BOWLS: Champs a tribute to Walford

HAMISH BIDWELL
You can't herald the arrival of the National PBA finals at Bowls Heretaunga without mentioning the man who did so much to make it happen.
Officially, Stu Walford was known as the complex's manager, but they may as well have just called him it's heart and soul. You couldn't walk in the double doors without immediately being met by his beaming smile and outstretched hand.
He always wanted to know how you were and to tell you about the dreams he had for his beloved complex. Chief among those was hosting this year's three-day event, which pits New Zealand's best lawn bowlers in head-to-head scraps for trips to four of the world's most lucrative events.
Walford always felt that hosting the final would give Bowls Heretaunga national exposure and convince a few of the local doomsayers that it wasn't some white elephant.
Well, come Friday afternoon, the country's best bowlers, plus the requisite television, radio and newspaper folk, will be there, but not Stu. He collapsed at the club in October of last year and died in hospital a week later.
Dave Porteous was determined that the event would be run just as his old mate had planned it. So, with the help of some of Walford's notes, and a bit of his own expertise, Porteous says everything is in place to ensure this will be the first of many national tournaments to be held at the complex.
"Stu was one of those guys that could see into the future and to see what was possible," said Porteous.
"He wanted to really establish the complex as the best in New Zealand, which was difficult. Even our mother club (the Heretaunga Club) couldn't get their head around the idea of the place. For a long time, they just saw it as a place they were paying a big mortgage on.
"When we had that big money tournament that Mike Isaacson, Tony Terry and Pat Golder organised, someone said that this was the best complex in New Zealand. But Rowan Brassey, who won the thing, said 'I've played all around the world and this is the best complex in the world'.
"For a long time, we couldn't hold those sorts of events, because we had to concentrate on being a bowling club and looking after our own members. So if Stu and I had said we wanted to host a tournament like this everyone would've said 'it can't be done'. It's taken us four or five years, but we've done it."
Southland TV (channel 90 on the Sky digital decoder) and Sky are broadcasting the event.
"We're doing the draw live on Radio Sport on Thursday and then all the players will arrive on Friday," Porteous said. Local hopes rest on the shoulders of Isaacson and Terry, who play in the World Indoor Pairs playoffs on Saturday afternoon, while the likes of Jamie Hill, Ray Boffa, Steve Posa, Kevin Robinson, Paul Girdler and Ken Walker are all top bowlers.