By Chris Mitchell
WITH the Sunraysia Bowls Association’s new pennant season not far away there’s been a cavalcade of transfers, new arrivals and promotions of players across several clubs.
However down south, the Underbool Bowls Club has to rely on the local talent to populate their
pennant sides.
Every second week players will travel somewhere between 100kms and 360kms to compete and everyone at the club is on the bus to ensure the town is represented.
“Unlike the heart of Sunraysia, where players can hop, step and jump to a close neighbouring bowls club we, being more remote thankfully don’t have that option, therefore our available pennant players don’t vary that much,” said Rob Gloster from the Underbool Bowls Club.
While recruitment might be easy from the bigger towns and in Mildura, management at Underbool puts a focus on cultivating homegrown talent.
“We do have a new, very keen player who has picked up the game extremely well, in Jack Pryse,” said Gloster.
“He’s a natural sportsman, Jack will certainly be a bonus to our club.”
The Underbool club has also moved to increase the numbers of players competing in Saturday Pennant for Summer 2024/25
“We decided to enter both third and fourth division in Saturday pennant, so we could give more members an opportunity to play competitive bowls and broaden their bowls experience,” Gloster said.
“It may stretch our numbers sometime but we think that it is certainly worth a try this season.”
When it comes to Midweek Pennant Gloster there won’t be a lot of change at Underbool.
“We do have a few more men that are willing to help out when the ladies are short,” he said.
“Our club still likes to give the ladies preference for Midweek, most will be required for Saturday Pennant as well.”
With a total of 38 members the Underbool Bowls Club punches well above its weight with regular
finals appearances.
Given players travel every second week more than 200kms and close to 2000kms for the year, they are a powerhouse club, built on a strong community spirit.
