Belliss bowls for gold medals

Peter Belliss is a big man in more ways than one. The top New Zealand bowler once locked the scrum in grade rugby with All Black giant of the 1980's Andy Haden and has never lost his capacity as a good team man.

If Scotland's Alec Marshall has been the bowler of the tournament thus far, the 48-year-old Belliss, has been the dominant personality of the first week of the SA Eagle World Bowls tournament played through contrasting chilling wet cold to warm sunshine.

He is now a winner of three world outdoor bowls gold medals in different disciplines after adding the triples to his collection by skipping New Zealand to victory over Australia at Marks Park in a gripping battle.

The Trans-Tasman duel which always brings out the best in their traditonal rivalry also drew Belliss' inspirational leadership qualities and extraordinary shot-making abilities to the fore in the final after he had rescued the Kiwis with a wondeful pressure shot at a vital stage of the morning semifinal against the Irish.

It visibly lifted team-mates Rowan Brassey - pairs gold medalist with Belliss at Auckland in 1988 - and Andrew Curtain for the rest of the day, not that they needed much extra motivation to give New Zealand a headstart in the race for Leonard team trophy points.

Apart from the high quality bowls played by the front-running countries like New Zealand, Australia, the four UK nations and the hosts, the tournament has not been free of incident and controversy with the four-man Jury of Appeal kept especially busy over the procedural legality of the US using South African substitute, Dave Kempthorne for three of their pairs matches because there was uncertainity over original lead Barry Pickup's health following blood pressure problems.

For Kempthorne, one of the country's best players a decade ago and a former SA singles champion in 1990 on whom Gerry Baker built his own smooth lefthanded delivery, it was a wonderful experience to play in World Bowls. It was as if he wrapped himself in a cocoon of concentration, oblivious to the eligibility dramas going on around him, resplendent in a brand new pair of shoes bought for his time as an honorary American and partner for the studious Ian Ho in three winning matches.

Long after the medal winners have celebrated their deeds, Kempthorne, a stalwart of tiny Ladybrand bowling club, will remember his three days in World Bowls 2000 - some consolation for having come so close himself to making a South African side in the recent past .

If tiny Ladybrand had their hour of glory - the club once provided both SA singles finalists 10 years ago when Kempthorne lost to Dave Poultney, the year after winning the title - tiny Norfolk Island's five-man squad plus manager Robert Adams have the most colourful history as descendants of the Bounty mutineers.

Adams, a travel guide when he's not rolling woods, is a sixth generation offspring of the island, home of 1 750 permanent residents, of whom almost 40 percent are descendants of the most famous naval mutiny in modern history - Captain Bligh's HMS Bounty.

A rotund, jovial man, Adams is a walking dictionary on the island's history and fluently reels off fascinating facts and figures about the small three-by-five mile dot of an island home about 1 000km north of New Zealand.

Christian, Adams and Quintall are three of the more famous mutineer family names among those who got to Pitcairn Island after casting Bligh off his ship in an uprising which had such repercussions for the Royal Navy.

Robert, a bowler for only the last 18 months, played one pairs game against Canada when their skip Barry Wilson fell ill.

He reveals that English is the most commonly used language but you will hear the islanders talk to one another in "Norfolk" - a unique mixture of 18th century English and Polynesian which the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian wives had brought with them in the mid-1800's.

Staying with Adams, the travel guide: "The first period of European occupation began in 1788 just five weeks after the infant penal colony was founded in Sydney Cove. But it was the second settlement of 1825-1855 that earned Norfolk its reputation as a place of 'infamy and dread' because the penal settlement conditions became so bad.

It forced the British government to abolish it which they did in 1847," he added , warming to the task as if he were back home on a bus with a bunch of tourists.

Team-mates Ron Campion and Norman le Cren are happy to leave most of the island promotion and historical sketching to manager Robert - "he's the expert" - but there's no disguising a pride in their island paradise where tourism is the heartbeat of the community

"Now we are known as the real paradise spot," says Adams "just like Captain Cook once described Norfolk in his log book during one of his discovery voyages in 1774".

With another Bounty descendant, John Christian, the fours and trips lead, also in this squad at Marks Park, the famous link is strong.

"But I'm from the stock of one of the good guys of the mutiny," chuckles Adams.

If the Norfolk men didn't quite let their bowls do the talking so far, they have proved wonderful ambassadors for their island home, simply a name and a dot on the world map for most until Carmen Anderson came along to win the World Bowls singles title four years ago in Adelaide. "Yeah, you could say she did more in one week than most others have done in a lifetime. Just shows what sporting achievments can do," postscripted Campion.

The much-maligned new green at Marks Park had to give way to the first week's torrential rain when play was moved to nearby Ferndale - home club of the tournament greenkeeper.

Most bowlers have been critical of the new surface but have praised the other two greens - the middle one becoming the venue for the four semis and finals. It was a change which required much efficient logistical handiwork and a grandstand appeared overnight thanks to the diligence of the groundstaff on a freezing night.

"They never get any thanks let alone praise. But that's what I call real dedication," said a grateful tournament chairman, Keith Atkinson.

But that's life and the game of bowls, I suppose.