DEER Park has defied 60 years of history to lob into the Bowls Victoria division 1 for the first time.
The Parkers won promotion to Victorian bowls’ second tier after defeating western suburbs powerhouse Werribee RSL in the division 2 section 1 final.
Parkers president Ray ‘Bluey’ Franksen said it was a win for the underdogs.
“It was almost unbelievable. Both Port Melbourne, who we played in the semi-final, and Werribee RSL, who we came up against in the final, would still be in shock.
“What happened was we lost seven top recruits from last year’s team and brought up home-grown players and they all stepped up. Over 90 per cent of the side were home grown.”
The Parkers were successful in the division quarter finals, belting Ferntree Gully by 30 shots.
Their stunning run came to an end in the divisional semi-final in a 19-shot collapse against Ringwood.
“That didn’t really bother us,” Franksen said.
“We got down to the last four. That’s the highest the club’s been in 60 years. We’ve never been to division 1.”
The Parkers have a number of loyal servants involved with the club for more than 30 years.
They were expected to struggle this summer but stuck it up the critics.
There will also be some predicting the Parkers’ demise in division 1 next summer.
Franksen, who began at Ballarat Road as president in 2009 with a five-year plan to arrive in division 1 by 2012-13, has other ideas.
“When I started as president I wanted to get to division 1 by the fifth year and we’re a year ahead of our time. When it takes you 60 years to get to where we are, we’re not going to drop it easily. We intend on hanging around.”
The Parkers will forever cherish that win over Werribee RSL. They had to brave 36-degree heat and the weight of history to become section champions.
A split of the rinks was all that was needed, after Franksen’s rink won 24-5.
