The event was sponsored by Canada Bay Club.
Acli Bocce wished to honour this year’s winners in an enjoyable occasion for all the invited guests.
The Acli Bocce club has 66 members.
Between members, family and friends there were 90 people present at the ceremony.
As everyone should know, the game of bocce consists in throwing of rigid spheres.
The winner is the person who is able to make their boccia reach as close as possible to the sphere which is smaller in diameter (it’s called pallino: the little ball).
But perhaps not everyone is aware that the game of bocce has extraordinarily antique roots; in Turkey balls of stone have been uncovered, antecedents to the current bocce balls, which date back to 7000 B.C.
In Egypt they have also found similar objects which date back to the second millennium B.C.
The modern game of bocce is widespread across 110 nations in the world, thanks to Italian emigration.
It’s funny to think how many emigrants must have departed on ships, with suitcases of cardboard containing bocce.
Some of the bocce-loving travellers arrived in Sydney.
In a luxuriously prepared room, the newly-elected president Giovanni Gandolfo thanked the leaving president, Sam Galimi for his long years of hard work, before welcoming the numerous people present.
Gandolfo then informed everyone that this year the players had to change their fields from Concord RSL Bowling Club, where they had grown accustomed to the benefits of the BBQ and the large meeting room, to the West Sport Bowling Club in Concord.
It was hard to find a new location and the directors had to visit many clubs before finding the ideal place, but in the end the new choice has been entirely satisfactory.
Following the speech, the new committee was presented, which consists of Gandolfo, vice-president Domenico Bottaro, treasurer Giuseppe Alesci, secretary Maria Messina and counsellor Peter Minato.
The speeches were followed by dancing to music by guitarist and vocalist Alfredo Calcagno, followed by the awarding of the cups to the first three groups of winners of the Spring Cup.
The results were as follows:
Third place: Carmine del Duca (captain), Antonia Alesci, Raffaele Castrogiovanni and Giuseppe Ranieri.
Second place: Angelo Lo Schiavo (captain), Antonio Tizzone, Pasquale Giannini and Renzo Volpato.
First place: Frank Messina (captain), Roberto Scalese, Giuseppe Alesci and Maria di Mauro.
There was just enough time for another round of dancing before the lottery was drawn and the magnificent day of sharing, sport and friendship was over.
It can be said that Gandolfo and his committee threw close to the pallino; they certainly won this round.
The Acli Bocce society wishes to thank not only its members but to all those who participated and shared in this emotional occasion.
