As the president of Bowls NSW and someone who travels around the state to view and take part in countless tournaments, Vince Beard is pretty well-placed to comment on the NSW sporting landscape.
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And he’s got nothing but good things to say about Dubbo.
Beard was in the city on the weekend to attend the West Dubbo President’s Day and 60th anniversary competition.
While there he not also spoke about the success of Dubbo bowlers on the big stage, he also had nothing but praise for all the city’s sporting facilities and achievements.
“Dubbo, as far as a sporting area goes, is absolutely tremendous, there’s no doubt about that and the facilities out this way leaves a lot of other big country towns for dead,” he said.
“I’m from Wagga and in the past we had great facilities there while now it’s the other way around and Dubbo is on top. No doubt about it.”
Bowls is a big part of Dubbo’s success, according to Beard, and he added West Dubbo was one of a number of the city’s clubs which is well-respected at the game’s “head office”.
Beard spent plenty of time on the bowling greens on the weekend before handing out merit badges and NSW Bowls badges to some worthy recipients.
“It’s tremendous. West Dubbo Bowling Club is a terrific club and well-recognised in Sydney and the head office so it’s a great spot to be,” he said.
“Dubbo is very strong (in bowls), very good. They play right through from grade one in the pennants down to grade seven so it’s a great effort for a town the size of Dubbo and for a place with the amount of clubs there is here.”
Unfortunately for Beard, he wasn’t part of the winning team on the weekend as first spot went to the Peak Hill trio of Garry Stanford, Trevor Edwards and Ron Davis.
In all, 26 teams competed.
Teams came from Trangie, Molong, Nyngan, Coonamble, Peak Hill, Yeoval, Gulargambone to compete while there was also local teams from the City, Macquarie, Railway, and West Dubbo clubs.
The winning team edged out the Wellington trio of Richard Carpenter, Roger Simpson and Ron Oxenham while Dubbo City’s Wayne Thompson, Ian Hobson and Phil Knight were third.
At the presentation, Beard awarded merit badges to West Dubbo Bowling Club members for their services to the club in last 12 months while there was Bowls NSW badges for Steve Robinson and James Robinson and Bowls NSW ladies’ broaches for Bev Goss and Mary Ney.
Steve Robinson got his award for effort in coaching juniors and organising tournaments while the youngster Robinson was recognised after a year which included wins in thge club’s Minor Singles, runners-up spot in the Far West President’s Singles, fourth place in the State Junior seven-a-side Championships, while he was also recently selected in the NSW Country Junior team.
“It’s great to see the kids here playing,” Beard added.
Goss and Ney were awarded for their work in helping and umpiring and marking men’s pennants and championships.
West Dubo vice president Alex Rae was also on hand to present Far West Emus badges for Wayne Herd and Warren Brown for their commitment through the year and help they offered at West Dubbo.
Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
