Bowling club books premier berth

By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Glen Bowling Club completed a successful year with a RVBA Metropolitan Division 1, Section 3 premiership.
The team dominated all season finishing on top of the ladder. They went on to win the Division 1 preliminary finals against Lilydale at Yarra Glen, the quarter finals against Burwood District and the semi finals against Armadale going on to beat Mitcham by the narrow margin of two shots to win the Division 1 finals on 14 March.
Club secretary Richard Coles said the greatest accolade of all was to overcome all the odds to gain promotion to the RVBA Metropolitan Premier Division.
“It was an astonishing but well deserved achievement for such a small single green club as Yarra Glen,” Mr Coles said.
Next year the club will be competing with the select few top clubs in Victoria.
The premiership team consisted of Rink 1 – Graeme Pope, Dene Milner, John Simmonds and Joel Simmonds (skipper); Rink 2 – Matty O’Brien, Andrew Agnostopoulos, Nick Suttie and Matty Creighton (skipper); Rink 3 – Adam Pope, Shane Smith, Mark Aylward and Troy Stafford (skipper); Rink 4 – Ethan Pell, Glen Thwaites, Wayne Edwards and Frank Watsford (skipper) with emergencies Andrew Thurkle and Peter Nelson.
Mr Coles said the club’s second team also had a good year finishing second in RVBA Metropolitan Division 3.
They went on to win their preliminary final against Mooroolbark 2 at Yarra Glen only to be narrowly defeated in the quarter final against Blackburn 2.
“Their efforts were rewarded however by gaining promotion to RVBA Division 2 next year,” Mr Coles said.
The third and fourth teams consolidated their positions in RVBA Metropolitan Divisions 6 and 8 respectively and Yarra Glen’s night bowling team played off in the grand final of the Yarra Valley Night Pennant against Warburton on Wednesday 18 March at Monbulk.
“They put in a great effort but Warburton were too good on the day and took out the flag,” Mr Coles said.
“All in all, it’s been a wonderful year for the club,” he added.