rewritten!

The history books were rewritten for the Jackaroos, who topped the dais on three occasions on UK soil, a previously barren body of land that had quashed the hopes and dreams of the green and gold army for decades.

But not this year, with a maiden first-place final medal tally finish in Britain, and just the second ever first-place finish abroad, following Auckland 1990.

The Australian squad enjoyed their most successful overseas Commonwealth Games, eclipsing that of Auckland 1990 where the team also won a trio of gold, but two less silver medals than what the nation did this week.

To make the event even more special, in terms of medal tallies, this was Australia’s second most successful Games in history, only outdone by the five gold medals won at Gold Coast 2018.

Throughout the tournament, records were set, broken and matched, with members of the green and gold entering the realms of immortality on the greens of Royal Leamington Spa.

Starting with Ellen Ryan, there were a number of firsts with her campaign.

The obvious one, the 25-year-old became the inaugural Australian gold medallist on UK soil, sending the Australian contingent in the crowd into frenzy and reducing some to tears of jubilation.

The Goulburn native is also the first Australian to win the women’s singles at the Commonwealth Games, as well as the first player in history to take home the singles and pairs gold at the same event, male or female thanks to her second gold medal with Kristina Krstic in the pairs.

That final itself will go down as one of the all time greats, with Ryan’s final bowl arguably now the most monumental in Australian bowls history.

For Krstic, she becomes the first female Commonwealth Games gold medallist from Western Australia, overcoming a barrage of travel restrictions over the past two years and becoming a state hero.

She joins Bert Sharp as the state’s only Games conquerors.

Switching tact to Aaron Wilson and his men’s singles triumph made him the first player since David Bryant in 1978 to defend the men’s singles crown at the Games, the pair stand alone as the only ever to achieve the feat.

The man affectionately known as Disco joined Bryant as the only player to ever win multiple men’s singles gold medals, and with the 2026 event staged in Bendigo, his town of birth, a third might not be out of the question.

• Ellen Ryan and Kristina Krstic – gold medal winners.

Ryan and Wilson have joined Carla Krizanic, Rebecca Van Asch and Natasha Van Eldik with the most gold medals at the Commonwealth Games by Australian bowlers, all of which have two.

In terms of medals, Barrie Lester claimed a fourth career medal with a silver in the men’s triples to equal Karen Murphy and Nathan Rice with the most ever medals won by Australian bowlers at the Games.

In the para women’s pairs, Cheryl Lindfield and Serena Bonnell became the nation’s first ever non-visually impaired female para medallists, both on debut at the multi-sport competition.

Joining Ryan, Krstic, Lindfield and Bonnell in receiving medallions in their first Commonwealth Games were Carl Healey, Ben Twist, Damien Delgado and Chris Flavel.

It has been a magnificent week for the sport, country and team, Birmingham 2022 is now firmly cemented in Australian bowls folklore.

2022 National Championships WA teams announced for Nationals

The State Selection Panel is pleased to announce all the State Teams that will compete at the National Championships at the Broadbeach Bowling Club on the Gold Coast.

First up, the Under 18 Championships will be played over 2 days on Friday, September 30th and Saturday, October 1st. Each player will play two disciplines with the boy’s pairs and triples played on day 1 and the singles and fours played on day 2. Selectors have not decided on exact positions for the players at the moment, this will be done in the near future. Unfortunately, WA is unable to send a Girl’s team this year due to a lack of players.

Western Australian Under 18 Boys

Segan Pasalich Osborne Park Cam Wellington Harvey Callum Alberti South Perth Brock Kilmurray Dandaragan Tom Brooks Dandaragan

Western Australian Men’s Over 60s

The Over 60s will be next on the Broadbeach greens, starting at 4.00 pm on Sunday, October 2nd and concluding on Wednesday, October 5th.

Skip Third Second Lead Chris Lander Gary Keep Grant Nicol Greg Taylor Eric Johannes Neville Stevens Ross Bolton Jerome Clayton John Goddard Kevin Pickering Steve Cerff Gordon King

Western Australian Women’s Over 60s

Skip Third Second Lead Lee Poletti Kerry AndersenLexie Webster Irene Arndt Kaye Blackwell Rhona Prosser Liz Matthews Pauline Bourne Noelene Abe Sharon WhanaBev Davidson Irene Leahy

The last of the selected State Teams to take to the greens will be the Open State Teams starting at 4.00 pm on Thursday, October 6th, and concluding on Sunday, October 9th. After the State Teams have finished, the Australian Championships will commence on Monday, October 10th. Specific dates for each discipline will be provided in the future.

