Stan Gooch’s nephews (from left) Neil, Laurie and Dave Gooch unveil the framed memorial to the “little master” at the Kahutia Bowling Club. Picture by Liam Clayton
Stan Gooch was the New Zealand Bowling Association’s national men’s singles champion in 1949 but didn’t get what many felt he earned — selection for the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland.
His achievement will long be remembered in Gisborne, though.
Members and visitors to the Kahutia Bowling Club will be reminded of his feat by a framed memorial unveiled on Saturday.
Kahutia was Stan Gooch’s home club when he won the national title.
A great turnout of family members witnessed the unveiling of the memorial by Stan’s nephews Laurie, Dave and Neil Gooch at an official presentation at the Kahutia clubrooms.
Stan Gooch — the “little master” as he was affectionately known in local bowling circles — travelled to Auckland in January 1949 to compete in the national championships in the singles and fours.
It was the first time Gooch had played bowls outside the Gisborne-East Coast Centre and he was unknown at national level. However, he had won seven centre titles, mostly in singles play.
When he arrived in Auckland with a large contingent of Gisborne bowlers he learnt he was included in a field of 430 entries.
Conditions of play in those days were games of 21 ends (not 21 shots as is the case today) and a two-life system, which meant if you lost two games you were out of the competition.
Unperturbed by the seemingly impossible odds in such a large field and losing his first life early on, Gooch proceeded to beat some of the country’s top bowlers. They included the redoubtable T.T. (Pete) Skoglund, from the nationally known bowling family.
Gooch survived 16 rounds, losing only once, and found himself in the final against the “golden boy” of Auckland bowls, Jim Pirret Jnr, who had reached the final with his two lives intact.
New Zealand Bowling Association tournament officials were so confident Pirret would need only one game to beat Gooch and win the national singles title that they scheduled the prizegiving for immediately after the first game.
Pirret took an early lead in this first game but the Gisborne “surprise packet” pegged back his opponent gradually and went on to win by 20 shots to 12.
This defeat must have shocked Pirret because in the “winner take all” final, Gooch overpowered his opponent with an amazing display of draw bowls and led 17-0 at one stage. Pirret was forced to concede defeat after 19 ends, with Gooch the national champion with a 20-9 victory.
Pirret’s defeat put New Zealand bowls officials into a tailspin because it was widely accepted that whoever won the 1949 men’s singles title would represent his country in the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland.
After hectic backroom deliberations by these officials, it was announced that the New Zealand Bowling Association had changed the selection policy for the Games and the team would be selected on a district policy. With Auckland officials in the majority on the national body, Pirret was named to play the singles for the New Zealand bowls team at the Games.
After this bombshell — which created serious long-term disappointment for Gooch — it was said that New Zealand bowls officials had found out that Gooch had received money from his earlier sporting careers of cycling and racing (as a jockey) that made him a professional athlete, which would bar him from taking part in the Empire Games.
Gooch arrived back in Gisborne deeply saddened by the way he had been treated, and his family were shocked by the effect it had on him.
He never entered another national tournament but continued playing for Kahutia for a few years, then gave the game away.
After he had beaten Pirret so convincingly, some spectators had approached Gooch to wish him all the best in the singles at the Games.
Another interesting occurrence took place in 1952 when former Tolaga Bay and Gisborne bowler Ron Graham (for whom Gooch had regularly played lead for years) won the same national singles championship playing out of Wellington’s Johnsonville Bowling Club.
The turnout of Stan Gooch’s Gisborne family at Saturday’s presentation confirmed admirable support for him even after all these years. It was universally agreed that Gooch’s feat in winning the 1949 national singles must rate as one of the most meritorious sporting achievements by any local sportsman in the district’s history.
After many years away from the game, Stan Gooch made a welcome comeback and joined the Poverty Bay Bowling Club. His love of the game had been rekindled, and he played regularly right up to a week before he died in June 1987 at the age of 82.
Some time later, Poverty Bay Bowling Club members decided to introduce the Stan Gooch Memorial Mixed Fours to their tournament schedule.
The Gisborne Gooch family would also like to recognise the contribution that Stan Gooch’s son Peter (who lives in Queensland) had made to the success of the presentation, especially with regard to his donation of the original New Zealand Bowling Association winner’s certificate to the Kahutia club for safekeeping.
James Pirret (1915-1976) won the men’s singles bowls gold medal at the British Empire Games in Auckland in 1950 and the silver medal in the same event at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954. He was sixth in the 1958 Games in Cardiff. His only national singles title came in 1957, and he won the national pairs title the following year.
Patricia Corson was ever-present in results from Friday to Thursday.