Author Archives: Competition Secretary

South Ramsey A Claim First Ever Division One Title

Rayner Shield Winners 2016 - South Ramsey A

Back: Alan Moore, John Kennish, Peter Collister, Chas Grills
Front: David Bradford, Gary Conwell, Dave Kelly, Glynn Hargraves

South Ramsey A have done it! They have won their first ever Ellan Vannin Fuels League Division One title.

It is nothing more than they deserve after a season which they dominated for the most part, although they didn’t sign off their campaign the way they would have hoped narrowly going down 6-4 away at Port St Mary A.

Port’s impressive victory was enough to ensure they secured fourth spot and hold off a fast finishing Douglas A side who turned on the style down the road as they beat Port Erin A 9-1 to finish two points adrift in fifth.

Four points for South away from home were enough to clinch victory finishing six points ahead of Marown A who ended their challenge with an 8-2 win over Douglas B to take second place.

It is hard to explain to people from outside the local bowling fraternity how impressive this win is as the sport has been so ruthlessly dominated by Onchan A and Marown A in recent memory and for anyone to break this stranglehold is a monumental achievement.

The last time neither of the old firm won the title was in 1996 when Casteltown A took top spot, and for the past fourteen years Onchan and Marown have occupied both first and second places.

South have been simply superb this season and they add this league title to the Rayner shield that they won a few weeks ago. Club stalwart John Kennish finished the season unbeaten to take the Division One Merit ensuring his side completed a clean sweep of all the major honours. Congratulations to both John and South Ramsey on the clubs finest ever season, and with the players in their ranks it would be hard to be against them doing the same next term.

Although Onchan A had to relinquish their title they finished the season in fine form beating South Ramsey B 10-0. They have been magnificent champions and will be remembered as such and if they can start their next title challenge the way they ended this one they things could be very different.

North Ramsey A defeated Nobles A 7-3 to finish in sixth spot and relegate their opponents along with Finch Hill A who had no game this week.

Ballaugh A completed an Houdini like escape as they picked up a surprise 7-3 victory over Castletown A to finish just one point above the relegation zone and ensure they kept their seat at the top table for 2017.

Overall this has been a memorable season with some brilliant bowls played, some unbelievable shock results but I have to say in the end the best team won and South Ramsey A deserve all the accolades and plaudits afforded them.

I think next year could be an even more thrilling season and I approach the winter break with bated breath in anticipation of what the 2017 season could have in store for us.

I would like to end by thanking Ellan Vannin Fuels for their sponsorship of the leagues and for forming a partnership that is helping the bowls association develop the sport on the Island.

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September Festival Blog

Results / Draw

South Ramsey Close In On History

With only a few weeks left of the Ellan Vannin Fuels Crown Green Bowls Leagues South Ramsey A have one hand on winning their first League Trophy and end 19 years of dominance of Marown A and Onchan A.

With Marown sitting out the Wednesday games they needed to better South’s score on Monday however they faced Nobles A who are fighting for their lives to stay in the top flight. Marown came away with a 7-3 win but crucially South Ramsey won 9-1 home to Ballaugh. Wednesday South Ramsey turned in their fourth 10-0 of the season moving them 11 points clear with three games to go.

At the other end Ballaugh A, Finch Hill A and Nobles A are fighting to remain in the 1st Division. Finch Hill have played an extra game than the other two teams and have tough games against Port St Mary A and Douglas A to come. Nobles and Ballaugh face off in what could be a relegation showdown this week.

In Division Two Peel Sunset A are still comfortable at the top of the League despite losing 7-3 to Marown B who are rallying to take 2nd place from Castletown B

Division Three remains tight as only 3 points separate Port Erin B and Douglas C at the summit of the table with two games to go.

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Port St Mary Ladies Retain League

Jean Kelly Winners 2015 - Port St Mary

Port St Mary have retained the Ladies League for a third successive season and win their 6th title overall.

