Match Report: Chatham v Prince Arthur

On 8th March Chatham Bowling Club played an indoor friendly match against Prince Arthur Indoor Bowling Club. Nothing unusual in that you may say, as we play against Prince Arthur four times each year, and you may be wondering why this match has been singled out for a special report. The main difference in this match was that it was the first time Chatham have ever played a meal match against Prince Arthur. This was set up as an experiment this year as Prince Arthur's regular meal match on this date had been cancelled.

Although we were initially unsure about how popular a meal match would be, we managed to field an almost complete team, only losing one player fairly late due to a back injury. This worked out for the best as Prince Arthur were also one player short leaving both clubs with seven complete rinks and one triple.

Although Chatham lost overall (122 shots to 177), we did manage to win on two rinks. Both of these rinks happened to have two Chatham players playing for Prince Arthur on them, but I'm sure this had no reflection on the final result! Prince Arthur's highest winning rink also had two Chatham players playing for Prince Arthur (including a certain ex-Treasurer), but the least said about that the better!!! The main thing was that it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, and being a friendly match the score didn't really matter. The match was followed by an excellent meal provided by the caterers at Prince Arthur.

As an experiment this seems to have worked very well, and everyone I have spoken to thinks that the meal match was a good idea. We hope to repeat this in future years, with the other three friendly matches against Prince Arthur remaining as non-meal matches.

David Turner
Club Captain