Award finalists and Hall of Fame inductees announced
Bowls Australia have confirmed the finalists of this year’s Awards Night and inductees into the Hall of Fame. Bowls Australia have today announced 19 of this year’s most deserving lawn bowlers and administrators as finalists in the sport’s night of nights, while also honouring four of the game’s greatest personalities with induction into the national Hall of Fame.
The prestigious Hall of Fame and Awards Night, which will be staged at Surfers Paradise’s Mantra Legends on Thursday, October 29, will see 10 of this year’s biggest contributors to the sport of bowls across the country crowned in the categories of international bowler, male bowler, female bowler, under-18 male bowler, under-18 female bowler, coach, official, story, volunteer and Regional Bowls Manager of the year.
Finalists for the 2015 Awards Night categories are:
• Australian Sports Commission International Bowler of the Year – Aron Sherriff (Ettalong Memorial, NSW), Matthew Flapper (Ocean Grove, VIC), Wayne Ruediger (Grange, SA)
• Aero Bowls Male Bowler of the Year – Ryan Bester (Broadbeach, QLD)
• Aero Bowls Female Bowler of the Year – Natasha Scott (Raymond Terrace, NSW)
• BCiB Under-18 Male Bowler of the Year – Jono Davis (Dubbo, NSW), Jacob Nelson (Wynnum Manly, QLD)
• Tourism and Events Queensland Under-18 Female Bowler of the Year – Jamie-Lee Worsnop (St Johns Park, NSW), Ellen Ryan (Cabramatta, NSW)
• City Club Volunteer of the Year – John Smith (NSW), Patricia Reely (Helensvale, QLD)
• City of Gold Coast Coach of the Year – Bev Dowrick (Bowls ACT), Anthony Hockey (Bowls WA)
• Berry Bowling Systems Story of the Year – Tom Boswell and Terry Wilson on behalf of the Gold Coast Bulletin publication and their contributing colleagues (Jack Harbour, Shya Laughlin, Suzanne Simonot and Lucy Ardern), Rob Greenwood (Messenger Community News)
• All Sports Travel Official of the Year – Sandy Wallace (Bowls SA), Bob Carlson (Bowls Victoria)
• Berry Bowling Systems Regional Bowls Manager of the Year – Mark Casey (South East Queensland), Chris Wallace (Sydney metropolitan)
Following the first full year of Bowls Australia’s Aero Bowls Player Ranking System, the recipients of the Aero Bowls Male Bowler of the Year and Female Bowler of the Year categories have already been decided, with Broadbeach’s Ryan Bester and Raymond Terrace’s Natasha Scott confirmed as Australia’s number one male and female bowlers respectively.
The annual ranking system period, which was effective from July 1 until the conclusion of the Australian Open on June 25, provided an enhanced points system across the spectrum of events approved as ‘national ranking events’, and gave more weight to higher finishing performances at major tournaments staged around the country, with the winners each receiving a $3,000 prize cheque courtesy of Bowls Australia’s preferred bowls manufacturer, Aero Bowls.
Testament to an outstanding year on the international stage, three Australian Jackaroos players have been named as finalists for the Australian Sports Commission International Bowler of the Year accolade, with three-time defending champion Aron Sherriff again recognised, as has Ocean Grove’s Matthew Flapper and Grange’s Wayne Ruediger for their performances on the world stage.
In the BCiB Under-18 Male Bowler of the Year award, 14 year-old Jono Davis, from Dubbo, has enjoyed a rapid rise through the sport’s ranks, selected as one of five males in the Australian Under-18 squad after he claimed the 2014 Australian Under-18 Championships boys’ pairs gold and singles silver medals, and will go head to head against Wynnum Manly’s Jacob Nelson, who secured the Australian Under-18 Championships singles golden medallion.
It will be just as difficult to split the finalists of the Tourism and Events Queensland Under-18 Female Bowler of the Year gong, with St Johns Parks’ Jamie-Lee Worsnop up against Cabramatta’s Ellen Ryan.
