AROUND THE GREENS

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 19

AROUND THE GREENS

Major fixtures for the week ending December 6 I are:— Today: Electric Light tournament at Beckenham. Saturday: Town v. Country on city greens; Redpath Shield v. DuneI din at Dunedin; Steans Cup v. South Canterbury at Christchurch. Sunday: Mixed tournament at Rangiora, South Brighton, St Martins (half day) and Woolston. Sunday tournaments at Amberley, Kaiapoi. Kirwee, Mona Vale, Morrison Avenue, Southbridge and Tinwald W.M.C. Monday: Electric , Light tournaments at Beckenham and Linwood. Wednesday: Electric Light tournaments at Rakaia and Rangiora; All day tournaments at Halswell (half day) and Rangiora. I “ALL WHITES’” TOUR While none bar the very young and the feeble-minded in New Zealand are not aware of the existence of the All Blacks, it is not so well-known that this country once had a sports team called the “All Whites.” This was the New Zealand bowls team which toured Australia in 1906 and played matches against Queensland. New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, as well as a series of test matches against the Commonwealth at Melbourne. The team won four of the five interstate matches and won one of the three tests. Four of the 19 minor games were lost. The main complaints seemed to be the slowness of the greens and the lack of uniformity of size. Some greens as long as 140 ft were encountered. The tour took seven weeks and the players 6500 miles. Some of their troubles are illustrated by this excerpt from the New Zealand Bowlers Annual 1906-07, which describes a mail train ride from Sydney to Brisbane:

“In spite of the troubles taken by the management to properly ballast the sleeping car by allotting the lower berths to the heavy members :and placing the featherI weights on top, the tourists did not enjoy a very comfortlable night’s rest, and it was {noticeable that they all rose lup very early in the morni ing.” I The only point of resemblance of the “All Whites” to

the All Blacks is that both teams had a haka. During the trip across the Tasman on the Moeraki it was rehearsed daily by the bowlers and {although at first it was not 'taken seriously, especially by some of the more staid mem[bers, it proved a sure attracI tion and was in demand at {every function in Australia. Bowls in New Zealand had its stronghold in Dunedin in those days and many of the touring side were from Dunedin. The publication describes the wharfside farewell to the Otago players: “There was a large muster of local bowlers at Dunedin on the afternoon of October 4, 1906, when the Otago section of the ‘All Whites’ sailed by the S.S. Moeraki en route for Sydney. As the fine vessel cast off from the wharf those on shore cheered lustily, and with the waving of handkerchiefs by the lady friends of the departing bowlers the scene for a time was a particularly animated one. Many were the wishes of good luck and injunctions to ‘keep up your end’; but the persistent calls of one burly bowler for ‘Steward’ boded ill for not a few on board.” It is interesting to note that at the time Australian bowlers played with both feet on the mat. Several of the New Zealanders successfully tried the two feet on the map, but the principal difficulty they found was “always to bear it in mind when about to play.” One of the minor games lost was against Ashfield in Sydney and although the result was in doubt until near the end. “. . . Rankin of Auckland met a snag in Moses, the well-known cricketer and perhaps the most dashing skipper in the State. At the last. head New Zealand was lying a fourer. With the last bowl to play, Moses drove for the bare jack, and t iking it into the ditch scored two shots, thus practically winning the game for Ashfield, as it meant a difference of six points. In the evening the ‘All Whites’ were the guests of the Association at His Majesty’s Theatre, where a capital performance of The Squaw Man’ was witnessed.”

Unfortunately, the New Zealand Bowlers’ Annual is no longer published. Incidentally, the 1906-07 edition was compiled and published

by W. Alloo, father of the New Zealand cricketer of later years. FENDALTON GAMES

Last year’s fours champion at Fendalton, N. Blakeway, met M. Bridges recently in a tense match. It was a very low scoring game and twice in the latter stages Bridges drew the shot when he was five down on the head. On the 21st end Bridges needed three to tie and his attempt to trail the kitty for the shots missed by the proverbial coat of paint and Blakeway won 15-11.

In another exciting fours game, G. Thomson’s rink beat B. Dunn's rink. In the early stages of the game, Thomson saved his side repeatedly. The turning point of the game came on the 18th end when Dunn was holding three excellent shots. Thomson was well off target with a drive, but hit a wing bowl. His bowl then whipped across to pick up the kitty to lie two shots. Thomson went on to win on the 21st end by two points. The surprise of the season to date was the comfortable victory of L. Kissel over R. Ballinger in the club singles championship. BOWLERS DIE The last surviving member of the only West Coast rink to have won a New Zealand bowls title died last week in Greymouth. F. White, a well-known identity of Runanga, skipped the Runanga rink which won the national fours title at Christchurch in 1946. He won five champion-of champion titles on the West Coast and was a life member of the club. Latterly he was the Runanga club’s greenkeeper and supervisor. He played soccer in his native Scotland before coming to New Zealand and developing into one of the West Coast’s leading bowlers. A veteran member of the Edgeware club, C. Skoglund, died last week aged 93. He won the club rinks in 1936 with W. Brown, S. Kennedy and R. Henry (skip) and in 1946 he won the junior singles championship. He joined Edgeware in the 1,920’5. Skoglund was an uncle of the former New Zealand champion, P. S. Skoglund, w io by coincidence was on a visit to Christchurch at the time.

C. Skoglund’s father was a Mayor of Greymouth, and it

was the father who gave the family their start in bowls when he formed the first bowling club in Greymouth. EDGEWARE GAMES. After three rounds of the club championship, only two teams are unbeaten in the rinks. They are skipped by J. Cowan and A. J. Charteris. Two more rounds remain. Edgeware had one of its best days in last Saturday’s Manning Cup round. Ten of the 12 teams won, and five sections were also won. OPAWA

Twenty-four teams from various Christchurch clubs took part in the Opawa club’s all day tournament last week. Gusty north-west winds made conditions tricky but some very close contests resulted; five teams won all of their four games and this resulted in a play off. Christchurch W.M.C, skipped by J. Wales won from

J. Newton's Dallington team. Opawa skipped by F. Croft was third. REDPATH SHIELD

On Saturday. Christchurch bowlers go to Dunedin to contest the annual Redpath Shield fixture, and a South Canterbury team will contest the Steans Cup against Christchurch bowlers at the Dallington green in the afternoon.

This year it is the turn of the country clubs to visit the city for the yearly matches against metropolitan bowlers. Country bowlers will doubtless welcome the oportunity. With no Pennants and Three-Fours games, Saturday also provides an opportunity for clubs to catch up on club championship games.