On the mat with Joyce and Radich
The team of Joe Milich, Marge Milich and Jim Barron took out the Awanui Triples indoor bowling tournament at the Kaitaia Primary School last Thursday evening, with runner-up spot going to the team of Stephen Yuretich, Ivan Jurlina and Mary Katavich.
Meat packs were again the order of the day, while Barron won the vege box raffle to end up greatly pleased with his meat and vege evening. Local indoor bowling scribe Stephen Joyce was on hand to report on proceedings and noted there was a certain symmetry in that, following the various written exchanges in the Northland Age, he met his old adversary Mat Radich on the bowling mat.
Going into the last end, Joyce’s team was one point ahead on the card. However, his nemesis played one of his notorious up-shots which scattered the bowls and moved the kitty to a fairly open position, leaving Radich holding three on the mat, said Joyce, ramping up the drama in his inimitable style.
“I had a relatively easy draw shot with my last bowl for the win, but as I was in the process of bowling it, Mate shouted something rude in my ear! I managed to do a ‘ Tiger Woods’ and stopped in mid-swing [to see] Mate standing there laughing along with the rest of his team and a few spectators! Once the merriment had died down, I drew my shot in close to the kitty for a sneaky win. Afterwards I was very gracious towards Mate in our victory. Yeah right.”
In other local news, Joyce was also present for the annual Dalmatian quadrangular tournament at Waiharara Hall last Sunday, noting the event had to be played in a triangular format this year — with Dargaville being unable to supply the required numbers for the tournament — and thus it became a contest between Kaitaia, Oratia and Whangarei teams.
The best club on the day was the hosting Far North Kaitaia with Oratia finishing a close second, only a point behind, in what proved a nail-biting finish with only one point separating all three factions. The best team on the day was Whangarei B with 4 out of 5 wins, with Oratia A finishing runner-up with 4 wins and a draw, and Kaitaia B’s Marge Milich, Bertha Yerkavich, Mary Katavich and Sarah Travers completing their day in third place.
Joyce noted a couple of Kaitaia players played carrying injuries: He Who Shall Remain Nameless suffering a corked thigh following a dispute with a farm animal, “he would not say too much about how it occurred but was overheard saying that the animal had really nice eyes!?” a bemused Joyce noted, adding the other injured party was Ivan Buselich who apparently came off second best to an errant hay bale.
As the event scorekeeper, Joyce also singled out Joy Matich for praise for showing diligence in preparing the score sheet and draw cards: “She made it so easy for me to complete, though I think she will be somewhat horrified at my scribbling and corrections which tended to make a very professional presentation look decidedly amateur.”
As per usual, there was a Saturday evening feast before the event with Freddie Petricevich supplying the lamb, Mate Radich supplying the pig, and Joe Milich and his team spit-roasting them.
“I did not go to the dinner but by all accounts the food was magnificent in the true Dalmatian tradition. I did hear a couple of comments on Sunday though, that the roast pork appeared to have a hint of chrysanthemum flavour! Overall, a tremendous day!”