Update 30^th September  2013.

The weather was not kind over the weekend causing the cancellation of the Fitzherbert Rowe Any Gender triples on Sunday.

Good luck to the Northern Members going down to Paraparaumu this weekend.

Bowling On

30^th September.

The draw is out for the Centre Open singles and while there is a familiar look to much of the field there are some notable names missing.

The event will be played from 12-14 October and sections will be held at Woodville, Palmerston North (2), Johnston Park and Shannon. There is a reluctance from some clubs to host singles because of the need to provide markers but the two life system means exiting players should be able to mark all games after the second round.

The women's event has drawn 28 entries and Northern (10), Palmerston North (6) and Terrace End (6) provide the bulk of the entry with Takaro, Himatangi Beach, Hokowhitu and Johnston Park having a sole entry each and the remaining two being visitors from Taradale and Marton.

It is not a good omen for Johnston Park's ability to compete in the combined Wanganui interclub competition with a single entry.

Notably absent are Sharon Sims, Christine Quinn, Sophie Fisher and Lyn Jensen.

The men's event has drawn a field of 48 and 37 of those entries come from four clubs being Palmerston North (12), Northern and Terrace End (9 each) and the surprise package is an entry of seven from Himatangi Beach. The most notable absentees are Ross Ellery who is having a break from the game, fellow Representative bowler Chris Barrett and the promising Dean Gilshnan. Ellery has been a stand out as the Manawatu singles player and Barrett may well have have been in consideration for the spot if he had fronted for this tournament. Selector Terry Puklowski is unlikely to defer to the old guard with players like Pat Horgan and Philip Skoglund so there is a real opportunity for a younger bowler to stand up and say pick me.

The extremely talented Shane Rogers is one in that bracket but to use harness racing parlance he is on the unruly list and will need to alter a few behaviours to meet Puklowski's favour. Others in the younger bracket who could press for representative spots are Clayton Simpson and Michael Abraham who are now at Palmerston North and Michael Hodge.

• One of the stand out tournaments that is deserved of player support will be held at Palmerston North Bowling Club this Sunday. The Rescue Helicopter fundraiser is an any gender mufti fours and about $4000 was raised last year. Get your entries in and support this great cause that will touch us all at some stage.

• The annual hexagonal tournament for eight year and under bowlers will be held in Wanganui this coming weekend. Teams are; Men, Glen Curtis ,Alan Burton, John Osborne, Kevin Bryan, Rob Christiaans (all Takaro), Chance Hausman (Bulls), Mike Hodge (Terrace End), Michael Bowey (Palmerston North) and Graeme Black (Northern). Women, Ailsa Lindsay, Sharon Groves, Glenda O'Conner (Terrace End), Tania Harris (Northern), Christina Bryan (Takaro), Sophie Fisher, Michele Welsh (Himatangi Beach), Mary McConway, Beryl England (Palmerston North) and Kylie Yates (Ashhurst).

• Don't forget entries close for the Labour Weekend Centre 2-4-2 pairs this Friday 4 October.

Enjoy your bowls.

TONY JENSEN

Thanks Tony

Update 23rd September.

The Handicap pairs was a bit of a wash out last Saturday.
We managed 1 game and about 6 ends of the second game before the heavens opened up and the plug was pulled.

Bowling On
23^rd September

Bowls New Zealand is honouring it's century of existence with the overdue establishment of a Hall of Fame.

At a recent function 36 bowlers were named as the inaugural inductees. Of those 27 are named as athletes of the highest calibre and a further nine were selected for their outstanding efforts in support of the sport. Manawatu provides three athletes in Phil Skoglund Snr, Sharon Sims and Russell Meyer and all are justly honoured.

Five of the 27 athletes were chosen to wear the mantle "Kiwi Bowling Legends" and the only two males in the five are Phil Skoglund and Peter Belliss from our neighbouring Centre Wanganui. The women included are Elsie Wilkie, Cis Winstanley and Millie Khan and I wouldn't expect any arguments there.

 Many have long espoused Skoglund as New Zealand's finest ever male bowler and it is good to have that recognition. He remains the only bowler to win three consecutive National singles and that was in a time that the tournament attracted three times the numbers it does today. He is also a NZ Sports Hall of Fame inductee.

What disappoints me about the line-up named is the absence of the names Nick Unkovich and Gary Lawson. Both are superior bowlers to some of those named and one can only assume it was their brushes with officialdom that caused their absence. They remain our only double gold star National winners. Hopefully their omission will be rectified in time.

•  I have noticed with interest that in the latest edition of it's handbook the Manawatu Centre is again publishing membership numbers for each club.

While not wanting to sound too negative a good number of clubs are clearly on life support. In the five city clubs there are 432 members using a total of 14 greens. In days gone by the rule of thumb was 100 bowlers per green but the above statistics work out to only 31 bowlers per green. Only Palmerston North is located on freehold title and I wonder how satisfied the Palmerston North City Council is with effective use of its assets.

