Basher's R.B.A. Round up
Renfrewshire Secretary, John Freeburn, has kindly offered to send in regular reports from the RBA and this will include 'County Game' reports and news, Championships news/results and a report from Finals day later in the season.
The Renfrewshire Bowling Association was formed in 1878. The opening moves to form a County association came from Grosvenor Bowling Club in Greenock through the efforts of their then President, Mr Robert Mc Farlan and Secretary, Mr P. B. Mc Kellar.
On the 12th April 1878 a meeting was held in the County Hotel in Paisley and representives from twenty two founder member club all attended. At that meeting it was decided that an annual game be played between the Clubs of Renfrewshire. The matter was brought to the attention of the then Lord Lieutenant of the County, Sir Michael Shaw- Stewart, who gave his approval of the object and donated a magnificent Silver Cup. This Cup, which bears his coat of arms was later to be renamed 'The County Cup' The Trophy is now considered to be irreplaceable, and for this reason and insurance purposes, it is kept wihin the security of a bank vault.
The competition was first played for on the 27th June 1878 and was competed by all of the 22 Founder Member Clubs. The first winners were Pollockshaws Bowling Club. At the time the Scottish Bowling Association had not yet been formed, and some of the rules introduced by the .R.B.A. for the County Cup were later adopted by them, including the 25 yard jack, this was only changed in recent years.
15th July 2010
The Championship Finals of the Renfrewshire Bowling Association were held on Bishopton green on Sunday 27th June. In warm sunshine. There was a good turnout of supporters, looking for the usual display of excellent bowling, that these games have produced over the years.
Prior to these games, the finals of the Sponsored Fours and the Under 45's were played on Mount Florida green at 10am on Saturday 26th June. Ardgowan Club were up against Crofthead in the Sponsored Fours and a narrow victory of 15 v 13, the team of Alex McDougall,Campbell Picket, Hamish Ewing and Alan Walker just proving too strong on the day.
Wellington Park were against a very strong team from Caledonia, skipped by George Pattison, who has been 'about a bit' as they say, in his own words. Skip Stephen McLellanof Wellington said “ We didn’t turn up” and the score of 17 v 5 in Caledonia's favour doesn’t make good reading if you come from the top of Bakers Brae.
Mount Florida is the home of our Vice-President, Iain McLeod and will be the venue for next years Finals, so this was a “wee taster” before the main event next year.
The Championship Finals were played in the usual array of “skills and spills” with the “great and the good” being in attendance to survey the spectacle. All the Finals were played in the usual excellent sporting manner, that we have come to expect and threw up some enthralling ties.
The Senior Fours was contested by Meikleriggs and Ardgowan, with Ardgowan enjoying a good weekend. Their score of 17 v 6 was a true reflection on the dominance that they had on the game and their team of J Evans, I Raeburn, G mcWilliam and W Straine ran out deserved winners.
Wellington Park's team of Dougie Inglis, Alex Ward, Stephen Hendry and Mark McLeese were involved in the Fours Final and played a very good team from Blacklandmill. They didn’t get of to a very good start and this made life difficult for them, considering that Blacklandmill were getting stronger by the minute. The Final score of 25 v 16 didn’t depict the closeness of the game, but did show that Blacklandmill were deserved winners.
The Triples Final was not played because of illness and the use of the substitution rule, which unfortunately had to be implemented, so making Fort Matilda the winners by W/O against their opponents from Wellcroft. The Triples team was Brian Stevenson, Crawford Charlesand Graeme McNish.
Although disappointing for all concerned, it has to be pointed out that the substitution rule is not being looked at until its too late. The rule is quite clear and fair- its the players who are not looking at the repercussions and innocent people suffering because of this.
Shawlands and Neilston contested the Pairs Final and it went the distance. Shawlands were represented by J Gilluley and D Smith and won a great game against Neilston's pairing of M McColl and W McKenzie by 19 v 16.
