Burton Cup comeback: Easter return for prestigious tourney

WHAT ALL THE FUSS IS ABOUT: The impressive Burton Cup in front of the Gisborne Bowling Club clubhouse and greens where it is being fought for over Easter. Picture supplied

LAWN BOWLS by Ginny Sherriff

Gisborne Bowling Club’s marquee event, the Burton Cup, is back to its traditional Easter Weekend slot this week.

Organisers are keeping an eye on the weather forecast in the hope that mild conditions continue through the long weekend.

Gisborne Bowling Club members say visitors are in for a treat when they experience the outstanding greens and hospitality at one of New Zealand’s oldest bowling clubs.

The Burton Cup tournament is restricted to 16 teams of four players, each of whom will play all four disciplines — singles, pairs, triples and fours.

Each team must contain both male and female players.

Previous winners have included some of the best bowlers the district has produced but the chance of an upset is ever-present.

With Eastland Group and McDonald’s as sponsors, teams will vie for the biggest purse for a bowls tournament in Gisborne.

Excellent prize money and beautiful greens mean all is set for a classic tournament.

Now it just depends on the weather.

The Burton Cup

The Burton Cup was donated by Mr EW Burton and first contested in 1910.

When the tournament was shelved in 2017 because of lack of interest, the trophy was given to Gisborne Bowling Club for safekeeping.

Mr Burton was a member of the club and had entrusted its committee with the conduct of the competition.

Traditionally, the Burton was an Easter tournament, but over several years preceding 2017 it had struggled to get an entry of 14 teams.

Efforts to reinvigorate the Burton included the admission of women as participants, a change in format from fours to threes, and the shifting of the tournament to summer months.

Factors counting against the Burton had been the emergence of competing events in other centres and a growing reluctance among players to take part in tournaments of more than two days’ duration.

Efforts to revive the event have had mixed fortunes. This year, the impact of cyclones Hale and Gabrielle made preparations problematic.

For most of its history, the Burton Cup was a male-only fours competition that started on Good Friday and sometimes did not finish until Tuesday afternoon.

Entries of over 70 teams were a feature of the Burton in the late 1970s and early ’80s.

The Burton Cup was an annual fixture, going through two world wars without missing a beat. Weather stopped two Burtons before they started — in 1982 and 2012.

Through the 1990s and 2000s, Burton entries fell away, until the decision not to hold the 2017 tournament was made at the annual meeting of the district bowls centre.