Monthly Archives: May 2021

New Gateball Referees

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Robyn Irwin, Alan Gray and Marion Davies pictured with Tournament Referee – Bruce McAlister.

At the recent NSW Gateball Championships, three players from Toronto and Newcastle National Park NP were awarded their Level 2 GB referee badges after successfully completing a rigorous practical assessment. They were assessed by International GB referee Bruce McAlister assisted by Level 1 referees Glen Whitehead and Geoff Crook and National Coordinator, John Park.

Three players from Canberra and Newcastle NP have passed their theory exam and will likely be assessed at the Newcastle NP Triples and Teams event in July.

2021 NSW Gateball Championships

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What a great location for a tournament. Lake Macquarie is a magnificent backdrop to the Toronto Croquet Club who were the 2021 hosts for the NSW State Championships.

The 4 GB courts were all but swallowed up in the vast cricket oval. Perhaps a venue to be considered for an Australian Championships or at their new 2023 Glendale location?

GB players are prepared for all weathers and our gear was well tested on Friday for Day 1 of the Doubles. The cold wet day did not detract from the standard of play with a high level of skills and strategy resulting in some extremely close scores.

It was wonderful to see 4 pairs of Doubles representing South Australia, the ACT, and Queensland competing for the trophy. In an incredibly tight fought game the ACT pairing of Glen and Kristina Whitehead beat Geoff Crook (Woodville) and Barry Jennings (Hyde Park) 8 cb – 8 and the 2 Queensland teams finished 10 – 9.

In a nail biting finish Glen and Kristina pulled out a 12 – 11 score to beat Bruce McAlister and Peter Sweet.

On a warm and sunny Saturday Pam Durie, founder of the Toronto CC, opened the Tournament and awarded the trophy and badges to the Doubles winners.

Eight teams entered the Teams Championship. Many high scoring matches resulted in a finals contest between Canberra Mavericks on 6 wins/34 net hoops and Canberra Sparkers on 5 wins/25 net hoops. The Mavericks showed considerable skill and determination in their 17 – 6 win. In third place was the Queensland team from Southport, Rockhampton and Ipswich with 4 wins/17 net hoops.

Winners in the teams Championship, the Canberra Mavericks

A very relaxed ‘line-up’ of Canberra Sparkers players after receiving their badges as Runners Up for the teams event.

The Sydney EPSTARS, made up of players from 4 Sydney clubs, improved their performance throughout the tournament and Strathfield benefitted from the strategy of Geoff Crook from the SA Woodville CC.

It was such a pleasure to hold this event at such a happy and welcoming CC where so many volunteers contributed to a smooth and efficient tournament.

All scores for this tournament can be seen in Gateball Scores at this link:

Judy Tier
Coordinator – NSW Gateball

Congratulations to 3 Rockhampton Coaches

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Two coaches from Rockhampton were provided training by Lynda Davis, Jim and Barbara Northcott to be re certified as Level 1 and Level 2 Gateball Coaches. They are Lynne Farry and Mary Jones.

Level 2 Coaches- Mary Jones and Lynne Farry

Another member of the Club- Cheryl Kele- received training and is now a Level 1 Gateball Coach. Congratulations to all three members of Rockhampton Mallet Sports Club on achieving these qualifications. Their volunteer work within the Club will be of great benefit to all members or prospective members.

L-R Mary Jones, Cheryl Kele and Lynne Farry

Rockhampton Gateball Teams and Doubles Tournament, 15-17th May

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It was really heartening to the Rockhampton Mallet Sports Club to have 9 teams attending their annual Gateball Teams Tournament 15th-17th May. Two teams represented the local Club- Rocky White and Rocky Blue. Two teams from Capricorn Coast played in the event. Southport Croquet Club also had two teams playing but one team was a composite with two Bribie Island players included in the  S’Port Bribie team. The 3 other teams were from Moreton Bay, Pine Rivers and  a composite team that included players from Caloundra and Eildon Clubs- named ‘Caldons’.

Members of 9 teams gathered in Rockhampton

Everything ran smoothly with the courts very carefully marked out.The weather was very good as is to be expected at that time of the year. The team competition was organised on a Round Robin Basis. By midday on Sunday the results were calculated. Three teams each won 6 games- Rocky Blue, Rocky White and Caldons. The final positions were decided by the Net Points Difference. Congratulations to Rocky Blue for winning the Tournament! In 2nd place was Caldons and 3rd place was Rocky White.

Rocky Blue won the Rockhampton Gateball Team Championships. The Club’s President, Linda MacPherson, presented the Trophy.

In 2nd place was the team comprising of players from Caloundra and Eildon Clubs. Wearing colourful shirts, the Caldons team set high sartorial standards.

The local Club was in fine form obviously after the results of the Teams Tournament was revealed. The Gateball Doubles Competition involved 7 teams in Block A and 7 teams in Block B. Many of the Doubles were locals. But once again the Final was won by a local pair- Robyn Lyons and John  Dargel. Congratulation to this pair named the ‘Rocky Rebels’. It was an exciting game. They defeated the team called ‘Strangers’ which consisted of 2 players who had never played together previously. They were Robert Roose from Eildon and Peter Kajewski from Gracemere.

Rocky Rebels team ( Robyn Lyons and John Dargel) with Cheryl Kele, the Tournament Manager

In 2nd place was the Strangers team. Robert Roose from Eildon Club and Peter Kajewski from Gracemere Club

Congratulations to Rockhampton Mallet Sports Club for hosting such a successful Tournament after 12 months of no competition in the Region. Their teams were very successful as were their Doubles pairs.