November 24th and 25th 2011 we will revive a one hundred year old bowls tradition – the Mosman versus Goulburn Adams Bowl. This event goes back to the very beginning of bowls in Goulburn.
After two aborted attempts, firstly due to lack of support and then the intervention of the Boer War, the first Goulburn Bowling Club was established in 1907. Its clubhouse was a small weatherboard structure with a corrugated iron roof, located on land leased from F. (‘Ned’) Kelly, on the corner of Auburn and Bradley streets.
The fledgling club needed all the support it could get. Goulburn sent invitations to four established Sydney clubs to visit the inland city club and help them get on their feet. Of the four, Manly Warringah, Victoria Park, Waverly and Mosman, only Mosman accepted the invitation. An earlier attempt by Goulburn to poach a good greenkeeper from Sydney may have put some clubs offside. Sydney had sixteen clubs and only six specialised greenkeepers. It was not surprising then, that only Mosman, who themselves had had greenkeeper problems, were the only club to accept the invitation.
The first visit of Mosman to Goulburn was in mid-May 1911 and a game was played on the six-rink, uneven green. A return match was held at Mosman on October 14 1922. Thus began a regular, bi-annual event.
From 1930 onwards the two teams battled for the Adams Bowl. This trophy was presented by Goulburn’s C.F. Adams to commemorate the camaraderie between the two clubs. Other traditions include the “maiden”. The host club president recites a fanciful account of the prowess, past and predicted future, of a “maiden “, first-time inter club visitor and presents him with a “maiden” badge. In1980 began the tradition of “The Paddle” given to the biggest stirrer of the match. These trophies still reside at the Mosman club and will be awarded again in November after a break of 5 years.
Apart from a cancelled visit by Mosman in 1930, unplayable Goulburn greens in 1934 and wartime restrictions in 1942 and 1943, the tradition continued until the Goulburn club closed its doors in 2006, one hundred years after its foundation.
After 1906, four other bowling clubs were set up in Goulburn. As well as The Goulburn club we had The Goulburn RSL Bowling Club, The Goulburn Lilac City Women’s Bowling Club, The Goulburn Railway Bowling Club and The Kenmore Bowling club. At one time a total of five clubs, now there is only one.