South Ramsey may have ended Port St Mary’s undefeated season by beating them 139-161 on Friday night but it wasn’t enough to affect the final outcome of the league.

Castletown beat Port Erin 161-141 in their final game and will hope their 163 point cushion ahead of South Ramsey is enough to hold onto second place with South Ramsey still to play Nobles in a re-arranged game this week

(Photo 2015 Jean Kelly)

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Advantage South Ramsey

Marown A failed to capitalise on their fantastic 9-1 win last week as they slipped up with two home defeats in four days in Ellan Vannin Fuels Men’s league division one.

Douglas A were the first to visit the memorial playing fields and put in a quite brilliant performance to win 7-3 but more impressively by 30 points on aggregate. Marown failed to bounce back on Thursday as they suffered another 7-3 defeat this time at the hands of third placed Onchan A.

This opened the door for South Ramsey A who gladly stepped through picking up two 9-1 wins against Douglas B and South Ramsey B. These results leave South just one point behind leaders Marown, with a game in hand, and I can’t see them slipping up as they bid to win their first ever division one title.

Peel A won the top of the table clash with Castletown B 6-4 to go fifteen points clear in Division Two. Peel are all but home and hosed, barring any slip ups, and I am almost certain they will return to the top flight next term.

Marown B failed to make any ground on Town B slipping to a surprise 6-4 defeat and the hands of Nobles B.

Douglas C are back in pole position in Division Three as they won 8-2 away at Port St Mary D to move one point clear of Port Erin B with a game in hand. Both of these teams are well ahead of the chasing pack with third placed Ballaugh C some 16 points behind the Port Erin.

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South Ramsey A Retain Rayner Shield

Rayner Shield Winners 2016 - South Ramsey A

Back: Alan Moore, John Kennish, Peter Collister, Chas Grills
Front: David Bradford, Gary Conwell, Dave Kelly, Glynn Hargraves

South Ramsey A successfully defended their Rayner Shield title with a 5-3 win over Douglas A at Castletown.

South Ramsey were always favourites to win but the draw gave the team from the Villa Marina an outside chance of causing an upset.

Douglas had to win big in the first half and realistically needed to win three of the first four games to stand a chance of overall victory.

South started strongest and at one stage it looked as if they may win all four games on the green however Douglas dug deep and the tide swung with Douglas looking like they may register their own clean sweep.

Bob Clark picked up the first win for Douglas beating David Bradford 21-17 after a really high quality entertaining match. South captain Alan Moore levelled things for his side with a superb 21-17 win over Island Captain Dave Barney Kelly. Paul Kelly put Douglas back in front as he defeated Chas Grills 21-14. Things ended all level after four games thanks to a magnificent performance from Gary Conwell who turned back the clock to put in a performance of old as he saw off the challenge of Ian Moore 21-17.

As expected South were too strong for Douglas in the second half and it wasn’t long before they had two more wins in the bag with Glynn Hargraves and John Kennish turning on the style to pick up 21-5 wins over Mark Kneen and Stuart Garret respectively. Despite battling hard Stevie Kelly was unable to hold off Peter Collister who sealed the win for his side with a 21-15 win. Keith Rise battled hard though and restored some pride for his side fighting back to beat Dave Dido Kelly 21-19.

South Ramsey well deserved their win and if they continue to put in performances like this they will almost certainly win their first ever division one title this year.

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Port St Mary A Win Rayner Plate

Rayner Plate Winners 2016 - Port St Mary A

The Rayner Plate, once again kindly sponsored by Ron Williams, reached its conclusion tonight as the battle of the Southern Ports saw Port St Mary A beat Port Erin.

It was a historical night as Port St Mary A won their first piece of team silverware and they did it with a resounding 65 chalk win 172-107 (8-0).

Port Erin started the match with a twelve point advantage which was instantly reversed when Michael Collister beat Harry Minor 21-5. Next off, Juan Hargraves beat Bernie Durcan 21-15 closely followed by Trevor Quayle 21-13 against David Cain and Chris Oates winning 21-11 against Dave McCabe.

