Courtesy: In My Community


Bowling club scores winning goal

26/Oct/2010

by Jon Bassett

A STRUGGLING bowling club will score a new future hosting a fast-paced international football code next month.

The five-aside futsal games on a former North Fremantle Bowling Club green will also be the first outdoor venue outside the eastern states for the code from Brazil and Portugal.

WA Futsal manager Eldon Abrahams (35) said the sport’s international rules meant the association’s 200 members played local, interstate and international games under the same conditions, unlike the venue-set regulations usually experienced by five- aside teams in WA.

"And it's the speed of the game and the fact you're always engaged with the ball and the team that's attractive,” Mr Abrahams said.

More goals are scored on the 25m-long pitches during the 20- minute halves, making futsal a spectator sport for children, families and the football crazed.

There are profession al futsal leagues in South East Asia, Europe and South America. In Australia, declining member numbers at bowling clubs have created an opportunity for the code.

Mr Abrahams said the clubs used futsal to boost falling member ships and the sport's eastern seaboard appearance on the previously seniors-dominated lawns was also the result of a boom in young people playing social, bare foot bowls, often with DJ music in the background.

North Fremantle Bowling Club president Robert Fittock said futsal would revitalise the club after members stopped playing pennants.

He helped establish the six-month trial after learning that four Sydney bowling clubs and one in Brisbane had taken on the code.

“A synthetic pitch would be in long-term planning, but we’ll see how the trial goes,” he said. Juniors will play on Saturdays while senior men and women compete on Sundays after weekday training. New players can experience futsal at the centre’s Open Day on November 7.


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