Southport Croquet Club’s MSOB Gateball Competition 2023

From Saturday 24th to Monday 26th June Southport Croquet Club held its annual Mallet Sports on the Broadwater (MSOB) at the Gold Coast QLD.

The Gateball Teams Competition was held first. With 9 teams competing it was a good playing roster to organise- 3 courts used with 2 teams playing and one team refereeing. Everything went smoothly particularly since the weather was exceptionally mild and sunny.

The winning team was a combined team. The members of the team came from Rockhampton, Bribie Island in QLD, Lake Macquarie and Newcastle in NSW and one  player from Canberra. The presentations were made by a representative of the Sponsors- Michael Hare Eye Vision.

In second place was the Southport Red team which was one of 3 teams that Southport entered.

The third place went to the team from Moreton Bay.

The Gateball Doubles competition had 18 Doubles teams entered. Again, this created 2 Blocks of 9 pairs and was good to organise the games. The winning pair were from Moreton Bay- Emma Mauceri and Kaelan Sweatman. The presentations were made by the Club Patron, Dawn Crichlow.

In 2nd place were a Southport pair- Kathie Grant and Barbara Northcott.

In 3rd position was a Doubles pair from Eildon – Richard Bevan and Philip Rowland.

 

 

Southport’s Gateball Triples

The annual Gateball Triples Competition was held at Southport Croquet Club on Saturday and Sunday 15-16th April. Originally the event was planned as a one-day event. However the popularity of this version of Gateball has grown. Fourteen teams entered of which 7 were from Southport.  The competition was organised into two Blocks of 7 teams. Advertised as a one-day event, the organisers faced a good problem- that  of too many teams for a one-day event. How to complete the Round Robin in one day?

The Southport members of the 7 teams in the Gateball Triples

Julia Vickers came up with a solution and the Southport teams co-operated. A decision was taken to have the teams from Southport that were scheduled to play on the Sunday transferred to be played on the Saturday.  Only Southport players were required for the two days of competition. The visiting teams were required to play only on the Sunday. By 4:30 p.m. the Finals were scheduled to be played. Being a wonderfully sunny day the games were all held in bright sunshine and, for the most part, the competition went according to plan. 

Block A was a very tight result and was rather interesting when sorting out the 1st position. Both the Southport ALT and the Eildon Blue teams had won 4 games; both had gained 74 gates scored for ; and both had 58 gates scored against. The ranking order had to be determined by the results of the game when they played each other. Hence, Eildon Blue was ranked 1st because that team has defeated Southport ALT in their game. Block B was won by Southport Red Roulettes and 2nd place went to Moreton Bay 1.

The Final for the winner of the Southport Triples for 2023 was a good game played between Eildon Blue and Southport Red Roulettes. Thank you to the Referees – Margaret Barnard and Kathie Grant. The winning team was the local team of Peter Sweet, Michelle de la Mare and Matthew Xhilaga with a score of 14 gates whereas Eildon scored 11 gates.

The winners- Michelle, Peter and Matthew

Philip, Jules and Alan

The game to decide third place was between the Southport  ALT Team and the Moreton Bay 1 team. The Referees were Keith Chur-Hansen and Barbara Northcott. Again, it was a close result but Moreton Bay secured 3rd place with 12-11 victory.

The event was a very successful and the usual standard of good catering was continued. 

Third place went to Kaelyn, Emma and Warren

Brisbane North Region Gateball Pennants

The Brisbane North Region Gateball Pennants was held on Saturday 25th February at Moreton Bay Gateball Club in Deception Bay.  Three clubs were represented, Eildon Croquet Club, Pine Rivers Croquet Club and Moreton Bay Gateball Club. Each club had five representative players. Clubs played a “best of three games” round consisting of a  team game, a triples game and a doubles game. All five players played in the team game and then the team split to play a triples game and a doubles game. The club that won the best of the three games, was the round winner.  Moreton Bay was the winner beating both Eildon and Pine Rivers in their club rounds. Eildon won the club round against Pine Rivers.

The Moreton Bay team will now progress to the Inter-Regional Final to be held at Rockhampton in May.

Eildon team: Denis Pitkin, Fran Buckle, Richard Bevan, Margaret Bevan, Robert Roose, Ros Crowe (reserve).

Moreton Bay team: Warren Dowse, Emma Mauceri, Kaelan Sweatman, Margo Porter and Darrell Porter.

Pine Rivers team: Jan Wellard, Karren Kimpton, Carol Guy, Tracey Wells, Judy Stringer.

A big thank you to Moreton Bay Gateball Club that hosted the event and provided wonderful catering.

 

Sincere thanks

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gateball community for all the support and thoughtful messages on Andrew’s sudden death at the NSW Gateball Championships in Albury.  

It has been a great comfort to me and my family at this time.   The Gateball community has been very supportive.  

Please know that I appreciate all that was done for him on the day and will be forever grateful to you all.  

My sincere thanks

Margo

Terang Gateball Championships 2022

 

It’s taken some time, but life – and gateball – in Victoria is finding it’s old rhythms again. One of the best parts of gateball in Victoria is the tradition that on the weekend before the Melbourne Cup, the friendliest and most hospitable tournament in all of gateball is held in the delightful town of Terang.

Terang itself is between Colac and Warrnambool, around two-and-a-half hours West of Melbourne. The Terang Croquet Club is just off the main road, sitting slightly downhill from the beautiful avenue which serves as the main thoroughfare of the town.

This year four teams competed in the teams contest (two from Terang, a composite South Australian team and Kew). The South Australian team was made up of members from Woodville and Mt Gambier (with an extra player from Kew for good measure).

The contest continued despite some heavy rain on the Saturday, with slightly soggy socks a small price to pay for some excellent gateball and truly extraordinary afternoon tea (another tradition of which Terang should be justly proud).

The rain didn’t affect play too much, despite the odd puddle on the field. Terang has some areas with mild flooding, but nothing like the difficulties being experienced further north in Victoria. Our thoughts are with those in and around Shepparton, and the other parts of the state more seriously afflicted.

Kew did not have all of the players who have been representing the club at recent championships and debuted two new players: Iain and Ingrid. Nevertheless, they were still a strong team and went through the teams competition undefeated, duly winning the title. The South Australian team placed second. But for a most out-of-character sparking foul in the game against Kew the positions could easily have been the other way around.

For the doubles competition on Sunday, the sun was shining and the need for sunscreen replaced the need for raincoats. The pairing of Kerry Seipolt and Elaine Coverdale proved the strongest winning all five of their games. In second place were Geoff and Trish from Woodville, who only just managed to edge out Catherine and Eric on points differential.

Congratulations and thanks to Heather and the whole Terang Croquet club for another wonderful visit.

Philip Brown