The QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championships were held at Caloundra Mallet Sports Club from Saturday 15th August to Monday afternoon 17th August, 2020. We will never again take for granted the opportunity to play competitive Gateball!

With the wonderful hospitality provided and the excellent co-operation of the Management and members of Caloundra MSC, the three days showed just how good Gateball Championships can be with such positive attitudes and friendliness displayed by the participants. Having the spectre of the Covid-19 virus hanging over our heads, many adjustments had to be made. Whilst 9 teams attended, which was the same as last year, there were four more teams that would have attended had there not been a State border closure and a fear of catching such a lethal virus.

The Opening Ceremony was held away from the players who kept their physical distance standing on the slopes to the courts. The Club’s Patron and local MP for Caloundra, Mr. Mark McArdle, attended the Championships and sent a ball through Gate 1 to signal the start of the games. 

There were 6 teams each seated in their own marquee. The undercover area of the Clubhouse could only accommodate 3 teams as stipulated by the Covid Officers at Caloundra Club. Another requirement was that every person who entered the grounds was required to have their temperature checked before being admitted if the green light indicated no fever was present.

On Saturday morning there was a very overcast sky but it cleared until early afternoon. Six games were played before play was halted because of the thunderstorm that arrived at 3:00 p.m. Play resumed half an hour earlier on the very sunny Sunday morning to accommodate the postponed games in Round 7. By mid afternoon all of the 12 Rounds of matches were completed.

The winning team was Rocky Tops- a composite team of 4 players from the Rockhampton area and 1 from Ipswich. They won 7 games so secured first place from the Macisles team that had 6 wins. It was also composite team made up of players from McIlwraith and Eildon Croquet Clubs. In 3rd place was the Southport Red team. The Presentation of the Lola Whyte Trophy was made by Fiona McAlister, daughter of Lola Whyte.

The State Gateball Doubles Championship was organised into two Blocks each with 6 Teams.  Block A was a tussle among three teams each of whom won 4 games. The winner of Block A based on net gates scored was a team called The Defenders. As the name implies, the players were Philip Rowlands and Alan Beeson, who won the title in 2019.  The winners of Block B were Cheryl and Steve Kele who were undefeated over 5 games.

It was a fitting Grand Final in that the game developed into very close tussle towards the end of the 30 minutes. Congratulations must go to Cheryl and Steve Kele who scored 12 gates to the 11 gates obtained by Philip Rowlands and Alan Beeson. The presentation of the Bruce McAlister Shield was made by Bruce himself.

Written by  Barbara Northcott
Gateball Australia

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