Bowls: Traffic forces club to quit city's famous greens

By LINDSAY KNIGHT

Auckland's traffic congestion has claimed another casualty ... the venerable 110-year-old Carlton Bowling Club beneath the Newmarket viaduct.

Intolerable traffic noise from the motorway, problems for anyone travelling to tournaments, and a dwindling membership have finally forced the Carlton club, arguably the most famous in New Zealand, to quit the site.

Club president Mark Urlich confirmed yesterday that the site, which Carlton has occupied in Alpers Ave since 1914, has been sold and this has caused a temporary relocation.

Over the next couple of years Carlton will be sharing greens with another of Auckland's strongest clubs, Rawhiti, in Remuera until a decision is made on where their new home will be.

The arrangement has prompted speculation that the two clubs, both of which have been experiencing declining memberships in recent years, will amalgamate.

Urlich would not rule this out yesterday, but was emphatic that despite the move and the temporary sharing of greens, the Carlton identity would be preserved.

"It's not the end of the club," he said. "We will continue as Carlton while we are renting a green from Rawhiti, and will work in with them."

At the moment, though, Carlton would be using time to ponder its options for the future, Urlich said.

If the temporary arrangement with Rawhiti proved satisfactory, then working in conjunction with them was a possibility.

The Alpers Ave site sale is believed to have left Carlton with considerable capital which could be used to build an indoor stadium elsewhere.

Urlich said the club's move had been inevitable.

The site had not only been affected by the traffic volume, but other changes to Auckland's inner city meant few people now lived nearby.

Weekend work had also had an adverse effect on membership - as it has on New Zealand sport generally.

In the last six years, Urlich said, there had been only two recruits to the sport, joining the club as juniors.

Most of the members now lived some distance from the club and traffic congestion - plus stricter drink-driving laws - had created difficulties in running tournaments.

A few years ago there had been a proposal for Carlton to relocate, with the Commercial Travellers club, to the Ellerslie racecourse, but that had fallen through.

Senior vice-president Alan Crow said it had been a curious irony that even though the membership had fallen to just 73 active bowlers in recent years, the quality of play had remained as competitive as ever.

He had no doubt that Carlton's record - with more than 30 national titles won by its members - was unmatched by any other New Zealand club.

J. S. Kilgour, an early stalwart of Carlton, won the club's first national title back in 1914. Since then, some of the most famous names in New Zealand bowls have followed him at the club.

Bill (Bomber) O'Neill, Pete Skoglund, Arthur and Matt Connew, John Malcolm, Ivan Kostanich, Ivan Marsic and Gary Lawson all won national titles playing from Carlton.

And this year, Petar Sain and Wally Marsic continued the tradition by taking out the national pairs.