Glamorous Is The Right Royal Term

The Sunday Age

Sunday October 5, 2008

Cameron Noakes

WHEN you ring a sporting association that has the word "Royal" in its title, the last thing you'd expect is a discussion about the "Hot 20" list in a blokey sports magazine.

But that's exactly what The Sunday Age got when it called the Royal Victorian Bowls Association during the week.

So yes, if you associate lawn bowls with mufti, midweek ladies in white skirts that cover the knee, cucumber sandwiches and old diggers having a smoke and a pot on the weekends, look away now. It would be fair to say that is so last century.

Samantha Shannahan, as RVBA executive officer Peter Hanlon explained, plays for Altona in the premier division of Victoria's metropolitan pennant competition. And yes, last year she featured in Alpha magazine's "Hot 20" list as one of this country's sexiest sporting identities.

"You can Google her if you want," Hanlon said, which is, indeed, another unexpected sentence coming from the RVBA's executive's mouth. But, as the man said, you can "Google" Shannahan and you will find that lawn bowls officially has "babes" who have blogs about them. My favourite is from Blantyre Boy who writes he would be proud of her if she was his daughter, then adds with a sad face: "Which sadly she could be."

As surprising as all this is, it only serves to trivialise why the modest Shannahan is appearing in the magazine in the first place.

She plays a mighty mean game of lawn bowls, which is why, at the ripe old age of 19, she has already represented Australia (in the under-25s and in mixed seniors) and this summer has been signed up by one of the competition's powerhouses, Altona, to play in the premier league against the blokes.

As one would expect, Shannahan was introduced to the game by her grandfather when she was 14. The next thing she knew, she had won a premiership and was in a state squad.

Since then, success has followed the former Geelong High school captain. Last week, she won the NSW open singles title and came runner-up in the pairs.

About nine years ago, the RVBA found itself in court as a woman attempted to find a legal way to play in the weekend competition against men. That woman won and, it seems, Shannahan has become the benefactor.

Yesterday, she became the first woman to represent Altona in the premier division and she suspected that playing against men was the reason her game had improved at a rapid rate.

But Shannahan said she realised a woman playing in the men's competition still challenged some of the more rigid sections of this formerly institutionalised fraternity. And not all of the "ladies" are happy about it.

But she does not see herself as any sort of suffragette or trouble-maker. "I still get some comments about it," she said. "But I just try and show them that I can actually bowl."

And that was exactly what she had to do in the season opener when Altona faced off against arch-rival Yarraville-Footscray.

Yarraville-Footscray found itself up against a host of its former players, and its old coach Wayne Roberts, who now coaches Altona. It was Altona's day, too, leading from start to finish to win by 45 shots and four rinks.

Promoted club Clayton started its year in the premier division in grand style with a comfortable win against Bundoora. Last year's division one premier powered away from its visitors after tea to win 127-74.

defending champion Melbourne copped an early wake-up call on its home turf when it was flattened by a rampaging Essendon, losing 70-131.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home