Mintaro bowlers make club history
On Saturday 27 March 2021, history was made in the Mid-North of South Australia, when the Mid-North Saturday Pennants 1st Division competition was won by the Mintaro Bowling Club for the first time in the Club’s 62-year history.
The 2020/21 season began well for Mintaro’s 1st Division team, who were sitting on top of the ladder when COVID disrupted play in November 2020. Play in the competition resumed in December and, in the second half of the season, Mintaro slowly slipped down the ladder to fifth, and potentially out of the finals, with one minor round match to play. To play in the finals, Mintaro had to win and rely on another team losing. Both results went to plan and Mintaro were in the finals for the second year in a row, having lost the first semi-final in 2020.
After scraping into the finals, Mintaro were definitely the underdogs against Watervale, who had been top for most of the season, and the favoured Clare teams. In the first semi-final and the preliminary final the Mintaro team accounted for both Clare teams, to set up a meeting with a dominant Watervale team in the grand final.
The day of the Grand Final arrived. A large crowd was in attendance at the Burra Bowling Club, providing an excellent finals atmosphere. Most expected Watervale to win and they looked confident, while the Mintaro players were in unfamiliar territory. Play began and soon one rink was definitely going Mintaro’s way, while the other two were very tight. As the game progressed Mintaro gained ascendancy on all three rinks and won the game by 36 shots. The underdogs, who barely made the finals, had won through and taken their first ever 1st Division premiership.
There was happy celebration and tears of joy amongst the Mintaro players and their supporters. A special mention must go to Ray Hudson’s rink, who did not lose a game all season, winning all bar one draw.
Mintaro Bowling Club is part of the Mid-North competition, which is part of the Broughton Mid-North Wooroora (BMW) Bowling Association. We are a small country club which began in 1959 with a shed “no bigger than a dunny” and a ground full of wild artichokes.
The clubhouse and the green have grown since then and now the club has teams competing in Saturday Pennants (Divisions 1 and 2), Thursday Pennants and Wednesday Night Owls (where the Mintaro Slaters team have won three of the last five flags).
The Mintaro Bowling Club currently has forty-eight full members and two social members and always welcome new players and supporters. Our aim is to provide a family friendly social atmosphere and to encourage younger players to become involved. We are part of a vibrant rural community in Mintaro, Farrell Flat and surrounds and proud to be so.
Story supplied by the Mintaro Bowling Club
