At the QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championship held in Rockhampton 18-20th August, 2018 a surprise presentation was made to Bruce McAlister. Bruce began his role as Director of QLD Gateball in 2004 and continued until the end of 2017. In the 13 years as Director, Gateball has expended greatly throughout QLD. His enthusiasm, energy, dedication and attention to detail has been a big asset to his role. As a result, QLD has more Referees than any other State and he is one of four International Referees in QLD. The number of clubs and players has also increased.

Bruce McAlister with his portrait.

The presentation was a painting/ portrait done by the very talented artist, Frances Wregg, from McIlwraith Croquet Club. As you can see it is a wonderful likeness that will be cherished always by Bruce and his family. Clubs in QLD assisted in the purchase of the frame to this creative work done by Frances who is a very keen Gateball player. Thank you very much, Frances.

Frances Wregg, the Artist, with Bruce McAlister.

Bruce played in the World Gateball Championship in Shanghai in 2010 and officiated as an International Referee at the 2014 in Niigata in Japan. Being a strong advocate for Gateball as being one of the four codes played under the title of “Croquet”, he plays all four codes to a very high standard. Now Bruce can continue playing his sport free from the demands of being the Director of QLD Gateball. Thank you from all of us, Bruce!

Don Close, QLD President, Bruce McAlister and Frances Wregg

Organising State Championships  and helping to organise the Australian Championships in the State, Bruce is always at the helm to ensure all flows smoothly. With the support of his wife, Fiona, he has given a great deal of his time to the sport. It was his wife’s parents Bill and Lola Whyte- who introduced him to the sport at Ipswich Croquet Club back in 2002. The trophy for the best Team at the QLD State Team Championship is dedicated to Lola Whyte. The best Doubles team was donated by Bruce.

The Lola Whyte Trophy for the team that wins the QLD State Gateball Championship

Rockhampton Mallet Sport Club was the venue for the QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championship from Saturday August 18th to Monday 20th August, 2018. This was an appropriate venue for hosting the new format in that Rockhampton has been a club with a long history of competing in Gateball Tournaments. Six teams entered the Teams Championship while 14 entries were received for the Doubles Championship. Team games were interspersed with games involving Doubles combinations. In addition, many players were being assessed for their practical refereeing skills by Margaret Barnard, the QLD Director of Gateball Refereeing.

The six teams were Rockhampton, Capricorn Coast, Toowoomba, Multi Macs, Southport White and Southport Red. The games were played in good spirit with fine sportsmanship demonstrated. The final game was very exciting. The Multi Macs team had not lost a game and were up against Southport Red who had lost their first game against Capricorn Coast.  With a close score throughout the game, Southport prevailed. However, the Multi Macs won the State Championship on a countback over the five games they played because of a higher score of “Net Gates”.

Multi Macs were the winners of the CAQ State Gateball Teams Championship.

The President of Queensland, Mr Don Close, presented the Lola Whyte Trophy  and the medallions to the Multi Macs Team. It consisted of L-R: Barry Barnard, Bruce McAlister, Frances Wregg, Alan Beeson and Philip Rowlands.

Southport Red were placed second. L-R. Barbara Northcott. John Chen, Lee Wentworth, Peter Sweet, Ethan Chilton and Jim Northcott

There was a very good group of players who willingly assisted in the administrative aspect of Doubles- scoring recording and timing- since they were just playing in the Teams event. What is very heartening is that there was an audience for the Doubles Final rather than just a few players watching. The local couple, Cheryl and Steve Kele from Rockhampton defeated last year’s winners, Bruce McAlister from Ipswich and Peter Sweet from Southport by one gate.

Steve and Cheryl Kele won the State Doubles Championship and holding the Bruce McAlister Shield which was presented by the President, Don Close.

Don Close presented second place medallions to Bruce McAlister and Peter Sweet

Preparing for the match between Multi Macs and Southport Red teams were the referees Keith Chur-Hansen, Ros Crowe and Jill Gwynne

There was a need for an information sheet about Gateball to be distributed at the recent CAQ Coaches Conference on 21st July, 2018 at Windsor CC. I collated information available from several pamphlets and placed them in a doubled -sided format on a sheet of A3 thick paper. It was very easy to read and the best size for visibility. However, I have now shrunk it to an A4 size which suits most printers. It is hoped that this could be of use to coaches / players in other states.

Barbara Northcott

Two pages that can be printed double sided on an A4 sheet of paper.