Lawn Bowls

Bowls Taranaki Busy Over Winter

Bowls Taranaki Busy Over Winter – August 2023

Bowls Taranaki have been busy over the winter months preparing for the new season. Firstly, we are pleased to announce Midlands Funds Management as a major sponsor of Bowls Taranaki and the Taranaki Men’s Open Fours. We look forward to working with Midlands Funds Management over the coming years, and appreciate their support. You will see their name and logo on posters, entry forms and signage throughout the year.

We also would like to welcome on board The Devon Hotel, principal sponsor of ‘The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours’. Working alongside The Devon Hotel, we have some exciting plans for the Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours, and look forward to another great event.

Our new board has been appointed, and we welcome Dean File, and Kristin Stampa, as Vice-President. Dean and Kristin have considerable experience in bowls and sports management, and we have already seen their skills make a positive impact around the boardroom table. We would like to thank David Brunton and Eric Foreman for their contributions. Grant Hassall continues as President, Robert Wolfe as Chairman, and Val McEldowney, Chris Commane and Kevin Gray as Board Members.

Bowls Taranaki works hard to reduce costs to clubs and members, and we compare favourably with other Centres. At our AGM, there was a small increase to the levy for membership, up to $24+GST per person. However this compares favourably with other Centres close to Taranaki who charge between $45-$55 per member.


We wish our Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Selectors and Managers all the best for the upcoming season. Don Christensen will again take charge of the women’s team, with Cindy Nicoll and John Sexton assisting. With, the men, we look forward to John Garrud taking over. John has high hopes of Taranaki taking the next step and firmly believes we have the talent to win. Bruce Hall will help with management and Graham Rieve will assist with the juniors.

Over the winter, we worked on getting a new website up and running. This will be more secure, easier to use, and is more attractive to potential sponsors, visitors and funding providers. Entries can be taken online for the Taranaki Open and live results will still be available.

Greenkeepers, Coaches and Umpires have been holding their Annual Meetings, with the Presidents for each association being duly elected. We look forward to working with Gary Lilley, Moe Kelly and David Brunton again, and know that they have a number of initiatives coming up including a Growsafe Qualification Day, Spring and Summer Field Days for Greenkeepers, and a coaching and umpires day at the start of the season. A number of new umpires have qualified for the start of the upcoming season.

Graeme Rees (Former Blackjacks Coach) and Alex Reed from Bowls NZ came to Taranaki to host a weekend for new and existing coaches. A number of new coaches went through the course, and we look forward to their contributions. Thanks to Paritutu Bowling Club for hosting and those involved.

Bowls Taranaki nominated the following for the Bowls New Zealand National Awards, Briar Atkinson, Gary Lilley, Paritutu Bowling Club and Okato Bowling Club. Awards will be announced at the Bowls New Zealand AGM via zoom. Good luck to those nominated.

We have also entered into two new Representative tournaments to provide more competition for our competitive players. Revital Fertilisers Taranaki will play Waikato on 2-3 September at Paritutu. Taranaki also featured in the first year of a National Under 26 Tournament, hosted by Bowls Wellington. A very impressive performance by our players saw them beat Wellington in the final. Congratulations to our winning team of Luca Dobson, Camron Horo, Nathan Goodin, Briar Atkinson and Aidan Zittersteijn. Thanks to Simon Rowe for selecting, managing and travelling with the team.

A huge thanks must go out to all the volunteers and workers at the clubs who are helping to prepare for the new season. There is a lot of work put in each year to help run every club and we thank everyone for preparing greens, looking after club facilities, administrating and planning for your club’s season. We appreciate your effort.

Ian Lewis
Bowls Taranaki

Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours

We are pleased to welcome on board The Devon Hotel as a major supporter of Bowls Taranaki and ‘The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours’. The Devon Hotel & Conference Centre in New Plymouth boasts luxury accommodation and puts you on the doorstep of the CBD and New Plymouth’s most visited attractions, featuring Marbles Buffet Restaurant.

Last year, we had 336 women’s players and a large number of new teams visiting from around New Zealand for The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours. A large number of teams are returning and we have some new teams arriving, so don’t miss out, enter online, or pay by internet banking and return an entry form to us today.

We expect this year to attract a number of new teams, who want to experience Taranaki before the Bowls New Zealand National Fours and Mixed Pairs are held in Taranaki later in the season. We are grateful for the support of Midlands Funds Management and The Devon Hotel.

Coaches Weekend

Bowls New Zealand, with assistance from Bowls Taranaki, our Coaches Association and Paritutu Bowling Club recently held a weekend of coaching for new Coaches. Thanks to all who attended and to those Coaches who renewed their certificates. We look forward to seeing our new coaches getting involved in the upcoming season. If you would like to know more about becoming a coach, please get in touch with Moe Kelly, the President of the Coaches Association.

New Website – Work in Progress

We have a new website, and are still working on it, there is content and images to upload, pages to add, and design to be finished. We are still working on pages for Clubs with their details on it, and Archived Results and History as well as some other features.

Thanks for your interest.

