The Easter weekend saw the inaugural South Australian gateball doubles competition held at Hutt Road. The lawns were in fantastic condition and the weather gods smiled on us, with beautiful weather on the practice day, Friday, and on the main competition day, Saturday.
Six teams entered, with two from Woodville, two from Hyde Park, one team from Kew (Victoria), and a composite Hyde Park/ Millswood team.
A refereeing workshop was held on Friday afternoon, led by Philip from Kew, which proved extremely informative to the group of assembled novice “referees”. Given that there were no refereeing bloopers during the main event, it is safe to say that the workshop was an invaluable exercise, and provided encouragement to at least one participant who remarked how much they had enjoyed refereeing after the event.
On Saturday, a round robin was held using two courts, with the two highest placed teams playing off in a final. Competition was fierce with some very close games and all teams won at least once.
Ultimately, experience showed with Philip and Kerry from Kew, Victoria winning all their round robin games.
The final with Geoff and Trish from Woodville was at times a close and tense match, but with three out balls in the final round for the Woodville team, Philip and Kerry scored enough points to take an unassailable lead and win 14 points to 9.
Thanks to all the competitors and spectators, Graeme Thomas for organizing the event, Philip Brown for conducting the referee workshop and Croquet SA President Eileen Ferguson for donating and presenting the trophy. A great time was had by all and hopefully we’ll see a few more of you next year!
Geoff Crook
Awesome.