Inaugural Oceania Challenge awaits

With the format decided, the players selected and the venue confirmed, the stage is set for the inaugural Oceania Challenge to get underway next month.

Hosted at the Blockhouse Bay Bowling Club in Auckland, the 2023 Oceania Challenge will include 19 teams from Tonga, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Norfolk Island, Niue, Fiji, Cook Island, Tokelau and U26 New Zealand side (both men and women) and Aotearoa Maori contingent. The format will see players selected in Singles and Fours, and Triples and Pairs combinations.

Read the full story here...

2023 Multi-Nations

The 2023 Multi-Nations held on 25-31 March 2023 on the Gold Coast features six nations; South Africa, Ireland, Hong Kong China, Norfolk Island, New Zealand and Australian teams.

This championship is being used as a prelude to the World Bowls Championships contested from 29 August-29 September 2023 in the Gold Coast.

Although it's the tail end of this championship - there's still plenty of rink-side action!

-- Image sourced from Bowls NZ

National U21 Singles

Congratulations to Lee Warburton, Bowls NZ 2023 National Under 21 Singles Champion!

In a close Finals match Lee defeated David Motu 9-8 at Hobsonville Bowling Club last weekend. Third equal went to James Macmillan and Jordan Keene (all pictured below).

Click here to view more results...

-- Winners image sourced from Bowls NZ

Some of our Auckland youth competing in the National U21 Singles: David Motu, Liam Hill, Ryan Hill, Adam Blucher & Hannah Dawson

Daylight saving ends

Daylight Saving ends on Sunday 2 April 2023, so make sure to turn your clock back one hour when you go to bed on Saturday night.

The change is a good time to check, replace or add more smoke alarms and/or batteries where required in your home.

Auckland Centre Finals

Good luck to everyone competing in this weekend's Auckland Centre Finals! With such a broad range of talented players scheduled to hit the greens at Carlton Cornwall, we're pretty excited to see who succeeds.

We're keeping an eye out for the weather so we'll post any venue changes on the Auckland Centre Finals page on our website and on our Facebook page.

New laws of sport

The Laws of the Sport Crystal Mark Fourth Edition will come into effect on 1 April 2023. Below are links to access the Fourth Edition, the Domestic Regulations as well as a list of minor changes required when updating your Conditions of Play!

Click the links to get access to:

• Laws of the Sport Fourth Edition
• NZ Domestic Regulations
• Full list of minor changes

Memorial Day at Grey Lynn

The Auckland Cook Islands Bowling Association (ACIBA) staged its annual Memorial Day Tournament on 25 March, at Grey Lynn Bowling Club. A total of 22 teams entered, meaning nearly 100 players took the greens in ideal conditions. These included many top performers from around town, headed by Auckland Prem reps Teora Turua and Jamie Hill, while Cook Islands players in the upcoming Oceania tournament, Turua, Taiki Paniani and Philly Akaruru, all showed touches that suggest their preparations for the big event are coming along nicely. A number of clubs were represented, with large contingents from Bridge Park and Auckland in particular.

The Memorial Day tournament is to honour those members of the ACIBA who have passed on; the trophy has individual plaques bearing the names of these members mounted on it. The most recent addition to the list, Utuone Vavetuki, was well-known around Auckland and had passed only four weeks earlier. Before play started Association President, David Akaruru, and Patron, Papa Paul, both spoke of the importance of the tournament and a roll call of the names was made.

Read the full story here...

Neighbourhood Bowls at Glendowie

A very successful 2022/2023 Neighbourhood Bowls series at Glendowie was concluded on Monday night. Despite a number of weather-cancelled evenings, the numbers stayed consistently good and a great vibe continued throughout the summer.

GBC is very grateful to David Nightingale-Bayleys Real Estate for their generous inaugural sponsorship. We are delighted to hear that David and the team will be back in 2023/2024!

A huge thanks too to all of the dedicated GBC volunteers who have contributed in so many ways to the success of these evenings over the summer months.

And a very special thank you to Murray Grigor for his monumental organisational efforts this season without Bill McDermott, his usual partner in crime. The club owes Bill and Murray a great deal of gratitude for the years of time and energy they have collectively put into making Social Bowls - now Neighbourhood Bowls - a very popular pillar of the club.

• Venue: Rocky Nook Bowls, Fowlds Park, Mt Albert
• When: Sunday 16 April 2023
• Time: 9 am for 9.30 am start
• Format: 3 games
• Wear: Team-playing strips are encouraged
• Food: BYO lunch. Tea and coffee will be provided plus a coffee kart is onsite from 9:00am-11.00am. The club bar will be open from midday until 5:00pm. 

Registration is FREE!
One team per club tournament - ie: if you have two Twilight Bowls3Five tournaments in a season you can enter the winners of both - with a maximum of 16 clubs, so first in best dressed! Late entries will go on a waiting list for available places or late withdrawals. This team is not guaranteed entry.

Registration closes at 9.00 pm on Thursday 13, April - sooner if all 16 available slots are taken.