Taranaki Crowned National Under-26 Champions.

Taranaki has been crowned the national under-26 bowls champions.

Grant Hassall
Sports News Taranaki

The inaugural five-a-side event, held inside at Naenae, Wellington, last weekend, saw Briar Atkinson, Aidan Zittersteijn, Luca Dobson, Nathan Goodin and Camron Horo emerge victorious in a thrilling final.

Run by the Wellington centre and endorsed by Bowls New Zealand, Taranaki’s win was an excellent result and vindication of some fine work that has gone into secondary schools and youth bowls over recent seasons.

The Revital Fertilisers/Shifty’s Sports Bar-sponsored side marched through section play brilliantly, winning eight games and drawing one from the 12 played across all four disciplines.

That placed Taranaki top and put the side against Wellington in the decider. Wellington’s side included former Black Jack Seamus Curtin and future Black Jack Finbar McGuigan.

In the pairs, Atkinson and Zittersteijn got Taranaki off to the best possible start, defeating Jordan Keene and McGuigan 19-11.

In the triples, Dobson, Goodin and skip Horo maintained their unbeaten record – finishing with two wins and two draws – when they snatched a 14-all tie against Curtin’s trio.

The second half of the decider saw the players switch to singles and fours.

Atkinson met McGuigan, who had inflicted the only on her in section play. Atkinson put on a strong display, leading 15-8 in the race to 21. McGuigan, though, got aggressive, turning the game around and eventually prevailed 21-18.

That left the overall outcome down to the fours clash. Zittersteijn skipped the quartet, which had won every game in qualifying. It held an 11-8 lead with two ends remaining. On the penultimate head, Taranaki held two further shots before Curtin, the 2022 Dominion pairs winner, took the point with his last bowl, reducing the deficit to two.

Wellington called the tune on the last end, holding three shots, before Zittersteijn’s last-bowl drive dislodged the jack to the boundary. After the umpire had ruled the jack dead, it was placed on the 2m mark.

Fortunately, Zittersteijn’s drive had removed one of the Wellington back bowls, leaving the Capital with only two shots after the placement. That meant the game finished 11-all, and because of the superior differential from the pairs win, the title belonged to Taranaki.

“We are delighted with the outcome,” selector/manager Simon Rowe said. “The team gelled really well.”

Meanwhile, Taranaki failed to advance from the qualifying rounds in the national champion-of-champions pairs and triples during the past two weekends in Dunedin.

Zittersteijn and Daryl Read (Paritutu) managed two wins from four in the men’s pairs, as did Fitzroy’s Maree Gadsby and Faye Gecse.

In the men’s triples, Kevan Sellers, Phil Huwyler and Kaylin Huwyler lost their opening two games to bow out, while Taranaki’s champions in the women’s event did not venture south.

The fours are on this weekend in Auckland.

Could Taranaki Host the Commonwealth Games

Could Taranaki Host the Commonwealth Games?
Will Johnston
Sports News Taranaki


Taranaki’s business and sporting leaders believe the region’s sports facilities could host events during the Commonwealth Games, but investment is needed by the government to get them up to a standard.

New Zealand has taken a tentative step to bid for hosting rights during the 2034 instalment, with competitions to potentially take place across multiple cities and regions. It moves away from the traditional format where one city hosts the entire Games.

Taranaki has hosted many national and international events over the years at facilities like Yarrow Stadium, TSB Stadium, Port Taranaki and Stratford’s hockey turf putting the region in a good position to host events.

New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom agrees but said more is required to get the venues up to standard.

“We’ve got experience hosting big cultural and sporting events in the district, we have passionate hospitality and accommodation providers who would relish the opportunity along with the substantive economic benefits,” he said.

“They [facilities] would require investment to meet Games requirements, and this would need to be fully funded by central government, which receives the largest portion of income from international visitors,” he said.

Holdom has no doubt that if the region got the chance to host events, it would be a success and the province would work together to make it an amazing experience.

Taranaki Chamber of Commerce chief executive Arun Chaudhari said the region could deliver “the goods” in the time frame.

“Infrastructure would get a huge boost. Taranaki’s hospo, accommodation and retail would welcome the prospect.”

Sport Taranaki chief executive Michael Carr said it’s early days, but the prospect is exciting.

“It will depend on the scope, one of the challenges is how far they will go out of the main centres, at this point we don’t know,” he said. “But there are a number of venues used in national competitions now that we would be in a reasonably strong position to host.”

He said if there are improvements to venues, they will need to be available for the community to use post the Games.

The region’s lawn bowls facilities earned top praise from Bowls New Zealand when Taranaki will host the Dominion fours and mixed pairs next year, making it an ideal location for the sport. 

“That’s a big tick in Bowls New Zealand’s book,” said Bowls Taranaki chairman Robert Wolfe.

He said not only could the facilities cope with the influx of players, but the conditions would also suit.

“With the climate being conducive to playing the game and the type of greens that have been manufactured here over the years, they’ve certainly stood the test of time.”