With Port St Mary leading 88-60 after the first four games Port Erin were hoping their back four could mount a comeback. It was not to be however as Robbie Cooil ran out 21-11 winner over Steve Durcan and with Port St Mary leading in the other games on the green it put the match out of reach. The remaining games saw Paul Skelly beat Seamus Whelan 21-10, Ewan Cooil won 21-10 against Stuart Gale and finally Wayne Roberts beat Peter Addison 21-16.

At the conclusion the trophy was presented by sponsor Ron Williams who thanked Peel Sunset Bowling Club for hosting the event and to Arnie Withers who refereed the match.

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IOM Merit

The IOM Merit due to be held this weekend at Peel has been moved to South Ramsey.

This is due to parking problems caused by the Peel Carnival

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Marown Lead With South Ramsey Showdown Looming

Marown A took advantage of South Ramsey A not playing last week to move into top spot of Ellan Vannin Fuels Men’s league division one.

The Crosby boys put in a strong performance to beat North Ramsey A and move seven points clear of their closest rivals. In truth South will be favourites to overturn this deficit when Marown sit out so if Neil Withers charges want to put the pressure on really set alight their championship aspirations their aim should be simple.

They must win tonight and either equal or better the score of the Ballure side and follow this up by beating them when they face off next week so that they give themselves at least ten points advantage, which they will aim to maintain and hold going into their own break. If they can do this they will guarantee themselves top spot with only three games remaining.

This is easier said than done however and the lads from Ramsey will be planning on doing the exact opposite and eroding their lead at every single opportunity to put themselves back on top and in pole position for their first Division One League title.

Champions Onchan A had a decent run out beating a battling Finch Hill A side 8-2 to all but guarantee themselves third place. I think realistically their defence of their title is over now, but you just never know. With only nine games left and eleven points to make up it will be a tall task for anyone, even a team with championship pedigree such as theirs.

Third placed Port St Mary A didn’t have things their own way against a rejuvenated Nobles A side who are clawing themselves out of the relegation zone. Port won 6-4, but only just, after tying on games and taking the bonus aggregate points by just seven chalks.

Douglas A have finally started their engines. Many fancied the Villa Men to be much closer to the top of the table and at least challenging for third place however some lacklustre results has seen them close to the teams below them than those above. They managed to put this behind them in spectacular fashion last week with a magnificent 10-0 maximum win away at South Ramsey B. With the Rayner Shield final only a few weeks away they will be delighted to at last find some form.

Ballaugh A are making their own bid for survival and will be ecstatic with a brilliant 7-3 away win over Douglas B. They have two home games coming up and with Nobles having two tricky away fixtures in the same period will be hoping to capitalise and make back the four points they trail by.

Castletown A made it three wins on the spin as they just got the better of local rivals Port Erin A 6-4. This should give them confidence as they go into the hardest away fixture of the year as they travel to South Ramsey A this week.

Second Division leaders Peel A failed to take the aggregate points for only the second time this season as despite winning on games they lost on overall points to draw 5-5 away at Port St Mary B.

Castletown B took full advantage of their rivals slip up winning 9-1 away at North Ramsey B to close in to just seven points off the lead.

Peel B put in a strong performance to leapfrog Marown B into third place beating Brian Kelly’s charges 7-3 in the sunset city. Both of these teams have an outside chance of promotion but they will need to start closing the gap now if they want to turn chance into reality.

Douglas C are still sitting pretty on the perch of Division Three after a decent outing at Nobles C where they won 7-3.

Nearest rivals Port Erin B managed to gain one point back as they picked up a good 8-2 home win over Castletown D.

It is Douglas’ turn to rest this week and port will be hoping to get at least eight points to hit the top and put the pressure on Douglas when they take to the green again next week. Realistically thought I think Douglas are too strong and that even a maximum for Port might not be enough but you never know points on the board are better than those that teams should get on paper.

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