LAWN BOWLS
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
World champion Graeme Archer visited his new club, Figgy Bowlo, pledging to do everything to lift the standard of bowls at the club and invest in young players.
Archer finishes a 2½-year stint at Clayton Bowling Club in Melbourne this month before taking up a three-year contract with Figgy Bowlo in what his new club is hailing as its greatest signing coup.
Archer met many of his new members during a visit last week before becoming bowls co-ordinator on March 2.
He has represented Scotland four times at the World Bowls Cup at Warilla and knows the region but looks forward to leading the club's Grade 1 pennant team and taking a senior coaching and recruitment role.
"It will take a little bedding in, getting used to the zone and the area but I'm excited to be coming here," Archer said. "My basic goals are to improve the level of our members and encourage players to be the best they can be.
"We've got a club with ambition and I want to play a part in making Figgy Bowlo stronger."
With fellow Scot, Alex Marshall to join Warilla on March 10 and play pennants - plus Warilla's other stars, Jeremy Henry and Leif Selby - and Archer to join Zone 16, the upcoming competition should be among the best ever.
"Having Alex here is great for the sport," Archer said.
"He's a great bowler. Also when I played for Scotland and Jeremy [Henry] played for Northern Ireland we kept tabs on each other's career and now we're going to be rivals, which will be fun."
Figgy Bowlo also signed Steve Green as their long-term greenkeeper and along with Archer, will spearhead the club's Grade 1 pennant teams.
With the pennant season starting on February 28, Archer will be available from round two and is also keen to play in Zone 16 Championship events for the rest of the season.
Archer will miss the Triples and Fours but will be a great addition to the other championships in 2015.
Archer represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, but it was in Adelaide a decade later at the World Championships in 2012 that he captained the Scots to win six medals.
Archer skipped Scotland to gold in the Triples and bronze in the Fours. Following the world titles he took up a development officer's role at Clayton Bowls Club, plus played state bowls for Victoria.
In 2013 he made the semi-finals of the Bowls World Cup at Warilla, and last year retired from Scotland's team.
His signing is a huge coup for Figgy Bowlo, who aspire to take on Warilla and Dapto Citizens at the top of Illawarra bowls in the next few years.
The Falcons hosted the State Club Challenge and also the Seven-a-Side Junior Series in 2014 and is the front runner to host the region's most prestigious tournament, the South Pacific Carnival at the end of 2015.
Archer says a priority in his new role will be attracting young bowlers to the club.
"I want to get some kind of a youth academy program or scholarships in place and be active in schools and promoting bowls in the area.
"Youth is the future and if we can develop home-grown talent it'll help the club enormously."
