34 members turned up on Saturday for one of the most intriguing Tournament Days for years! Pat McErlean volunteered to join Match Secretary, David McCarry on the sidelines to allow an ideal format, with 32 players taking to the village green for four games of 5 ends.
The day started with a ‘Spider’, with the only rule being that no-one was allowed to draw to the central jack, resulting in chaos across the green. As the running bowls came to a rest, and the jack stopping ricocheting, Duncan Ballantyne’s bowl was judged to be the closest, earning him a bottle of Vodka, presented by President Frank McCallion.
Game 1
The first game was straightforward…to simply play as drawn, giving some interesting team formations and opportunities for big scores.
Game 2
Game 2 was a round robin format, with players playing the first end as drawn and then moving progressively up the playing order. Again, this produced some unlikely ‘head to heads’ with inexperienced skips playing directly against regular back-end players.
Game 3
Game 3 gave us a chance to see David McCarry’s warped mind in action! Teams assembled on the green, initially as drawn, but then each team had the opportunity to decide the running order…of their opponents! As each team debated how to weaken their rivals (by presumably keeping the best bowlers away from the back end) many people were having flashbacks to their schooldays, worried about being last picked for the playground football.
However, this probably turned out to be the most enjoyable game of the afternoon.
Many of those picked at skip played some superb bowls, coached by the experienced guys playing lead and second.
This game also saw Admin2 loudly slagging Davie Lang (his opponent) for being two yards short with his first bowl, only to pull up two yards short himself…
Thankfully, David McCarry was on hand to capture the moment for the website. However, he was too slow to catch Michael Cassidy’s wrong bias at the next end!
We had a short break after the third round of games to have the now traditional pies and bridies, served by Vice-President Billy Murray Snr.
Game 4
Going into the last game, Jim Daly was the only player on maximum points and Drew Atkinson was heading for the wooden spoon, being the only one with no points. Remarkably, 14 members were still in contention for the top prize and, after the first three unusual formats, we were wondering what was in store for game 4. Playing with your other hand? The player in your rink with the lowest cumulative points skipping?
However, game 4 was simply draw a disc and then organise your own team once out on the green, which was perhaps appropriate now that we were at the ‘business end’ of the tournament.
Jim Daly collapsed to an eleven shot defeat, taking his team of Matt Morrow, Davie Lang and Frank McCarry down with him. This trio had all been on 5 points each and another win would have secured a top five finish for the whole team.
Once the points and shots were tallied the top three were announced as follows:
- Ian McCallum (7 points +17 shots)
- John Hopkinson (7 points +12 shots)
- Tommy ‘Pele’ Pender (6 points + 24 shots)
President Frank presented Ian with the trophy. The fact that Ian was experimenting with a brand new set of size 2 Tigers only rubbed it in all the more as members collected their prizes based upon their total points & shots.
Tam Fraser ‘won’ the wooden spoon with 1 point -14 shots and picked the full length mirror which, coincidentally and bizarrely, had been selected with him in mind! Hopefully the chance to check his whole appearance before leaving the house will improve his dress sense.
A fantastic day was had by all, and huge credit is due to David McCarry for the creative format. Perhaps we’ll have an even bigger turnout for next year’s Tournament Day…
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