The second annual Unley Cup delivered exactly what organisers hoped for — spirited competition, plenty of fun and outstanding camaraderie between neighbouring Sturt and Millswood Bowling Clubs.
Millswood narrowly claimed the honours, seven rinks to five, but Sturt Director of Bowls Richard Weeks said the night demonstrated just how strongly the friendly pre-season rivalry is developing.
He also warmly praised Millswood for creating a relaxed party atmosphere and staging an event that looks set to become a highlight of the pre-season calendar.
Richard Weeks’s report:
The much-anticipated Unley Cup was held on Friday night 25 September 2026 at the home of our good friends Millswood Bowling Club. This of course was the second iteration of the event.
The Unley Cup has arisen as a friendly annual preseason rivalry match between the two bowls club located within the City of Unley.
Both clubs have embraced the event whole-heartedly, and it is likely to be the highlight of the preseason into the future.
Millswood set the format for the night, which was to play 12 rinks of 18 ends fours, mixed gender, with the overall winner determined by rinks up. Any individual rink tied after 18 ends would play a sudden death end to determine a winner.
Millswood had the BBQ going and hired a DJ for the night to add to the party atmosphere.
A huge thank you to Chairman of Selectors Graham Wood for doing the bulk of the organising and logistics planning for the night from our end.
Sturt took at full complement of 48 (+1) bowlers to Millswood, with Brian Dunstall filling in for jet-setting bowler Stephen Jones, whose arrival from the Gold Coast (where he was competing in another bowls event) was delayed. Many thanks to Brian for stepping in at short notice.
The weather took a bit of an unexpected turn halfway through the night with some light rain falling, but fortunately it abated soon enough.
The respective team managers decided to set a marquee match-up between the two pre-eminent skips on the night - Jack Trenorden of Sturt vs Mark Haines of Millswood - on the show rink.
This proved to be a classic battle with Millswood prevailing by a single shot.
Special mention also to the rink of Dan Flanagan, Shane Ettridge, Nathan Bassett and Adam Hill, who had a dominant win in their match.
In the end Millswood prevailed on the evening by a score of 7-5 rinks up.
The camaraderie between the two clubs was brilliant, and the concept of the Unley Cup gets stronger again.
We look forward to hosting the event next year.