The Weather Gods were kind to Caloundra Mallets Sports Club, for their annual Sunshine Coast Masters and Apprentices Tournament on 13th to 15th November. After a week of rain, with nervous organisers studying the forecast each day, the skies cleared on Friday afternoon, and we enjoyed 3 days of fine, sunny weather.

It was a very full program, with 12 teams, totalling 70 players, converging on Caloundra from as far away as the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Rockhampton. With 17 rounds to be played over the 4 courts, it was an early 8am start each day. Competition was close, with 3 teams finishing on 8 wins, so placings were decided by net hoops scored. Rockhampton successfully defended their 2020 win, with Bribie Island second and F6 from Moreton Bay third. 

Rockhampton, receiving 1st prize from Caloundra’s President, Sue Dixon

14 doubles teams stayed for the doubles event on Sunday afternoon and Monday. Because of numbers, this event was played in 2 blocks. Leaders of each block played second place in the other, for a place in the finals. Interestingly, it was the second place getters in each block who played off for 1st place, with the event going to Bruce McAlister from Ipswich and Peter Sweet from Southport. They also won in 2020. Second place went to Robert Nicholson and Kathie Grant from Southport. In the game played for 3rd place, Steve and Cheryl Kele from Rockhampton finished ahead of Robert Roose and Richard Bevan from Eildon. 

Doubles winners, Peter Sweet and Bruce McAlister 

We are so lucky to be able to get together for these days, and even though the competition can be intense at times, the fun and friendship enjoyed by all make up for the weary minds and bodies at the end of the events.

Written by Robyn Brown, Caloundra Mallet Sports Gateball Captain.

With our Gateball Tournament only being 2 weeks after the State Titles
we were not sure what to expect and with the virus around we were
nervously watching the news to see if there was to be any lock downs
which could affect our tournament.

With 8 teams and 10 doubles entrants we were able to spread it over 3
days without any rush between games. Our lawns were not as good as we
hoped because when we had them done at in December last year a massive
storm came shortly after and washed all the top dressing away.

There were 3 teams that won 6 games but Toowoomba won on a count back.
Southport Red came second and Rockhampton third.

Toowoomba was placed 1st on the countback.

The Southport Red Team came 2nd.

The Newbies from Southport ( Donna and Robert Nicholson) won the Doubles Competition with Cheryl and Steve Kele from Rockhampton coming 2nd after a shoot out.

Donna and Robert Nicholson from Southport won the Gateball Doubles Competition

Frank Harding presented the prizes for the teams. He was 98 on the 2nd October and still an active member of our club. Even though he is unable to play. It was great to see everybody so relaxed.

Sandra Reynolds

It was a hectic time for the QLD Director of Gateball Referees, Margaret Barnard, at the recent State Gateball Championships held at Ipswich Croquet Club 17-19th September. Many players have been very keen to become qualified referees which augurs well for Gateball. There were 7 players who had passed the Level 2 Theory Examination which was held earlier in June at the annual MSOB Gateball Tournament at Southport Croquet Club. The next step for them was to be assessed on their practical knowledge of the rules by being observed refereeing Gateball games at the State Championships.

The successful candidate were presented with their badges by the CAQ Vice President, Pat Habner. Congratulations go to all seven of them from 3 Clubs. They are  Kathie Grant, Dianne and Peter Sweet from Southport, Chris Kele from McIlwraith, Fran Buckle, Christine Roose and Nancy Scamp from Eildon.  It is hoped that their success will inspire more players to take on the study and guidance needed to achieve the Level 2 Gateball Referee badge.

L-R Kathie Grant, Dianne and Peter Sweet from Southport, Chris Kele from McIlwraith, Fran Buckle, Christine Roose and Nancy Scamp from Eildon and Margaret Barnard

Gateball in QLD has received so much benefit from the dedicated work by Margaret Barnard who is an International Referee. She has been readily available to oversee the theory and practical exams in order to ensure the quality of referees remain high within the QLD State. Unfortunately, Margaret is standing down after 4 years of the demanding tasks she has had to carry out as State Gateball Director of Gateball Referees.

On behalf of all of the QLD Gateball players, I extend a sincere thank you, Margaret, for the tremendous work you have done for Gateball.

Near Paris on  the weekend of 18th-19th September 7 teams from across Europe met for the first time in a series of Gateball tournaments arranged by Europe en Sport for 2021. This grouping only play 5v5 so it needed some adjustment of thinking by the German team from Gransdorf in the Eifel who normally play in the European Gateball League events of singles and doubles. What took even more adjustment was playing on artificial grass … very slippery sparking!

Most other teams had only recently started playing again, after months of Corona-induced lethargy and one team of youngsters had only been introduced to Gateball two months ago so that, while they mostly sailed through gate 1 their tactics were poorly developed.  Indeed only one other team managed to arrange a pass-touch in their games whilst Gransdorf was frequently able to destroy their opponents’ positions by creating pass-touch opportunities.  We lost in the round Robin games against the Italians from Sardinia with 15 points each but they had 2 Agari against our 1, a great game. In the final we met them again but the gransdorf team fell apart. Cagliari were consistently better than us at judging distance to the line… they play outdoors winter and summer.

The overall standard of refereeing was amateur despite my passing around the “what if” guide developed by me and checked by Bruce McAlister … maybe it was my version in French that was distracting them. The others need to practise their gestures as refs.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and at last a chance to build some bridges between them and us; I plan a triples tournament which should be a halfway house they find acceptable between pure 5v5 and Gateball with more playing time.

(Thanks to John Swabey for sending us this story. Australian Gateballers may remember that John and his wife Bettina played in the 2017 Australian Gateball Championships at Bateau Bay in NSW. Gateball Australia enjoys hearing from its overseas friends and is looking forward to a time when we can play together again. Some Australian players may also remeber the EGU players that many of us met in Brazil in 2018 )

Having had to be delayed one month because of the Covid 19 pandemic, the QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championships were held at Ipswich Croquet Club 17-19th September. These dates were originally set aside for the Australian Gateball Championships which had to be postponed to 1-3rd April 2022 – again because of the pandemic. Ipswich Croquet Club was important in the history of Gateball. The Trophy for the winning team in QLD – The Lola Whyte Trophy- was donated by her family who wanted to honour Lola’s efforts in introducing Gateball to this Club and to the wider croquet community.

There were ten teams in the State Championship with a wide spread of clubs represented from Rockhampton to Canberra. Unfortunately because of the change in the date, 2 teams had to withdraw. At the end of the ‘round robin’ competition there was a clear winner – Southport Red team which had 7 wins. With 6 wins each, Eildon White was placed in 3rd position because of the tally of ‘net gates’ scored compared to the Moreton Bay Team which was placed 2nd. The presentation of the Lola Whyte Trophy was carried out by Mrs Fiona McAlister who is the younger daughter of the late Lola Whyte.

Mrs Fiona McAlister presented the trophy to the winning team- Southport Red

2nd place- Moreton Bay team

The State Doubles competition was also a ‘round robin’ with 13 teams playing so necessitate a long two days of playing in unusually warm weather. This was closely fought competition with two teams scoring 10 wins each and 2 teams scoring 9 wins each. The results depended on the ‘net gates’ yet again.

The winners of the QLD State Gateball Doubles Championship were Peter Sweet (Southport CC) and Bruce McAlister (Ipswich CC). The second place went to Warren Dowse (Moreton Bay GC) and Chris Kele (McIlwraith CC)

The Wanderers won the State Gateball Doubles Championship with the Bruce McAlister Trophy on display.

Chris Kele and Warren Dowse were 2nd in the QLD State Gateball Doubles Championship