Representative players

The Darra Cementco Bowls Club has been the home club of many players over the years and many have gone on to higher honours. A huge number have represented the Cunningham District while a select few have achieved higher honours in representing Queensland and Australia. Below is a small story about each player.

Clive White – Australia and Queensland representative – Clive was a formidable Singles player winning the Queensland Championship 4 times and the State Pairs title three times. He won the Cementco Championship Singles 14 times in an era when the club had 3 other Queensland representatives for him to contend with. It is fair to say winning the title at Cementco in those times was a tough ask. He also won the singles title at St Lucia 4 times. He was the 1972 Australian champion winning the singles at the National Championships that year.  Clive won a silver medal in the singles at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. The winner of the Gold medal was David Bryant who would go on to become a legend of lawn bowls winning 4 games golds while the Bronze medal was won by Willie Wood, another legend of the game.

 
John Lang – Queensland representative – Hockeys loss was bowls gain as an injury saw John turn from hockey where he represented Queensland Colts over to bowls. He commenced playing bowls when he was an apprentice greenkeeper at the Indooroopilly Bowls Club where, while still a teenager, he won the first of his more than 80 club titles. He soon joined Jindalee and progressed very well, winning numerous titles before finally moving on to Darra Cementco. In his career John played over 200 games for Queensland, remarkably, always as a lead “the most important player in the team” he used to say. “Get you 2 bowls on the jack and they have to chase” was a lesson he gave many young leads who followed in his footsteps. He was one of those remarkable bowlers who was always good and as he grew older was was selected in the inaugural Queensland over 60s team. He was the inaugural winner, with his great mate Barry Ward, of the Queensland Over 6o pairs title. Incredibly John played more than 500 games for the Cunningham District and was a district Selector and Queensland Selector (Chairman) for many years. He was the inaugural inductee in the Cunningham District Hall of Fame. But for all of his achievements he was a great club man and mentor to so many bowlers. Langy passed away in 2020 and is sadly missed.
John and Mario Zanchetta – Queensland representatives                                                                                  

It seems a bit unfair put these 2 brothers together but their careers were so intertwined that it is appropriate. Both represented Queensland with Mario a late call up and John Zanchetta representing QLD 24 times. John was  and was very proud of his bowls.  He would pin his badges on the inside of his formal jacket – one side for club championships and other side for representative games. That is the jacket in the photo on the left. John never lacked confidence and used to say,”call the shot you want me to play as I can clip the wing off a fly sitting on the bowl”. The great thing though was that he could do it and often did. They played together very often and formed a formidable combination – John and Mario won the state 4’s back to back 1982 and 1983 with John and Rob Parella.

They both won many club titles with their favorite memories being the pair title they won together in 1977. John won the singles titles twice but, such was the strength at Darra in those days with Clive and Shafik among others playing, Mario had to go to Oxley to win his first championship singles title. They had great careers at Darra and it was only appropriate the when the new green was built that it was named the “John and Mario Zanchetta Green”
Shafik Torbey OA – Shafik is a legend in the Darra area for more than just his bowls. Shafik was born in Deir el Ahmar in Lebanon in 1925, before migrating to Australia in 1952. He lived in Sydney till 1959, then moved to Charleville where he played first game of bowls before moving to Brisbane where his charity and social work positively impacted both the Lebanese and the Australian communities. Shafik had a major role in activating the Cementco Bowls Club in addition to being elected several times as a member of the Progress Association of Darra in the western suburbs of Brisbane. He was known fondly to many as the “Mayor of Darra” given his love of the suburb. He had a drapery shop in the shopping precinct over the rail line and was always the best dressed bowler on the green. In 1988 Shafik was awarded the Order of Australia honour for services to the Lebanese community and as recognition of all of his works in the Darra area. The Brisbane City Council named a local park after him. As a bowler he was outstanding winning 8 club singles titles competing against fellow state players Clive White and the Zanchetta bothers and numerous club team titles. Shafik was a 2 term President of Cementco and the Treasurer for 10 years before taking up the role of Patron, a position his his son Anthony now fills with much pride. One of his greatest achievements though was in 1984, initiating the Invitational Master Pairs event. This was, and still is, a highlight of the bowls calendar and attracts some of the greatest names in the history of Queensland bowls. It certainly isn’t the highest prizemoney event around but the great prestige of winning this event is enough to attract the best. Sadly Shafik passed away in 2018 aged 93 but the pairs event is now named the Shafik Torbey Memorial Master Pairs. 
 
Eryn Brightwell – Queensland Over 60 team representative 

Former New Zealand representative Eryn Finnigan moved to Queensland in 2006 after being a contracted player for Club Merrylands in Sydney following her time in New Zealand. Following strong performances in many club, District and State events Eryn was recognized with selection in the Queensland Over 60 team.
 
Paul Gilbert – Queensland 40 – 59 team representative. Paul has been a highly successful player in his quite nomadic time playing bowls having represented Kawana, Belmont Services and Algester in Premier League. He also won Championships with both Cunningham and Brisbane North Districts in the late 1990 through to the early 2000s and made the last 8 in the Singles event in the State Championships in both 2018 and 2020 (2019 was not held due to Covid) He moved to Cementco in 2019 and was immediately successful here especially in 2021where he won the Open Singles, Men’s Pairs, Mixed Pairs and Men’s Fours events.   This very consistent record saw him be selected in the Queensland 40- 59 team in 2021 and again in 2022 when he again won the Open Singles and the Men’s Fours.

 
 
Rine DeKleyn – Queensland Arm bowlers team representative. Marius de Kleyn (better known as Rine) was a very good club bowler who won many club championship events at both Darra Cementco his original club Oxley. In his working life Rine was a plumber and, like a lot of people who work in manual jobs, suffered a number of injuries which later in life affected their ability to play bowls. But the advent of the bowling arm was a savior for Rine and he took to it immediately and over the years became so proficient with it that he was selected to represent Queensland in the arm bowling championships in Perth in 2022. 
 
Dekota Brindle – Queensland U18 representative. Dekota started playing bowls aged 13 and came to our club from the Lowood club looking for more consistent higher level bowls so as to improve her game. And improve she did making the finals in a number of events at the State Junior Championships which culminated in her selection in the 2022 Queensland State Junior team.