City Clubs are more vulnerable than the country clubs, players have options and are more likely to move clubs for a variety of reasons including dissatisfaction with green standard, to play with mates or a spat with someone in the club. As long as they can get someone to keep the green our country cousins seem to survive. Kimbolton, Ashhurst and Te Kawau with seven women between them have largely ineffective women's sections and with a total of 271 women playing in the Centre that game is more at risk than the men's.

• Terry Puklowski has returned to selecting duties after a long absence and will select our men's teams at all levels. No doubt one or two fringe players are offering to mow his lawns!

• Players need to be getting entries in for the Centre Open singles from 12-14 October and I am glad to see a return to the two life system.

• I'll battle to make this a weekly column without support from Clubs. Email news to tony.jensen@aon.com. So far I have had a nil return from my first appeal for news. Good bowling.

Tony Jensen

Update 16^th September  2013.

Saturday was the opening of the 2013 – 2014 season.

After a welcome and the rolling up of the first bowl of the season by our club Patron, Noeleen, play commenced for the Herbert plate.

This Progressive Tournament has been weather affected more than most in the last couple of seasons so it was sort of a surprise, given the forecast, that we were able to play for the plate in what was pretty good weather on green 2 which to me, appeared to run nicely for the first use of the season. The winner of the Herbert Plate was Doug Hayward our Club Captain. Well done Doug.

With all the smart phones and camera’s around these days, if you are at a tournament or a game, the likelihood is that you may see an opportunity to take a candid picture that is worth sharing with others in the club. Please take it and put it up on our Facebook page or if you prefer, send it to me and I will put it in the Blog or on Facebook for you. You can send it to my email address or to my mobile phone. The number is in the Club Program booklet.

Bowling On, 16^th September.

Bowling Clubs knew the season was upon us at the weekend when many celebrated opening to the accompaniment of the usual biting breeze that only the Manawatu can produce.

It will be a busy season at Centre level with Open tournaments restored although champion of champion events will still be the pathway to regional and National finals. Many of our competitive bowlers felt short changed with the absence of Open events last season so hopefully they will provide enough entries to justify the restoration of these tournaments.

Whether running a Centre Open Singles in mid October is wise planning is another thing. We usually strike our worst weather then, greens have not reached their best and players are likely to be short on match play. Playing the Blue riband event so early may be folly.

Another major change this season sees Manawatu joining Wanganui for a combined premiere interclub of four teams each. Something had to be done at that level and I welcome the initiative. In the women's competition there had only been three teams for several years and the men only fronted with four clubs. Johnston Park has stepped up to be the fourth women's team although there is a possibility they may yet have to combine with another Club to select  a competitive seven players.

Whether women will enjoy the elongated competition and travel commitment as much as the men I am guarded on. It was only two years ago there were howls of protest from some over extending the competition to two days.

• There are usually many rumours about player movements during the off season and among those I have heard but not substantiated are;

- Manawatu singles exponent Ross Ellery is taking a total break from the game to concentrate on family.

- Sharon Sims is having a break from bowls altogether and I note she has no administration roles in the Centre or her Northern Club.

- Feona Sayles now has involvement with Bowls NZ and will not be playing as often

- One I'm delighted to confirm is that current Manawatu singles champion Stephen Love has joined Johnston Park. Stephen was very competitive at the Professional Bowlers Association singles in Invercargill recently until a wonky knee forced him to withdraw from the semi-final and forfeit the chance of a trip to England.

- Craig Gush is heading to Fiji with his job. With his ability don't be surprised to see him bob up playing bowls for the country at Commonwealth games or the like. There's a challenge for you Craig.

- Promising women's bowler Tania MacKay is back after a year's absence playing at Johnston Park.

- Current Manawatu singles champion Lyn Jensen won't get in much play at all this season as she abandons her husband and concentrates on her other role of Inner Wheel NZ President.

• Bowls and in particular the Hokowhitu Club lost a gem of a man with the recent  passing of Don McPhee. Don had been Club President, greenkeeper and I will remember him best for his coaching. I often turned up to play at Hokowhitu to find Don tutoring a group of newer bowlers. Don always took the initiative to involve those bowlers. He was no mean bowler himself and was good enough to earn a Centre title leading for Scruff Gordon's four in the champion of champions in the 2001-02 season. I lead against him in that final and we had a torrid scrap. As an aside Scruff's performance at skip that day rank's as one of the finest I've seen.

Don had many and varied interests, a piper, clansman and Rugby refereeing and never lacked an opinion on sport. He will be missed.

• I won't be on the greens much myself before Christmas. I recently had a hiatus hernia repaired which will keep me quiet for awhile and I will then be having a knee tidied up.

 To make this column relevant I need support from Clubs so please email news to tony.jensen@aon.com or txt me on 021491808 as a passing comment if you see me at a club will likely get lost.

I was disappointed last season when I asked for all Division One interclub teams so I could do a preview and received only one. So as soon as you select let me know. Good bowling.

TONY JENSEN

Thanks Tony