A victorious Taranaki bowls team has returned disheartened after thieves took off with the bowls which won them the championship.
The Hawera women’s bowls team won the New Zealand Women’s second division interclub title against Raumati South, at the Carlton Cornwall Club in Auckland on Monday.
It was a career highlight for the team of Maureen Tamou, Jo Bloor, Faye Hopkins, Diana Rowe, Thelma Edgar, Betty Fraser and Patty Symes.
“We were on a very, very big high all the way to Hamilton,” team manager Kristin Stampa said.
However, their victory was overshadowed by thieves at a McDonald’s in the Hamilton suburb Frankton who broke into their van and stole all of the bowling bags, containing the champion bowls, she said.
“They were angry. It’s pretty bittersweet, it just marred everything for us,” she said.
“We were only in there 30 minutes.”
Stampa’s work laptop and cellphone were also taken.
Despite the distressing situation, they could still laugh about the situation to a point, Stampa said.
“We reckon they thought they were stealing luggage because who would take bowling bags?
“So we saw the funny side of it.”
Before heading into the fast-food outlet, Stampa said she had taken notice of the car which was pulled up beside the team van, which seemed to be leaving its motor running for an unusually long time despite the two male occupants not being in hurry to go anywhere.
Stampa said she thought she might not have locked the van properly and felt at fault for the theft.
However, when they were driving out of Hamilton a cold breeze led them to discover the culprits had removed a small triangle pane of glass in order to let themselves in, she said.
“The police woman, she asked what model the van was and I told her and she went, ‘oh, they’re really easy to break into’.”
Each bowl set would cost up to $800 to replace for the seven bowlers, and wet weather gear and bowling accessories worth hundreds of dollars were also stolen, Stampa said.
“But a person’s bowls, it’s like your jewellery – it’s special to you.
“It’ll often have a special emblem on it which identifies you. When they play a shot, you look at the bowl and then you look at the person because you know who it belongs to.
“Losing that, losing your bowls is just like chopping an arm off.”
The team was grateful no one was hurt in the process, but that didn’t mean they weren’t “brassed off” by the situation.
She was also confused at the items the thieves didn’t take, including a GPS unit and cellphone.
“The silly part is they took some food out of the chilly bin and not what had been sitting out above as well.”
That being said, it would take a lot to dampen their spirits following their national win, Stampa said.
Having scraped through in the first round and taking out Browns Bay, the tournament favourites, in the sudden death round, it was an impressive win for the team, she said.
“It was an awesome effort to do this against the big cities.”
Hamilton police had not been in contact with Stampa on Tuesday with an update, she said.
“But I know if there was an option between buying all new sets, or having their own gear back, I know which option they would choose – they’d want their old stuff back.”
stuff.co.nz/national/crime/78138291/hawera-womens-bowls-team-gets-their-championship-bowls-stolen
Hannah Lee