They may need to issue steel helmets at the Whangarei RSA, where the balloon went up this morning in the Battle over the Bowling Green.
Defence and attack strategies are being mapped out by platoons of lawyers as the Whangarei RSA Bowling Club with its green at the front entrance to the RSA on Rust Ave in the city centre prepares to go toe to toe with its old soldier neighbours at the Whangarei RSA in a row over the sale of club assets.
The Whangarei RSA Bowling Club last month decided to wind up its affairs and sell its buildings and equipment because the Whangarei RSA was looking at charging the bowlers a fee for using their clubrooms and green.
The bowling green was built by returned servicemen using shovels and wheelbarrows in 1947. Bowlers also claim their club contributed 30 per cent of the cost of the combined RSA site in a "handshake agreement" in the 1940s, but the club did not have its name on the title.
Bowling club officials said the proposed rental had come as "something of a bombshell" and the club had no intention of paying for the use of buildings it owned.
A second bombshell landed yesterday morning when the RSA published a public notice in the Northern Advocate claiming all buildings on the Rust Ave site belonged to the RSA and the bowling club had no legal right to sell its clubrooms and other assets. The notice also warned the bowlers they would be trespassing if they went on the site to deal with the buildings.
The notice was signed by RSA president D'Arcy Bailey, who declined to comment further, saying the issue was in the hands of lawyers.
Bowling club secretary Barry Nalder said he was "gobsmacked, amazed and absolutely thunderstruck" the RSA was being so "pigheaded and dogmatic" in bringing the issue into the public arena in this way.
The RSA was "in turmoil" with financial and trading problems, he claimed, commenting that the dispute was "turning nasty".
"This could end up in court," Mr Nalder said. The bowling club intended to press on with its plans to sell its buildings and donate the proceeds to Whangarei charities and community organisations.
"But I don't think we will be including the RSA as a beneficiary at this rate," Mr Nalder said.