Worsnop won the 2014 Australian Open under-18 singles event, then later that year made history as the youngest ever winner of the $30,000 Australian Indoor Championships at just 17 years of age and then by virtue of her Indoor win went on to represent the nation at the World Cup, where she earned a bronze, whereas Ryan was also in scintillating form during the period, collecting the 2014 Australian Under-18 Championships pairs gold medal and then etching her name alongside the sport’s greats as the blue-ribbon $225,000 Australian Open women’s singles winner earlier this year.
For the coveted City of Gold Coast Coach of the Year trophy, Bowls ACT’s Bev Dowrick, who has coached the state women’s team for five years and the junior boys and girls teams for fours years, is a finalist alongside Bowls WA’s Anthony Hockey, who has worked in separate roles as the state’s team manager for both the men and women over the past six years.
Berry Bowling Systems Story of the Year finalists include the Gold Coast Bulletin publication, specifically Sports Journalists Tom Boswell and Terry Wilson on behalf of a number of contributors for their coverage of the $225,000 Australian Open and events in their region, up against Messenger Community News Sports Editor Rob Greenwood, for his reportage of the Adelaide Endurance in the second edition of the Australian Premier League, APL02.
The tireless contribution of Holdfast Bay’s Sandy Wallace and Sunbury’s Bob Carlson as international technical officials, markers and umpires at a range of club, state and national events, including the 2014 Australian Open and 2015 Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea, see them recognised as finalists for the All Sports Travel Official of the Year.
Bowls NSW’s 2014 Volunteer of the Year John Smith and Club Helensvale’s Patricia Reely, who devotes countless hours to the club as an umpire, umpire coordinator and Ladies Games Director over the past nine years, have been selected as the two finals for the City Club Volunteer of the Year award.
In the Berry Bowling Systems Regional Bowls Manager of the Year award, South East Queensland’s Mark Casey and Sydney’s Chris Wallace are in contention for the silverware for their contribution to the numerous clubs located in each of their regions.
The Hall of Fame component, which was first introduced in 2011, acknowledges the sport’s most deserving past and present bowlers and administrators for their achievements both on and off the green, with new members inducted every two years.
Representing the highest level of peer recognition for an individual’s performance and contribution to the sport, the Hall of Fame already boasts 38 members inducted during the inaugural event in 2011 and four members who were bestowed the honour in 2013.
The Hall of Fame committee, which comprises of past inductees, two Bowls Australia Board Directors and the rankings administrator, elected to again utilise all four positions available, with Audrey Hefford, Dorothy Roche OAM, Robert (Bob) King and Donald Woolnough OAM confirmed as inductees this year.
South Australia’s Hefford, earns a spot in the 1975-199 era as a player, having debuted for Australia in 1983 in Hong Kong at cap number 25, before going on to don the green and gold at four more test series over the next seven years, including two Commonwealth Games campaigns, where she claimed a silver medal in the fours at the 1986 Edinburgh Games and a fourth place finish in the singles at Auckland in 1990.
NSW’s Roche became Australia’s oldest gold medal winner when she competed in the women’s fours at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games at the age of 61 years and 10 months, having taken up competitive bowls in 1975 when she was nearly fifty years of age.
King, a fellow NSW Blue, began bowling at the age of 21 years, and achieved the honour of representing Australia 19 years later at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, where he returned with a silver medal from the fours event.
Victoria’s Woolnough’s contribution to the sport of bowls spanned numerous decades and across multiple levels, most notably as an Australian and Victorian representative, but also as a Bowls Victoria councillor, delegate and state selector, in addition to being a national selector, umpire and coach.
A limited number of tickets for the Hall of Fame and Awards Night on October 29 are available for purchase by the public and bowls fraternity.
Tickets are available online here until September 25 for $65 each, and include a three course meal.
Bowls Australia congratulate the 19 awards finalists and four Hall of Fame inductees.
Hall of Fame inductee background:
Audrey Hefford – South Australia, athlete member, 1975-1999
Audrey hails from the small township of Cobdogla in South Australia’s Riverland, but her achievements on and off the green in the sport of bowls cannot be understated.