Western Australian Men’s Open

Skip Cody Packer Blake Nairn

Anthony Williams Third

Dave Rankin

Clive Adams

Shane Knott Second

Warren Holt

Dale Marsland

Bill Brandsma Lead

Cameron Harris

Jack East

Russell Bates

Western Australian Women’s Open

Skip Kristina Krstic Third Second

Chris Ace-Watson Shaan Saunders

Lisa Featherby Laura Merz Robyn O'Brien Hailey Packer Denise Kelly Kaitlin Tyrell Lead

Linda Warburton

Shari Solly Jenny Parker

The North Beach Bowling Club was thrilled to present a 50 badge of a different kind at their recent presentation night when Mal Dempsey was acknowledged for his 50 years of bowling membership at the club – our first member to reach the milestone.

Mal joined NBBC in 1972, two years after starting his bowling journey as an inaugural member of the Beacon Bowling Club.

Mal has been a part of 5 pennant winning sides in 1976/77 for Saturday 3rd division, 1988/89 for Saturday 1 Blue, 1996/97 Midweek 1 Red, 1999/2000 Saturday 1 White and 2017/18 Saturday 4th division.

He has been the Men’s Singles champion three times, won the Men’s Pairs three times, Triples six times, the Fours a massive thirteen times and has a mixed fours title to his name with his beloved Alma.

He has also had success at state level, winning the Champion of Champion Triples in 1980.

Off the green, Mal has been a massive contributor to the club’s success. As President of the North Beach Sportsmen’s Club for 6 years, he led the major extensions made to the clubrooms.

He was the NBBC president in 1984/85 and then for another 6 years from 2009 to 2015. Mal has been a selector at the club, spent many years coaching new bowlers at the club and been a sponsor for more than 40 years.

In addition to his work at North Beach, Mal was on the Bowls WA Executive for two years, Director of Coaching for Bowls in WA for two years, served three years as a State selector and one as the Manager of the State Team.

He was a member of the State Coaching panel, initiated the State Side coaching program and was the Inaugural Chair of the Bowls WA Hall of Fame Committee.

He is a life member of the Master Builders WA Bowling Club, having joined in 1976 and serving thirteen years from 19982012 as its President and two years as Vice President 199697.

• Mal Dempsey with daughter Glenda.

Mal was made a life member of North Beach in 1990, has C Green named after him and the trophy for the MVP of the clubs’ men’s top pennant team is named in his honour.

His love for bowls and service to the game has been passed on to his children, with son Ross being a former WA State player and State Singles winner and daughter Glenda being the Ladies Captain at NBBC and a Director of Bowls WA.

Due to the rescheduling of the Australian Championships the Champion of Club Championship Singles was moved to the later date of May 14-15. The event still attracted strong fields with 56 entries in the Men’s competition and 42 in the Women’s and was played in cool temperatures of around 20 degrees. Due to previous rain the Yokine greens were a touch on the slower than normal side but ran well giving all bowlers their chance.

Men Women

Mitchell too strong for gallant Holt

The Men’s event saw many familiar faces line up to do battle including several WA state representatives who all progressed through sectional play. The round of 16 saw some great matches played.

The pick of these involved two past winners with John Goddard (Hopetoun) defeating Thomas Mitchell (Manning) 21-18 in a real thriller.

In a battle of the young guns Jack East (Osborne Park) played Dan Nicholls (Sorrento) which saw Jack come home 21-20 in a very tight affair. Likewise Nic Reagan (North Perth) defeated Gavin Faulkner (Doubleview) 2120 in another great match whilst Drew Daley (Mosman Park) upset one of the favourites Clive Adams (Cambridge) 21-15.

The quarter finals again produced some terrific match ups. Matthew Mitchell (Emu Point) defeated Glenn Pauling (South Perth) 21-15, John Goddard defeated Jack East 21-14, Warren Holt (Wagin) defeated Nic Reagan 21-11 and Dave Rankin (Kardinya) defeated Drew Daley 21-16.

This setup the semi-finals were Warren Holt overcame John Goddard 25-21 and Matthew Mitchell got the better of Dave Rankin 25-17 to set up an all country final for the first time since 1989.

Fitting for how the competition had played out the final was another great match. Matthew Mitchell eventually ran out the winner 25-22 over a gallant Warren Holt.

