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
23rd 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
23rd 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
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