Having had to be delayed one month because of the Covid 19 pandemic, the QLD State Gateball Teams and Doubles Championships were held at Ipswich Croquet Club 17-19th September. These dates were originally set aside for the Australian Gateball Championships which had to be postponed to 1-3rd April 2022 – again because of the pandemic. Ipswich Croquet Club was important in the history of Gateball. The Trophy for the winning team in QLD – The Lola Whyte Trophy- was donated by her family who wanted to honour Lola’s efforts in introducing Gateball to this Club and to the wider croquet community.

There were ten teams in the State Championship with a wide spread of clubs represented from Rockhampton to Canberra. Unfortunately because of the change in the date, 2 teams had to withdraw. At the end of the ‘round robin’ competition there was a clear winner – Southport Red team which had 7 wins. With 6 wins each, Eildon White was placed in 3rd position because of the tally of ‘net gates’ scored compared to the Moreton Bay Team which was placed 2nd. The presentation of the Lola Whyte Trophy was carried out by Mrs Fiona McAlister who is the younger daughter of the late Lola Whyte.

The State Doubles competition was also a ‘round robin’ with 13 teams playing so necessitate a long two days of playing in unusually warm weather. This was closely fought competition with two teams scoring 10 wins each and 2 teams scoring 9 wins each. The results depended on the ‘net gates’ yet again.

The winners of the QLD State Gateball Doubles Championship were Peter Sweet (Southport CC) and Bruce McAlister (Ipswich CC). The second place went to Warren Dowse (Moreton Bay GC) and Chris Kele (McIlwraith CC)

Written by Barbara Northcott

Gateball Australia
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