Kathy Gobbart,s first Champions win

In the Women’s competition the majority of favoured players once again progressed through sectional play. The round of 16 saw two notable upsets with Linda Warburton (Mosman Park) defeated by Carol Ashworth (York) 21-19 and Irene Arndt (Safety Bay) defeated by Coral Thorn (Thornlie) 21-17.

Those two winners then met in the quarter finals were Thorn progressed 21-14. Kathy Gobbart (Gingin) had a monster 21-2 victory over Karen Gibbs (Cockburn), Laura Merz (Manning) defeated Isobelle Davies (Melville) 21-10, Lisa Smith (Perth and Tattersalls) defeated Jenni McLaughlin (North Beach) 21-11.

Lisa Smith was in great form in the semi finals recording a 21-9 win over Coral Thorn whose great run came to an end.

The other semi final was a great affair worthy of a final. In the end Kathy Gobbart got the better of Laura Merz 25-21.

The final proved to be another good encounter however Kathy Gobbart was able to hold sway and finish strongly over Lisa Smith to claim her first Champion of Club Championship Singles victory.

No doubt Kathy was elated with her win and probably breathing a sigh of relief after having been runner-up on four separate occasions.

• Kathy Gobbart.

Congratulations to our two Country champions Matthew Mitchell and Kathy Gobbart who will now represent WA at the Nationals at the Broadbeach Bowling Club,, September 30 – October 1, 2022.

2022 State Mixed Pairs Opie and Morss win Mixed Pairs

• Justin Opie and Helen Morss, winners of the State Mixed Pairs.

The State Mixed Pairs again increased in numbers with record entries playing the sets play format. Long days were required to ensure it finished on the same weekend, but all players were in high spirits and enjoying the competition

The final at the Leeming Bowling Club was played in perfect conditions starting late on the Sunday afternoon and finishing under the lights. The combination of Helen Morss and Justin Opie (South Perth) took control early by winning the first set 8-3 over Doug Kelly (Meckering) and Denise Kelly (Mosman Park).

The Kelly pairing started the second set very slowly and it looked all over with Morss leading 5-0 and holding with only one Doug Kelly bowl remaining. However, Kelly was able to handle the pressure and get the shot to kickstart their comeback. Winning the final five ends in the set, Kelly clawed his way over the line and take the second set 6-5 to set up the one end tiebreak.

With a wide open final head early, Opie was able to draw the shot in the leading position and it was to remain for the rest of the end with Kelly going through holes as he strived to get the match winning shot. In the end Helen Morss and Justin Opie prevailed 8-3, 5-6, 1-0 to win the 2021-22 Mixed State Pairs Championship.

Based on prestigous events over 3 years MEN

Rank Name Club Total

1 Nairn, Blake Cambridge 356 2 Marsland, Dale Mosman Park 231 3 Opie, Justin South Perth 215 4 Packer, Cody Osborne Park 214 5 Slavich, John Doubleview 201 6 Mitchell, Matthew Emu Point 181 7 Adams, Clive Cambridge 178 8 Trewhella, Daniel Manning 159 9 Holt, Warren Wagin 134 9 Rankin, Dave Kardinya 134 11 Mitchell, Thomas Manning 130 12 Downey, David Manning 128 13 Pauling, Glenn South Perth 99 14 East, Jack Osborne Park 96 14 Such, Lee South Perth 96 16 Bates, Russell Doubleview 87 17 Eagles, Bruce Sorrento 71 18 Faulkner, Gavin Doubleview 64 19 Biddle, Connor Osborne Park 57 20 Knott, Shane Manning 53

WOMEN

Rank Name Club Total

1 Featherby, Lisa Mosman Park 347 2 Packer, Hailey Manning 320 3 Krstic, Kristina Manning 295 4 Merz, Laura Manning 249 5 Warburton, Linda Mosman Park 202 6 Andersen, Kerry Mosman Park 162 7 O'Brien, Robyn Manning 143 8 Hastings, Therese Guilderton 136 9 Solly, Shari North Beach 134 10 Poletti, Lee Mosman Park 123 11 Abe, Noelene Corrigin 118 11 Saunders, Shaan Osborne Park 118 13 Kelly, Denise Mosman Park 111 14 Masters, Amanda Osborne Park 102 15 Morss, Helen South Perth 100 16 Heal, Helen Manning 95 17 Blackwell, Kaye North Beach 89 18 Tyrrell, Kaitlin Osborne Park 82 19 Bruce, Jennie Busselton 77 20 Ace-Watson, Chris Mosman Park 72

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