Pennant bowls returns to greens across the region from today, with round one of the Campaspe Playing Area’s weekend and midweek competitions in the coming days.
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The addition of Kyabram has bolstered numbers across the divisions, which makes for a nine-team competition in Division 1.
Division 2 will have one less side, with the withdrawal of the Deniliquin RSL Club earlier this week.
Unable to secure enough players to compete as they once did, the club will now only put forward a Division 4 side in weekend pennant.
They will take on competition newcomers Kyabram at the Deni RSL greens tomorrow.
While Deni RSL will have only one team this year, the Deniliquin Bowling Club will have five competing over four divisions.
The Division 1 side is away to Echuca tomorrow, Division 2 host Echuca and Division 3 is away to Echuca.
The club also has two Division 5 teams. Div 5 Blue will host Moama in Deni, while Div 5 White travels to take on Echuca White.
Mathoura has two teams in contention, with Division 1 starting their season with a twilight match at home tonight against Moama.
Division 4 will be on the road to Moama tomorrow.
The addition of Kyabram has added additional stakes to the now nine-team Division 1 weekend pennant competition.
To balance out the league, the bottom-placed side will now find itself relegated to Division 2, with relegation flowing down through divisions two to four and creating an even number of sides in each for season 2026-27 and beyond.
It is expected promotion and relegation will continue to shuffle teams between divisions in future years and in the midweek pennant.
Nine sides temporarily in the weekend Division 1 also adds a bye, and sides will have an uneven number of them in the 15-round season.
Teams experiencing a second bye will be awarded four competition points to compensate for the missed opportunity to earn them on the greens.
“(The schedule’s) so tight,” Bendigo Campaspe Goldfields Bowls Region president Vicky Tierney said.
“Bowls Australia and Bowls Victoria put their (events) in, and then we have to work around all the dates.
“There’s just no room to play 18 rounds, but that’s why if we go back to eight (teams), we’ll always fit it in.”
Local club teams to this weekend are as follows:
DBC:
Div 1 (leads on car duty) - A Holloway, P Todd, S O’Brien, J Shilds (s); G Nisbet, C Hillier, P Chadderton, C Bovell (s); J Flisher, D Hessel, S Laing, R Morris (s).
Div 2 - M Atley, C Taylor, P Snare, B Clancy (s); T Hillier, L Harris, M Tasker, J Bovell (s); T Dankert, S King, C Crothers, T Tonta (s).
Div 3 (leads cars) - J Tonta, C Glenn, C Murray, M Law (s); J Murray, E Hipworth, M Norton, K Hay (s); M Donahue, T Todd, J Grimshaw, K Salter (s).
Div 5 Blue - D McCulloch, J Rose, L Dalzell, A Hardcastle (s); J Hipworth, R Douglas, W Pattinson, C Knuckey (s).
Div 5 White - B Young, R Little, H Anderson, L Pattinson (s); N Murray, T King, I Chessells, L Ritchie (s).
Deni RSL:
Div 4 - P Connor, P Thommers, N Austin, R Reid (skipper); J Wilson, S Hill, N Hilton, C Taylor (s); L Hardcastle, A Webster, R Marchetti, T King (s).
Mathoura:
Div 1 - K Crack, R Murphy, H Holzer, P Holzer (s); D Vallance, C McConchie, A Murphy, M Humphreys (s); I Ross, B Murray, A Cowley, R Ireland (s).
Div 4 - TBA, B McMillan, C Ockwell, W Brander (s); E Thomson, Sangster, P Begley, G Hulm (s); J Dean, Goodwin, P Cowley, Danwoodie (s).
Midweek Pennant
The Campaspe Playing Area’s midweek pennant kicks off on Tuesday, with four local teams taking part across three of the four divisions.
Mathoura will field only a Division 1 team, and they start their season away to Rich River.
Also competing in Division 1 will be the Deniliquin Bowling Club, which will host Kyabram in Deniliquin.
Deniliquin Bowling Club will also have a team in Division 3, and will travel to play Kyabram.
Deniliquin RSL will compete in Divison 2, and will be away to Rich River.
Teams:
DBC:
Div 1 - C Taylor, P Todd, T Tonta, M Quor (s); J Bovell, L Franklin, J Flisher, C Hillier (s); T Danckert, L Harris, P Clear, S O’Brien (s).
Div 3 - I Chessells, J McArthur W Bradley, S King (s); I McKenzie, J Murray, A Hardcastle, K Salter (s).
Deni RSL:
Div 2 - L Hardcastle, C Frampton, M Peterman, R Reid (s); G Gordon, A Hodges, A Webster, T Dover (s); J Chick, N Hilton, C Taylor, R Marchetti (s).
Mathoura: Teams not yet released.