Evans Head Bowling Club

Another busy month at the Bowlo.

The annual Whiting – Snapper Shield was held on the weekend of 17th and 18th with Deception Bay coming down to bowl. The Trophy was played for on the Sunday, mixed bowls with over 3200 bowls being sent down and when it came to tally up the numbers Evans Head won 166 to 165. There were many a recount and many added up the figures but it remained the closest of wins to us. A few notable game scores need to be mentioned with Jack Kingman’s team and John Forshaw’s getting a flogging. Jack going down 26 to 5 and John well we won’t talk about that game. Needless to say Ray Elley and Geoff Hetherington had big wins and this pulled us through in the end. This was a great weekend and we can’t wait till next year for the rematch.

Presentation night was held on the 24th with the results below. A good crowd turned up to collect their trophies; Langy once again had to bring his wheelbarrow along to collect his lot. John and Phil who won the Major pairs said they were very pleased to win this year as last year Langy injured himself and they lost and both believe they were robbed. Langy was pretty much on the ball when he said they blew the opposition off the green in the final, both played great bowls during that game I recall.

(Alan Marsden presenting Alan Gilbert the "Club Person of the Year")
Peter Koskela was very happy with his Minor Singles win and thanked Glen Pobje for a great game. Peter Carey praised young Aaron Teys for his achievement in winning the Major Singles, Steve Cselka with Tony Dance who came back from a 12 to 1 deficit to win their game against Darryl and Glen Pobje on the last end said it did not matter about the size of the trophies that it was a great bloody game.

Mavis and Norm Fox who won the mixed pairs thanked the players that they played, Barry Mallett was supposed to present this trophy but one thing led to another and he ended up presenting the Minor Pairs.

Langy again was called up for another win in the triples with himself, Eric Swanson and Jimmy Verrall winning the crown in that, he thanked Terry Sheen, Rod Greentree and Peter Carey for a great game. But wait there’s more for the big fella with a win in the Men’s Fours teamed with Kenny Hardy, Charlie Wilson and Aaron Teys when they defeated Slippery Clark (still cannot work out why Slippery) Jim Verrall, Vic Lindsay and Freddie Vaughan. Jim vowed that next year they will win and said that they let the old blokes win.

By this time Langy’s wheelbarrow was getting full so there was an unload out to the B Double parked out front and on his return, you guessed it up he was called again for the Mixed fours, along with Barry Mallett (who by this time was wondering what went wrong for the Coalition in the election and was not very happy), Sue Downs and Jeannie Deuchar. John thanked the opposition of Stef, Steve and Amanda Cselka and Terry Sheen for the game and commented that Stef has the best and most fluent backhand that he has ever seen. Barry was contemplating an early exit for the night as things just got worse and worse in the election, sort of like the game against his arch nemesis Norm Fox, don’t worry Bazza the sun will still rise in the morning.

(Yvonne Marsden presenting Mavis Cheetham the "Club Person of the Year")
Then out came the Chinese food which as always is nothing short of brilliant. As the night wore on more and more were in front of the big screen watching the end of the Coalition and John Howard. There were long faces and happy ones as well, we can be thankful that we can have a say in politics though sometimes I wonder what is the use, as they are all a pack of %$&**. On the Sunday after the presentation Night I managed to front up for the visit from the Lismore Workers Group, this was a mixed visit and we had 2 greens of bowlers. Teams were all mixed in all over the place so it did not matter who won or lost on the day, we just had a great day of bowls. It was a very friendly get together and Evans Head will be doing a trip up early in the New Year.

Junior Roundup with Terry Sheen.

Saturday 24th. November Evans Head Bowls Club held their presentation night for bowlers. Four junior bowlers were presented with awards on the night. Bradley Lauritzen received his first award for bowls for his outstanding play in our recent District Junior Training day with his play in the Consistency Singles. Luke Jones’ award was for the most improved bowler in the junior section of the Evans Head Club. The two girls, Amanda and Stef Cselka received their recognition for reaching the semi-finals of the State C.H.S. at Warilla this year. The two girls were complimented for their play in the events they entered by the State representative. Amanda and Stefanie will be playing in the junior event at Yamba Bowling Club next month, and in January they will be contesting the Ballina Junior/Senior event. Keep your eyes on young Luke Jones as I have received great praise on his ability from the President of Evans Head Bowling Club. Any parent(s) that has a child between 10-14 years of age that wish to play lawn bowls please contact Terry Sheen on 6682 6162 as a new training system is being formed.

Yours in bowls, Terry Sheen Chairman of Junior Development N.R.D.B.A.

