Perth Voice Interactive

IT’S been a long time between (cheap) drinks but for the first time since 1958 the Mt Lawley bowling club has won the second division pennant, rocketing it up to the big league first division bowls.

Captain Glenn Hall says it was a nail-biter in the first round of the final as Mt Lawley went up against the feared Thornlie, a club about four times its size.

The game was on Thornlie’s home turf and it was neck and neck when the match was over: “We were tied on the aggregate score, so we went into overtime,” Mr Hall says.

After the first decider they were still tied, but in double sudden-death overtime Mt Lawley finally prevailed. They then went on to a comfortable victory over North Beach to take the second division pennant. “It is a huge achievement.”

The local actor puts the victory down to the small club’s sense of community.

“For me it’s the morale and sense of camaraderie. He says it’ll be a step up in quality playing for the first division but they’ll make sure they keep having fun. “I’ve been trying to instill that as a captain, that win, lose or draw we enjoy ourselves, because if we don’t enjoy ourselves then even if we win it doesn’t mean anything.”

The club’s seen a lot of younger people in their 30s coming into the sport since the advent of more casual nights like barefoot bowls.

“I think bowls has had to reinvent itself about 10 years ago because they could see it was lots of older people, and they weren’t bringing new blood into the game. I started playing barefoot bowls and I got hooked and wanted to progress and keep playing and getting better.”

The club is looking for members so if you’re keen to try it out in a casual environment you can head down on a Thursday evening from 6pm.

by DAVID BELL