Eight Merrigum lawn bowlers ended the 2023-24 Goulburn Valley Playing Area season with two pennant medals around their neck after the tiny town produced two premiership teams last week.
Tuesday week ago the Merrigum division five midweek team beat Tatura-Hill Top by 49 shots and then on Saturday four new members joined eight from the Tuesday morning team to beat Colbinabbin by 29 shots in the division five weekend final.
Merrigum finished the home and away season on top of the midweek ladder, but its surprise packet opponent in that grand final was Tatura-Hill Top.
In the Saturday competition little separated Colbinabbin and Merrigum at the top of the ladder, which was shown in the qualifying semi-final two weeks earlier when Merrigum lost by one shot.
A week later Merrigum beat Kyabram by 10 shots, in the preliminary final, to earn another crack at the top team.
Joe Chant and John Firmer were skips in both winning grand final teams, with Carolyn Firmer taking the role of the third skip in the midweek win and David Pettifer stepping into the skip’s seat for the Saturday play-off.
Chant, Pettifer, John Firmer, Neil Gardiner, Greg Pell, Barry Parsons, Jim Arthur and Colin Capes played in the winning quinella — Peter Warburton, Mark Parsons, Glenn Denham and Graeme Hubble joining them for Saturday’s victory.
Carolyn Firmer, Noreen Earl, Carmen Quattrocchi (who missed Saturday’s grand final after surgery on Thursday) and Maureen Shepherd were the four other members of midweek winning line-up.
Tatura finished the midweek season in fourth position on the ladder with a 7-7 win-loss record, 30 pennant points behind Merrigum at the end of the regular season.
In the opening week of the finals Merrigum beat Violet Town, which finished second and equal on points with the Bulldogs, by 16 shots.
That win came on the back of a 12-shot win by Chant and John Firmer’s five-shot win.
In the grand final, at Euroa Bowls Club, Merrigum was in control from start to finish against Tatura and finished the 63-end contest as an 81-32 winner.
It was the third time the teams had played this year, going into the final with one win apiece.
In their first meeting, in round two, Tatura-Hill Top was an eight-shot winner.
Only John Firmer, who won by 10 shots, earned pennant points for Merrigum as Chant and Carolyn Firmer were soundly beaten.
In round nine the Merrigum team beat Tatura-Hill Top by 10 shots, but won only one of the three rinks — Carloyn Firmer’s 17-shot victory ensuring it of success.
On grand final day it was Chant who led the way, winning his match with the division’s third ranked skipper by 25 shots and backed up by the 22-shot win of John Firmer.
Carolyn Firmer completed the whitewash with a three-shot win of her own.
In Saturday’s grand final Pettifer turned from midweek lead into weekend skip and with two “fresh” members, Warburton and Mark Parsons as lead bowlers, won by 20 shots.
Chant was a four-shot winner and John Firmer won by five to complete the victory.
In round five Merrigum had beaten Colbinabbin by 25 shots and won by 20 shots in round 11, so they went into the grand final with a 2-1 win-loss advantage during the season.
Greg Pell and Chant ended the weekend pennant season as the two most outstanding bowlers of the division five competition.