Sebastopol Burras all set for VBL3
Sebastopol Bowling Club has announced its Burra’s side for VBL3:
– Brad Marron (Kangaroo Flat)
– Andrew Brown (Bendigo Bowls Club)
– Will Matthews (Sebastopol Bowling Club)
– Rob Baker (Sebastopol Bowling Club)
– Scott Roberts (Sebastopol Bowling Club)
Kangaroo Flat’s Brad Marron and Bendigo’s Andrew Brown will make their debut for the Burras this season alongside returning Sebastopol players in Will Matthews, Rob Baker and Scott Roberts.
Brad is the current Victorian Champion of Champions singles winner, and his achievements include Australian Pairs, Vic Open Pairs and Triples titles, and a State Fours finalist.
Andrew is a 6-time Club Singles Champion with 7 Division 1 Premierships under his belt and was named in the 2024 Open Men’s Squad for Victoria.
He is also the current winning Regional Sides Championship skipper.
The Burras are only using 5 players in VBL3 with Ben McArthur, Chris Young and Brenton Coad stepping out from last season’s team.
The side will be endeavouring a step beyond last season’s semi final achievement on debut.
Sebastopol Bowling Club Chairman, Warren Bedggood, is looking forward to the Burras going around again in VBL3 and is happy that the board took the initiative to enter a side into the state’s premier bowls competition.
“The Sebastopol Bowling Club board came to a view last year, as a major bowling club and leading club in the Ballarat Association, we needed to promote bowls in general,” Warren said.
“After the pandemic we wanted to try and raise the profile of the club and Ballarat bowls within the wider state, to showcase the talent of our regions bowlers and the facilities we can offer the state association for other events.”
“We set about buying a franchise in the VBL2 competition last year and getting a side together in a short period of time.”
“We wanted to put a competitive side together, also to show that the side was not just about Sebastopol Bowling Club but about the quality of bowlers in our region of the state.”
The club enlisted the services of quality bowlers Brenton Coad (Victoria), Ben McArthur (Webbcona) and Chris Young (Chalambar Golf) for their first foray into the VBL and performed strongly, making it through to the semi final stage.
“The results were great for our first-time entry into the competition,” Warren said.
“Our original goal was to hopefully make the finals weekend and the side did that and more and made it all the way to fourth.”
Following last year’s VBL2 results the club had a review after the event and decided to add a qualifier entry to this year’s VBL competition.
“As a club and board, we decided to enter a second side into the qualifier’s section to give more players the opportunity to play at the level against some of the best bowlers in the state,” Warren said.
“They will be playing this Saturday under the dome at Sebastopol.”
“Unfortunately, two of our players in Brenton and Ben from last year’s VBL2 side have been contracted to other Melbourne based VBL Clubs and Chris Young has departed.”
“We’ve been able to replace them with players of similar quality for this year’s competition.”
The Sebastopol Bowling Club is not resting on its laurels, with the board looking for further opportunities to promote lawn bowls.
“The other major event we stepped up to back, was the changes to the Great Southern Tournament In January, ” Warren said.
“As a club, we want to try and make it a ranking points major tournament on the Victorian Bowls calendar.”
“Hopefully over the next few years it will only get bigger and better with more entries from all over the state, as well as interstate.”
“This year’s event was a great success with good comments on how well the event was run received from players after the event.”
As for the Sebastopol Bowling Club board, they are gazing into the future.
“The board of the club will be looking at how we can support the bowls side of the club’s operation in providing the best facilities and developing plans to improve our club into the future,” Warren said.
“The Sebastopol Bowling Club will remain a leading and progressive supporter of lawn bowls in our region, for our association and competition.”
“For continued survival and prosperity, we need all clubs to be involved in the development of new bowls and raising the profile of the sport that we all love.”
VBL3 Info
The full 2024 venues, draws & results are available on Bowlslink.
Qualifier Event (sectional) – 6th July
City Warrnambool
Club Sunbury
Dandenong Club
Sebastopol Bowling Club
Venue winners play in finals on the 13th.
Qualifier Event (finals) – 13th July
Dandenong Club
Qualifier goes on to play Sectional Weekend #1
Sectional Weekend #1 – 13th July – Dandenong Club
Sectional Weekend #1 – 16th & 17th August – Traralgon Bowls Club
Sectional Weekend #2 – 23rd & 24th August – Dandenong Club
VBL 3 Finals Weekend – 30th & 31st August – CluBarham
Watch all the action live via Bowls Victoria streaming on Facebook and Youtube.
Good luck to the BURRAS in VBL3!