IT WAS standing room only at the Werribee Bowls Club earlier this month as teams from all over Australia competed in the Rob Casey Memorial Tournament.
Casey was a bowls icon around the Western Suburbs and Victoria, having represented the state over 100 times throughout his illustrious career.
In the West, he played for Keilor and Werribee and helped the Bees maintain their Premier Division status until he passed away last year.
Werribee Bowls Club’s Peter Harrington said the event was a great success.
“We had the whole three greens filled up and there were 40 different teams from all over the place who came to play,” he said.
“We had some visitors down from Queensland who used to come down and play in a tournament here every year with Rob. He spent time up there during the winter of most years playing in tournaments with them as well.
“We had various ex-members of the Werribee Club turn up and it was a really good day all round.”
While he was known for being an outstanding competitor on the greens, Casey was also a terrific clubman with Harrington highlighting his work in assisting Werribee during its demerger with the RSL last year.
“As a member of our club itself, he was quite instrumental in getting us back on our feet lately,” Harrington said.
“By mutual agreement we went our own way with the RSL and he was really involved in helping put the club back together with renovations around the place and bringing it back to being a bowling club rather than a sports club.”
After the resounding success of the first Rob Casey Memorial Tournament, Harrington said the club could possibly make it an annual event.
Meanwhile the Werribee Premier Division side looks likely to maintain its place among the competition’s elite with three rounds remaining in the season.
With five wins on the board, Werribee is two games clear of Mentone and Lalor which sit in ninth and 10th on the ladder respectively.
In the final three rounds of the season, the Bees will meet Moonee Pounds, Altona and Lalor.