Championship Games for the Month:
Mixed Pairs:

The final of the mixed pairs was held on the 25th Oct between Norm & Mavis Fox and Alice Peel partnered by Gary Hackett as husband Col has had an operation on his knee. Norm told me a month ago that he would do Slab and if he did he would go on with this championship, he was pretty confident. A good crowd turned up to watch this game with the first bowl going down at 9.30am. The Foxes got off to their traditional bad start once again with Alice and Gary leading 14 to 4 on the 10th end with Alice playing unreal bowls. Gary was also bowling brilliant bowls, on one end Norm forgot to get back bowls in and Hack on his last bowl picked the kitty up and trailed it back a few feet to go from 4 down to 4 up, this was as I thought the end of the Foxes. Barry Mallet was also watching the game and he said the Foxes got off to the same sort of start that he had in his game, terrible in the first half but home strong in the second. He assured me that this is what would happen here. Slowly Norm and Mavis started to claw back the deficit, 1 on this end, 2 on the next, a five for good measure and before you knew it it was new leaders in the game, this put the pressure onto Alice who started going wide and in the ditch on more than one occasion, Hack was not taking the grass and cutting the head, but Norm once again put his head down and ass up to come home with some great bowls. This was a thoroughly deserved win by Norm and Mavis who as I see it had the toughest draw just to get to the final, beating Eric and Merle was no mean feat, then beating Slab and Sue was the icing on the cake. Well done!

Mixed Fours:

Amanda, Steve & Stef Cselka with Coach Terry Sheen played Gail & Heather Marzcan, Kevin Jones and Merv Lavelle on 3rd Nov. The game started off on time and was very close for the first 6 or so ends, then Terry and crew got a bit of a kick along and scored 10 shots in 3 ends, this gave them a lead of 18 to 8 with 6 ends to go. Merv was playing brilliant bowls throughout the game, his on-shots were really giving Steve the S@#% because there were many that saved 2, 3 or 4 shots and this resulted in Merv’s team coming back to within 4 shots. On the last end Merv was holding 3 and a measure for 4, but Stef came home with a draw for second shot, Merv missed sitting her bowl out by a couple of inches which would of given them a 4, Terry then bowled a great bowl to hold 3rd shot. Merv cut short on his last attempt and got one shot, declare the end yelled Stef. The end of the game saw a good hard fought win to Terry and team 19 to 16. Amanda again was the star player of Terry’s team who bowled brilliant lead bowls, draw-draw-draw that is all she did. This was a great game played in good spirits. The final between the big fella Langy and Mr Sheen is sure to be a good game.

The final was played on Wednesday 22nd and it was a struggle for Terry’s team from the outset, Sue Downs was bowling very good bowls both into the wind and with the wind, and was always within a few feet and this really helped John on numerous occasions. Langy’s team got off to a brilliant start opening up a very good lead mid way through the game 12 to 1. John bowled superb bowls throughout the game and it is easy to see why he is the Clubs number one bowler, the Numero uno, Langy has got a smooth action for a big fella and is very experienced at reading 2, 3 or 4 shots ahead. He always goes up to the mat confident that he will draw the shot or kill the end if so needed, and this is what he did right through the game. On one end we were holding 3 possibly 4 shots, bang Langy killed the end, on another end we were holding 3 shots, no drive this time but draw the absolute shot. Steve & Barry had ordinary games nothing spectacular from either of them, Amanda and Stefanie were both off there game early although they did bowl very good bowls for the last 4 or 5 ends but it was all too late as Langy and team went on to record a well deserved win 21 to 13.

Well that brings to an end the Championship season at Evans Head, all in all the games were played in very good spirits though some got there nose’s out of joint by getting beaten. The Club has a very deep bowler base and I am sure that ALL will get a run in pennants, possibly not me after Barry reads my poem in the next issue, as if I get dropped from the sixes it is freefall for me.

Men’s Championship Results.

Minor Singles: P Koskela, runner up: G Pobje
Major Singles: A Teys, runner up: P Carey
Minor Pairs: T Dance & S Cselka, runners up: D Pobje & G Pobje
Major Pairs: P Benton & J Lang, runners up: W King & B Cooper
Mixed Pairs: M Fox & N Fox, runners up: A Peel & C Peel (sub G Hackett)
Triples: J Verrall, E Swanson, J Lang, runners up: T Sheen, R Greentree, P Carey
Fours: K Hardy, C Wilson, A Teys, J Lang, runners up: S Clark, J Verrall, V Lindsay, F Vaughan.
Mixed Fours: J Deuchar, B Mallett, S Downs, J Lang. runners up: A Cselka, S Cselka, S Cselka, T Sheen.

Women’s Championship Results:
Championship & Competition Winners:
Major Singles: M Fox, runner up: G Pryke
Major Pairs: J Deuchar, B Montague, runners up: B Marsh, S Downs
Triples: J O’Keefe, S Downs, A Peel, runners up: G Marzcan, H Marzcan, M Swanson
Fours: M Sheen, N Sandford, S Crosby, V Hart, runners up: J Fernance, H Mulligan, Y Vaughan, M Swanson
Minor Singles: S Crosby, runner up: C Brown
Minor Pairs: J O’Keefe, T Cselka, runners up: J Roberts, L Nobbs
Consistency: B Marsh, runner up: A Peel
Novice singles: J O’Keefe, runner up: S Cselka