On the international stage, Hefford debuted for Australia in 1983 in Hong Kong at cap number 25, before going on to don the green and gold at four more test series over the next seven years, including two Commonwealth Games campaigns, where she claimed a silver medal in the fours at the 1986 Edinburgh Games and a fourth place finish in the singles at Auckland in 1990, while a gold in the triples at the 1989 Asia Pacific Championships in Fiji also ranks among her highlights.
On the national front, Hefford also secured some of the sport’s top gongs, including winning the Golden Nugget, Australian Fours in 1971, and the Master Singles on five occasions between 1973 and 1990.
She also enjoyed a long and illustrious career at state level, representing South Australia on more than 200 occasions, and was the state Champion of Champion six times and State singles winner three times.
Off the green, Hefford was recognised in 1985 as the State Country Sportsperson of the Year, in 1990 as South Australia’s Sportswomen of the Year and the Riverland Citizen of the Year, as well as a five-time winner of the Riverland Sportsperson of the Year, and was an inaugural inductee into Bowl SA’s Hall of Fame.
Sadly, Hefford passed away on March 5, 2014 aged 85.
Dorothy Roche OAM – NSW, athlete member, 1975-1999
Dorothy became Australia’s oldest gold medal winner when she competed in the women’s fours at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games at the age of 61 years and 10 months, having taken up competitive bowls in 1975 when she was nearly fifty years of age.
In 1979, she won the Champion of Champions singles competition and the Alpha Romeo Sport-Star of the Year, while a round-robin match in 1984 where she and Merle Richardson defeated the sport’s leading male players, including world champion David Bryant, ranks high among her personal achievements.
Roche earned cap number 27 when she made her debut at the 1985 World Bowls Championships, with her illustrious international career spanning until 1993.
Testament to her exceptional consistency, throughout her career, Roche won a state-level game every year.
In 1988 she was captain of the gold medal-winning team at the Melbourne World Championships, two years claimed the historic 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games fours gold, becoming Australia’s oldest gold medal winner, and in that year was granted the ‘Freedom of the City of Paramatta’ and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to lawn bowls.
Robert (Bob) King – NSW, athlete member, 1975-1999
Bob began bowling at the age of 21 years, and achieved the honour of representing Australia 19 years later at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, where he returned with a silver medal from the fours event.
On the national stage, King was successful in winning two major titles; the Australian Pairs in 1985 and the Australian Singles in 1998.
During a long and illustrious career in NSW, King amassed a plethora of coveted titles, including the NSW singles five times, in 1979, 1980, 1984, 1993 and 1998, the NSW pairs twice, in 1979 and 1980, the State Champion of Champions singles in 1984 and 1994, and the State Open Pairs in 1978.
Bob has enjoyed great success at other high profile events and activities including playing in the blue-ribbon singles position at the 1981 Australia v New Zealand, appearances on the Jack High television program, 30 Prestige Invitational singles titles and six Prestige Invitational pairs gongs.
Bob King’s dominance through the seventies, eighties and nineties made him synonymous with the sport, and in 2007 he was one of the four inaugural inductees into the Bows NSW Hall of Fame.
Donald Woolnough OAM – Victoria, athlete member, 1950-1974
Donald’s contribution to the sport of bowls spanned numerous decades and across multiple levels, most notably as an Australian and Victorian representative, but also as a Bowls Victoria councillor, delegate and state selector, in addition to being a national selector, umpire and coach.
Woolnough’s greatest success on the international stage came at the 1976 World Bowls Championships in South Africa, where he guided the pairs to a silver medal and the fours to bronze.
He was also a prolific winner at state level, claiming the Victorian Country Fours in 1963, the Pairs in 1965, and accumulated more than 350 games for the Big V.
Off the green, Woolnough dedicated countless hours to the sport in his state and country, acting as an RVBA councillor and Victorian selector for 15 years, and club delegate to the association for 20 years, while at a national level, he served as a selector for four years, umpire for 38 years and coached the nation at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games.
Woolnough was given life membership to Bowls Victoria (RVBA) in 1998 and was inducted in their Hall of Fame in 2002, he was also recognised for his contribution to the sport in 1995 when he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to bowls.
Sadly, Woolnough passed away on March 18, 2003.
