They’ve made the grade

IN THE first season of joining the metropolitan league Marysville, Warburton and Healesville have finished in the top three of their divisions.
It was a heated battle on Saturday when Marysville and Warburton went head to head in the division 7 finals in Healesville.
The final scores were Marysville 103 toppling Warburton’s 78.
Marysville Bowls Club president Mark Simmons said the competition had been fierce, fun and fair but after years of competing locally against Warburton “to get one off them was very sweet”.
“It was tough, but the spirit of the game was fantastic on both sides,” he said.“The game was very vocal, a bit like a footy match – it’s not a sedate game anymore.”
The last time Marysville won a flag was around 1987, and in the local competition Warburton has won almost every year for the last decade.
Mr Simmons said all the Yarra Valley teams went really well in the competition, finishing in the top three places, and Healesville and Warburton’s second teams came first and third in the division 8 competition.
“We have proven that we can mix it with the metro teams, as have Warburton and Healesville,” he said.
Warburton Bowls Club treasurer John Sutherland said the loss was disappointing but it was great to keep the winners in the Yarra Valley.
“These three teams were all promoted into metropolitan and disappointingly not given the best of play,” he said.
“When Bowls Victoria announced they dumped the Yarra Valley teams into division 7 we nearly all had a stroke.”
Further meetings didn’t change the division allocation, and Mr Sutherland said the three teams “made a pact that we would play our guts out and we proved that to them” by finishing at the top of their division.
Bowls Victoria metropolitan vice-president Bob Middleton attended the competition on Saturday and presented the shield to Marysville.
He told the clubs: “You have proved to other metropolitan clubs that you are well worthy of going higher and I can assure you that’s where you will be going next year.”
The final scores were Marysville 103 d Warburton 78. M. Simmons 24 d G. Broussard 11. Beau Simmons 25 d S. Caneva 25. T. Pye 20 d R. Griffiths 24. Ben Simmons 34 d P. Caneva 18.