Courtesy: The Sidney Morning Herald


Genteel bowls players find allies - and cash - in fast pace of mini-soccer

by Kelsey Munro

A piece of miscellany to add to all the football trivia you've picked up during the World Cup: two futsal courts fit perfectly into one bowling green.

That happy coincidence is helping Sydney's struggling lawn bowls clubs, which are cashing in on the booming popularity of the mini-soccer game.

The two sports - one played at a genteel pace by white-clad retirees; the other a fast-paced, high-scoring, mini-soccer game played by all ages - don't appear to have a lot in common.

But demographic shifts in Sydney have worked to unite lawn bowls clubs looking for new revenue sources with young futsal fanatics looking for space.

Harbord Bowling Club & Recreation Club is a small, sleepy club that has run at a loss for almost four years. But a year ago it leased its dilapidated tennis courts to Kikoff Soccer Centres, which adapted them for futsal.

Revenue from food and drinks has almost tripled and the club should turn a profit this financial year, driven by the influx of futsal players and their families.

''It is a great turnaround,'' said the club's secretary manager, Wendy Hannam. ''It's given us more of a future - these young people are the future for the club - and we've got a few bowlers out of the people that have come too.''

Futsal is a ''sleeping giant'', according to Mario Mesite, who runs the Northern Beaches Futsal Association. Mr Mesite's group has about 3500 active futsal players on its books, most playing at the Harbord club. Thanks to the World Cup, they've enjoyed a 20 per cent spike in membership.

Oli Bramley of Kikoff Soccer said bowling clubs were perfect futsal venues because they were ready-made, family friendly venues with space for the courts and amenities players needed.

The Harbord club is not alone in sensing the opportunity in futsal. Pittwater RSL Club is making a major investment to build the country's biggest futsal centre, a $2 million, multi-court development due to open in July.

The Manly Vale Calabria Bowling Club has two courts.

Earlier this month, the Riverwood Bowling Club replaced an unused bowling green with two futsal courts, neatly converting a $2000 monthly greenkeeping cost into a $1000 monthly income.

Another company, Golden Goal, has installed two futsal courts on an old bowling green at the Strathfield Recreation Club.

The futsal courts were a way to preserve clubs' open space that might otherwise be sold to property developers and converted into apartments, said Clubs NSW.

''A club's greatest asset after its members is its land,'' said the Clubs NSW CEO, David Costello.

''And with a chronic shortage of available green space in Sydney, sporting developers have identified clubs as an ideal partner for outdoor sports where size is a consideration.''


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com