The Junior Singles was eagerly anticipated by all concerned and involved the reigning RBA Junior Champion, Stephen McLellan of Wellington Park and Barrhead's Graham Irvine, who is also the Skip of the Barrhead Fours team that are going to Northfield (so no mug- as they say) Graham caught the speed of the green very quickly and settled into a steady rhythm. He looked the more settled of the two players, and to be fair, didn’t really get much pressure put on him by Stephen, who looked “out of sorts” and struggling for most of the game. The score of 21 v 8 in Graham's favour showed his dominance during the game and might just be the shake that Stephen needs if he is going to be the great player that we all know he is capable of being.
The Singles Final was between John O Hare of JG Fleming and Stephen Pratt of Hawkhead. Both players are very experienced and would not be put of by the occasion. It appeared that the rink played more than its fair share in deciding the outcome of the game, but in general it was a closely contested match which John O Hare won 21 v 15.
The Cups, Medals and Crystal glasses were presented by Mrs Myra McAllister and speeches etc. were taken care of by the 'usual suspects'. In all it was a very good day and Bishopton Club are to be congratulated on the way that their Members rallied round and gave their support to the Renfrewshire Bowling Association.
The County Cup
The County Cup was played on Saturday 19th June and resulted in a victory for Gourock Park. This is the first time that Gourock Park have won the County Cup and shows the tremendous depth of talent they have considering that 4 of their players were on County duty that day also.
Andrew Hamilton Trophy
The Andrew Hamilton Trophy has reached the Semi-Final stage and the RBA West Team play Lanarkshire South ( former winners - 2008 ) on Sunday 18th. at Perth West End BC.
Scottish Junior Team
The SBA notify all County Secretaries when a new team has been chosen. Unfortunately, Gourock Park's John Reid wasn’t chosen, this time. He's young, has talent and has got time on his hands. I am sure that he'll make it some day- we'll just have to wait.
Northfield
Good luck to everybody involved in Northfield. I will be following my wee mate, Alan Bradley in the Singles. He is probably our most consistent attendee at Northfield (along with Sandy of course) and he is playing as well as ever- just a wee bit of luck, that’s all he needs. Good luck 'wee man'.
Basher
1st June 2010
The West team are sitting top of their section - played 4 and won 4. Their next game being against Lanarkshire West on Larkhall BC (apparently there are a lot of nice walks up there - lol).
The South team, on the other hand, are going thru' the doldrums and play host to Dumfriesshire at Wellmeadow BC. Both of the above matches take place on Saturday 5th. of June at 2.00pm. The game at Wellmeadow is the easiest to reach and it might help if there was a large crowd there to give the boys a bit of support.
I met the CEO of the SBA at JG Fleming when the West team were playing host to our friends from across the water (Argyll & Bute). His name is Alan McMillan and he and his wife were out for a "wee drive" and decided to pop in and say hello. He came across as a really nice bloke and has his own opinions on how a successful Association should be run. He does not bowl and is not a member of a Bowling Club (sounds interesting). His background was being involved in Shinty and Badminton and he played for Scotland at the latter. It took me back to the days when I graced a court myself - aye, and I could see my feet as well - I thought I'd get that in first.
We are now at the 3rd. round of the Championships and there are some results in that surprise even me.
"Big Gilbert" seems to be on form. Last year it was Alan Walker from Ardgowan, so maybe it's Gilbert's turn this year. Mind you, he won't be getting it all his own way, Robert Davidson of "the Vic" is still involved - so some "crackin" matches still to come. "the Welly" have two Juniors still involved and could even meet in the Final, if things go their way. Mind you, one of them has to get past young Liam Donnachie of "the Port" and he's been showing a bit of form - so look out folks - more great games, on the horizon.
Talking about the Juniors - it should be mentioned that these kids are playing at the level that we see because of the coaching that they get in their respective Clubs. Now I don't profess to know all of the people who take the time to help out, but I do know that guys like Gerry Watters of the Lady Alice and Andy Kearns of Gourock Park have been to the fore for years and deserve a mention, at least. There are bound to be many others, and if it wasn't for these people - our Clubs wouldn't have these young players to keep our Clubs "above water"
By the time you read this, the County Cup draw should be out (19th. June) - for those who don't know - it's the 3rd. Saturday in June and has been for years. It's a day that some people use as a way of meeting folk in other parts of the County and enjoying their company - other people try to win the Cup, which is "priceless", and comes out (from a vault) into the sunshine for a couple of hours, once a year. Whichever reason you have for playing in it - have a good day.
