Battle of the Pacific - Oceania Challenge 2023

Blockhouse Bay Bowling Club, Auckland New Zealand

It is a month since my trip to New Zealand to support the Norfolk Island Lawn Bowls team who were selected for the inaugural International Oceania Challenge, held in Auckland. Pacific Country lawn bowlers came together, to enjoy time together bowling, competing at the Blockhouse Bay Bowling Club, all hoping to take home medals and the trophy, as they last did in Samoa at the 2019 Pacific Games.

Competition games were play over four days from Friday 14 April to Monday 17 April 2023. The Powhiri and Opening Ceremony was held Thursday 13 April on a lovely sunny afternoon. Bowls New Zealand and Bowls Auckland were proud host of the eight Oceania Nations of Tonga, Samoa, Norfolk Island, Cook Islands, Tokelau, Niue, and Fiji and also joining the challenge were New Zealand Under 26 and Aotearoa Māori teams.

Blockhouse Bay Bowling Club were the host club with the support of many volunteers and helpers and the wonderful umpires and markers who all had a busy time during the competition. During the week in Auckland the teams were able to practice on the bowling greens, which ran much faster that the Norfolk Island Bowling greens. Our representatives’ team of five men and five women, played for four days competing in the Men and Women in singles, pairs, triples, and fours. During the competitions I enjoyed watching the games, photographing, and supporting the teams when they needed drinks, food, and Ubers to and from the venue. It was great meeting and chatting to others at the bowls, some from NZ and many Pacific Islanders, some I had met in Samoa in 2019 at the Pacific Games.

The team felt proud to be in Auckland representing Norfolk Island on an International stage. There were many great games of bowls and Carmen Anderson proudly went through to the finals of the Women’s Singles and won a Gold Medal for Norfolk Island. The men’s teams did not have semi finals it was straight through to finals, so they just missed out playing off for a medal.

The medal ceremony was held on the Monday afternoon after the completion of the games. The overall winner of the inaugural Oceania Challenge was Aotearoa Māori, winning the most medals at the finals. It was wonderful to see the Norfolk Island flag flying up the flagpole as Carmen proudly received her Gold Medal and we all sung, “God Save the King” the National Anthem of Norfolk Island.

Thank you to the organisers and for all the support from the Norfolk Island Bowling Club and Norfolk Island community. I felt proud to be able to attend with the bowls team and photograph many great moments along the week and Carmen’s big smile when she won GOLD.

Norfolk Island Team

Women: Carmen Anderson, Debby Adams, Petal (Christine) Jones, Myka Quintal, Vivian Delacrvz

Men: Trevor Gow, Stephen Matthews, Jordy Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phil Jones

Coaches/Managers: Phil Jones, Betty Matthews

Thank you to the Oceania Challenge sponsor partners, Digicel who service many of the pacific nations in telecommunications and Bluewater Trust who have supported lawn bowls across Auckland for many years.

Here are some of the magic moments I captured during the Oceania Challenge. It was a pleasure to be able to support our Norfolk Island representatives and record these photos for the international sporting history of Norfolk Island.

Betty Matthews

June 2023