Bowls Clubs In City And Country Will Open Their Greens Today

Southland Times, Issue 23948, 14 October 1939, Page 16

Bowls Clubs In City And Country Will Open Their Greens Today

By

JACK HIGH

All of the city bowling clubs with the exception of Waikiwi (which opened its green two weeks ago) and Invercargill (which will open next Saturday) will hold opening functions today. Greens generally have benefited by the good weather of the last two weeks and it is expected that playing conditions this afternoon will be as good as in the middle of a season. Two greens which appear to have wintered particularly well are Southland and R.S.A. If they play up to their appearances then the members of those clubs, and visitors as well, are going to have some good bowls this season. . It is pleasing to note the enthusiasm of the R.S.A. Club members, many of whom have put in much work on their green to bring it to a state of almost perfection. For a young club its green and appointments compare very favourably with those of several of the senior clubs. Members of the management committee of the Southland Bowling Centre will officiate at club openings this afternoon as follows: —Northend, Mr T. R. Pryde; Waihopai, Mr A. Derbie; Southland, Mr L. Gray; Te Rangi, Mr H. W. Gazzard, president of the centre; Georgetown, Mr T. Pryde; Bluff, Mr S. C. K. Smith; R.S.A., Mr J. D. Campbell. Mr D. K. Torrance will officiate at Invercargill next week. SOUTH ISLAND TOURNAMENT The {Southland centre has already made a start on the arrangements for the South Island tournament, and it is expected that the posters will be sent out this week-end. The tournament will begin on Boxing Day with the singles championship. Two days have been allotted to the singles which will be followed by the pairs championship, then the fours championship. Four games a day will be played in the pairs and two games a day will be played in the fours. Three days have been alloted to the fours qualifying rounds. Full particulars of the conditions of the events will be printed in this column next week. The popularity of the one-day tournament has again been recognized. During the week the management committee of the centre was called upon to allot dates for no fewer than 13 tournaments. In addition provision was made for the holding of the annual championship fixtures and other events. The 1939-40 season in Southland promises to be an exceedingly full one. All that is required is good weather to make it a record year. Whether the Eastern tournament will be conducted by the centre remains to be decided. With Easter falling so early this season it is imperative that some organized tournament be conducted. The players want it. As expected there will be a full green in the annual Labour Day tournament conducted by the Northend Club. City and country clubs are well represented. The draw for the first round of play will probably be announced on Tuesday morning. SOUTHLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS The dates of the Southland championships (singles, pairs and fours) are as follows: — Shield rink championship, February 3. Chartipion-of-champions pairs, February 24. . Champion-of-champions singles, March 2.

Finals of championships will be played on March 9. The following clubs have been given permission to hold one-day tournaments during the season:— , NORTHEND, Labour day (October 23). • R.S.A., December 23. WAIHOPAI, Trades Picnic Day (January). GEORGETOWN, February 3. JAMES MACPHERSON, February 10. APARIMA, February 17. CENTRAL, Winton, February 24. RIVERTON, March 2. HOKONUI, March 2. TE RANGI, March 9. SOUTHLAND, March 16. OTAUTAU, Good Friday (March 22). WAIKIWI, Easter Monday (March 25). OTHER FIXTURES The Saturday inter-club competition for city teams will begin on Saturday, November 4, and will be concluded irrespective of circumstances on March. 2. The four-rink championship and city rinks competition will begin on Tuesday, November 7. The Mayor’s pairs competition will be played on March 16, and the Harraway Shield match, Otago v. Southland, will be played at Invercargill on February 10. UNUSUAL INCIDENTS A player on the Brighton, Victoria, green was taking part in a pairs contest on November 23, 1911, when he noticed a sparrow hopping along in front of his bowl in an apparently unconcerned manner. As the bowl was about to overtake the sparrow, instead of the bird flying away, it turned broadside on, and the bowl rolled on, crushing the life out of it. The same player, in his cricketing days, once killed a sparrow with a cricket ball while bowling at the practice net. In 1925, on the Vogeltown (New Plymouth) green a player sent down a shot as two birds alighted on the sward. The bowl struck and killed one of the birds, but continued its course to the head, and lay the winning shot. A remarkable incident occurred on the Dunedin green during the postsection play in the rink championship of the Dominion association in January 1930. A skip, drove hard at the head, and his bowl struck a blazer that was projecting over the edge of the bank, and, coming into violent contact with a box of matches in the pocket, set the box on fire. DISAPPEARED IN GREEN The late Sir Joseph Carruthers (New South Wales) was fond of telling of a strange thing he saw on the green at Suva (Fiji). A player found that his missing bowl had gone down a hole that appeared in the green, and when he endeavoured to recover it he also disappeared below, leaving only his head on view to the astonished spectators. He was hauled out without much damage. The Suva green was at one time a portion of the beach, and was built over a coral arch. This in time was undermined by the waves of the sea tunnelling into it, and the green collapsed.