Despite having achieved her Level 2 Referee qualifications last year, circumstances have prevented Jill Gwynne from receiving her official recognition. Last weekend at Ipswich’s Gateball Challenge Tournament Margaret Barnard, QLD Director of Gateball Refereeing, presented Jill from Toowoomba Croquet Club with her badge. Congratulations Jill! Your effort to attain this Referee qualification is inspiring more people – not just from your club- to apply themselves to learning the rules of the game and then demonstrating their knowledge in refereeing Gateball games.

At the Ipswich Gateball Challenge 1-2 June 2019 there were five Junior Players. This increase in junior players is a very welcome development. With good coaching to develop the mastery of the many skills in Gateball and the careful nurturing of potential in the tactical aspects of the game, QLD will improve in its performance against all teams- local and international.

Congratulations to three people who successfully passed their Level 2 Referee Exam in Rockhampton on 4th May. They are Lyn Christensen and Kath Hayes from Capricorn Coast and Cheryl Kele from Rockhampton. They will be assessed on their practical knowledge of the rules at the State Gateball Championships to be held 17-19th August at Toombul Croquet Club.

While writing about Rockhampton, the news from Lynne Farry has not been good. She has been visiting doctors, having x-rays, CT scans and visiting an orthopaedic surgeon. Lynne will be having a knee replacement on 4th June. We all would wish for a successful outcome for the operation and a speedy recovery.

Below is her short report. Since she was the Tournament Manager of the Rockhampton Challenge, she has finished her final task and found time to submit this report below. Thanks Lynne and all the best.

Rockhampton Gateball Challenge 4-6th May, 2019

Beautiful weather all weekend, great competition, both teams and doubles. 8 teams from Southport, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Caloundra, and Redcliffe joined local teams from Capricorn Coast and Rockhampton. Redcliffe Roses won the teams event after winning all their games with Ipswich runners up. 13 sets of doubles in 2 blocks contested the doubles event, with Glenda/ Robyn from Caloundra the winners from Peter/Roseanne of Gracemere runners up. Congratulations and thanks to all who made our tournament a successful weekend.

Lynne Farry Tournament Manager

A brief summary of the minimal changes are available here. All International, Level 1 referees and State Coordinators have a more detailed version of the changes and can clarify any questions you may have. No doubt explanations will be forthcoming at future events.

Hard copies of the new rule books will be forwarded by the WGU to the Gateball Australia National Coordinator when they are prepared. All current referees and Gateball playing clubs will receive a copy.

Volunteers are adjusting the Level 1 and 2 exams and states informed when these changes are completed.

Please also note that a Q&A facility has been added to this website. Go to About Gateball/Officiating, Rules and Refereeing/ then select “Click here for the Q&A forum.” You can reply to one of the posts already on the page or post a new question in the Leave a Reply Box which starts a new thread. Remember when you post a question to tick the boxes below to make sure you know when your question is answered.

It was a memorable weekend of competition at the recent McIlwraith Gateball Challenge Cup held at McIlwraith Croquet Club 30-31st March.

The nine teams who competed for the annual cup were from Rockhampton, Capricorn Coast, Redcliffe, Pine Rivers, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Blue Macs (McIlwraith), Broadbeach and two teams from Southport. We welcomed the Pine Rivers and Capricorn Coast teams who were competing in the competition for the first time.

This first competition of the year is always well attended as players get back into ‘the swing’ of the the season. Each team won at least two games over the week-end. The Competition was won by Southport Red team with the Challenge Cup being presented by Club President Sandy Ridgway. Southport White team were placed second.

Southport Red Team won the McIlwraith Challenge and are displaying the trophies

Southport White were presented with the second prize by McIlwraith Club President Sandy Ridgway

All players were enthusiastic about McIlwraith’s well kept greens and facilities. Because of the imminent threat of rain on Saturday, McIlwraith’s organisers ensured the break between the games were held a shorter than normal to complete the matches before the heavy showers.

The Toowoomba team get ready to play

Ten teams also competed in a Doubles competition on Sunday. This was won by Geoff Morris and Paul Ekberg from Redcliffe in a hard fought game against Lee Wentworth and young player Ethan Chitton.

Paul Ekberg and Geoff Morris – winners of the Doubles competition

The Suzuki Cup 2018, an award honouring the founder of Gateball in Japan, for the best team playing in most Gateball competitions was presented to Southport Gateball Red and White teams.

Southport Red and White teams grouped around the Suzuki Cup which was won by the Red team in 2018 for being the most consistent team in QLD. The presentation was made at McIlwraith.

Our well supported Raffle helps to keep entry fees down to make travelling to the competition more accessible for regional teams. Judith’s smiling face at the Raffle table meant that this year we sold double the usual number of tickets.

Judith selling Raffle tickets to Jan Wells from Ipswich

Frances Wregg

Manager  McIlwraith Gateball Challenge 2019