Taranaki is used to hosting large bowls events. Earlier this year, 182 teams and 200 extra players compared to last season were involved in the annual Taranaki Open. Some even came from Australia. “If the organisation, playing facilities and greens weren’t up to standard, they wouldn’t come here,” Wolfe said.

Maiden Bowls Title for Young Bowler

Maiden bowls title for young bowler
Grant Hassall
Sports News Taranaki

Paritutu’s Black Jack-in-waiting Briar Atkinson claimed her maiden New Zealand bowls title in Hastings on Sunday.

Atkinson won the women’s champion-of-champions singles title beating Stokes Valley’s Nicole Toomey 21-13 in the final.

Atkinson turned on a consistent performance to become the third Taranaki woman to succeed in the event since it was established in 1957. Grace Gillespie in 1961 and Pearl Dymond in 1969 were the previous winners, while on the men’s front, John Murtagh, Geoff Hawken and Dean Elgar have also won the equivalent title.

As Taranaki folk have witnessed, especially over the past season, Atkinson has grown into an elite player, claiming three Taranaki titles last summer.

In Hastings, despite dropping a match in section play to Audrey Stevenson (Kapiti), Atkinson still qualified easily by winning her other three games. In the quarterfinals, she beat Jane Anderson (Marlborough) 21-9 and Linley O’Callaghan (Otago Central) 21-7.

Toomey, a dual bronze medallist from last year’s Commonwealth Games, was a much tougher assignment in the finale. Both players drew well, with the scores locked at 10-all, before Atkinson edged away.

The rub of the green tended to go Atkinson’s way, she made her own luck by playing the right shots and always erring on the tight side when reaching the head. Toomey, while drawing with precision, was often guilty of playing wide when down.

In the men’s event, Auckland’s Tony Grantham took out the title 21-8 over Whanganui’s Kaylin Huwyler, who of course claimed three Taranaki titles under the Paritutu banner last season.

That final, too, was a close encounter, with Huwyler leading 8-7.

But Grantham, with many distinctions including four Dominion titles under his belt, lengthened the heads out and completely dominated the scoring after that.

Huwyler, nonetheless, certainly enhanced his reputation on his trip to the final.

In the semifinals, he beat Nathan Glasson (Canterbury) 21-12. It was Glasson who had ended the hopes of the Taranaki representative, Maurice Symes (Fitzroy), 21-13 in the last eight. Symes, too, had done well to advance from a tricky qualifying group.

The national champion-of-champions series continues over the next three weekends, with the pairs and triples in Dunedin, before the fours are held in Auckland on July 21-23.

Midlands Funds Management and the Taranaki Open Fours

We are pleased to announce Midlands Funds Management as a major sponsor of Bowls Taranaki. We look forward to working with Midlands Funds Management over the coming years, and appreciate their support. You will see their name and logo on posters, entry forms and signage throughout the year. If you would like to know more about them and their financial products take a look at their website www.midlandsfundsmanagement.co.nz

Entry Forms for the Midlands Funds Management Taranaki Men’s Open Fours and The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours are now available.

Please note: You can pay via internet banking and send the form back to us by email or post, or alternatively fill out the form on the website and pay by credit card.

You can download and print entry forms below:

The Devon Hotel Taranaki Women’s Open Fours Entry Form

Midlands Funds Management Taranaki Men’s Open Fours Entry Form

New Board elected for Bowls Taranaki

We are pleased to announce our new Board for Bowls Taranaki 2023-24

President: Grant Hassall
Vice President: Kristin Stampa
Chairman: Robert Wolfe
Board Members: Dean File, Val McEldowney, Kevin Gray, Chris Commane
Executive Officer: Ian Lewis

We thank, Eric Foreman and David Brunton for their time on the board, and wish them well with their clubs.

Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Selectors Announced for 2023-24 Season

Bowls Taranaki are pleased to announce that Don Christensen and John Garrud are the Women’s and Men’s Selectors for the upcoming season.

A busy representative season sees our Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Team take to the greens on 6 occasions. We start the season with a new tournament hosted by Bowls Wellington featuring some of the best Under 26 players from around the country. Then we face off against Waikato at the start of September in a fixture designed to get the best out of our upcoming open development players. Our regular fixture against Whanganui is scheduled for Saturday 11th November. Before the Junior teams take to the green in the Junior Hexagonal (Venue to be confirmed) and the Seniors compete in the Octagonal to be held at Whanganui. Finally our best 7 players will compete to lift the trophy at the National Intercentre in Wellington. With players representing a large number of clubs last year, we wish all the best for all players involved.

Revital Fertilisers Taranaki Fixtures:
National Under 26 Tournament at Wellington – 14th-16th July 2023
Open Development Taranaki v Waikato – 2nd & 3rd September 2023
Taranaki v Whanganui – Saturday 11th November 2023
Junior Hexagonal (Venue -tbc) – 10th & 11th February 2024
Senior Octagonal at Whanganui – 9th, 10th & 11th February 2024
Bowls New Zealand National Intercentre at Wellington – 14th, 15th, 16th & 17th March 2024