The Championship Finals are being held at Bishopton BC, this year, and I look forward to seeing you all there.
20th May 2010
The County scene is now well under way and is beginning to show a familiar trend. The Championships have started "up the river" - they play on a Tuesday, whereas we favour a Friday. As usual, the weather has played its' part in the condition of the greens and it has to be said that some of our Greenkeepers are magicians, considering the extended and severe winter that we have just come thru'. I say that we have come thru' the winter, but I can't remember a G&D League game being put off because of SNOW before!!!
Anyway, back to the "Coonty".
The West team took another step in the right direction with a convincing display against Glasgow West with a 148-92 scoreline. Glasgow are going thru' a transition period just now and are trying new ways of making team selections. When your County is of the size of Glasgow and Renfrewshire along with quite a few others, you are allowed to submit two teams. How you select them is up to you, and can have a severe effect on playing strengths if the selection process is not done properly.
Our South team are not enjoying the best of times just now and it would appear that they need a "bit of a lift" from somebody. Players have got to rise to the challenge and get "stuck in",which can be difficult when you are getting hammered - but the've got to get on with it or they will go from bad to worse.
This coming week sees the teams take on Clackmannan and Kinross for the West team and Stewartry for the South team. The West team are at Blacklandmill BC and the South have the enviable journey to Kircudbright BC.
For those of you who took part in the RBA Top Ten last year and were aware that Elderslie Wallace won against Port Glasgow in the Final. The 1st. round of the Cities & Counties Top Ten was played and Elderslie Wallace lost to a very strong team from Dumfries, who had no less than 3 full internationalists in their team (aye, the standard is quite high once you start chasing national titles).
I haven't received any scores from the Under 25's matches yet, but the word coming thru' is that the two "wee john's" - Reid and Fleming are playing well and John Reid has "been mentioned in dispatches" - so no change there then !!
Good luck to everyone for this week.
cheers
Basher
Basher's First report
The County season runs for 7 weeks at the outset and our teams play against opposition from as far apart as Dumfries, Clackmannan, Wigtown and Campbelltown. All games should start at 2.00pm and normally finish at approx. 5.00pm. A meal is supplied by the host Club and paid for by both of the Associations attending.
The season kicked off for Renfrewshire with the West team playing host to Argyll & Bute at JG Fleming of Houston. This game is normally won by Renfrewshire and this year was no different. The score of 134 - 114 in Renfrewshire's favour was just the start that they wanted and was down to some strong play from Team Captain Sandy Wotherspoon, whose Rink won 26 - 13 and also Jonathan Ross's Rink, who were 20 up with a 30 - 10 result.
Ian Brown gave a good account of himself by winning 20 - 17 after starting off slowly but finishing strong. Ian was ably assisted by the "Wee Barra" Glen Greenway and Joda Reid. Ian Cowan of Meikleriggs also played his part in their victory. The other winning Rink was Colin McKay of Port Glasgow, so there was a fair amount of local interest on show and a good victory to start off the season.
The West team is made up of players from Clubs in Paisley and G&D. Local players in the West team are :- Sandy Wotherspoon, Colin McKay and John Burns from Port Glasgow, Ian Brown and Joda Reid of Gourock Park and Glen Greenway of Gourock.
The other County team is, the South team. They didn't enjoy as good a start as their West counterparts and slumped to a 23 shot defeat, losing 138 -115 to Glasgow East at Rutherglen BC. 4 Rinks out of 6 lost, which doesn't make life easy for the other 2.
Local players in the South team are, Alan Walker and Dougie Barr of the Ardgowan Club and Iain Broadfoot of Wellington Park.
County matches are very high quality competition and is the stage for International recognition. SBA Councillors are in attendance for this purpose and mark players on their performance.
This week coming sees the West team take on Glasgow West at Thornliebank BC and the South team are in action at Lady Alice against Wigtownshire. If you fancy a look at some quality action, come along and give your County players some support.
John Freeburn
Please see posts below! As John Forgot to mention a few people!
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