Bali Flames Netball Club // Wed, 02 Jan 08
The Stiff Chilli Bali Flames Netball Club have burst onto the international netball scene, finishing runners-up at a recent competition in Bangkok, a fantastic result for their first international tournament.
The Flames, sponsored by Stiff Chilli Restaurant, competed on July 14 against teams from Bangkok and Jakarta in an event held alongside the Asian Championships Australian Rules Football Tournament, at which the Bali Geckos finished runners-up after a hard-fought final against Hong Kong.
The Flames played three games comprising four, six-minute quarters, a modified version in Bangkok’s stifling humidity of the typical netball game comprising 15-minute quarters.
Their first game was against the Bangkok Southerners, the undefeated leaders of Thailand’s 12-team weekly netball competition. It was a hard and fast game from the outset with Flames goalkeeper Steph Bovell working overtime against a Viking-sized shooter who was rooted to the spot under the goal ring like a 50-year-old tree.
In attack, the Flames kept their passes tight as they came up against some strong defending from the Southerners, and thanks to some great work from Amber Gourlay and Claire Dobson feeding the ball into shooters Chrissie Lincoln and Yani Muir, the Flames closed the gap in the second and third quarters.
However, the Southerners got away in the fourth quarter and won the game 11-6.
The Flames then took on the Jakarta Kangarudas, who had to borrow four players from the Bangkok team after several of their own players could not make the tournament. The Flames got off to a good start but started to lose ground in the third quarter, before a late run saw them win the game 15-9.
The Flames took on the Bangkok Netball League in the third and final game, and solid play right down the court saw them ahead 12-8 at the full-time whistle, making them overall runners-up to the Southerners, who won every bout.
Centre-court dynamo Amber Gourlay was voted the Flames’ Most Valuable Player on the day by the tournament organisers, and shooter Yani Muir, an Indonesian who has only just started learning how to play this popular Australian women’s sport, was awarded Most Improved. They received massage and manicure vouchers donated by Glo day spa for their hard-won efforts.
The Flames are now planning their own – and Bali’s first – international netball tournament for later this year. The inaugural Bali Sevens Netball Tournament has so far received confirmed interest from teams in Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, and is open to teams from around Asia and Australia.
If you would like to enquire about joining the Flames or entering a team in the Sevens, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).