Bowls biffo in BBD preliminary final between Bendigo and Eaglehawk

Eaglehawk’s Leigh Thurwood and Bendigo’s Tim Arnold were involved in an incident at South Bendigo in the 19^th end of their contest, in which it has been alleged Thurwood struck Arnold to the face.

A report by umpire Duncan Campbell submitted to the BBD states: “Tim Arnold, skipper of the Bendigo rink, delivered a bowl and followed it down the rink.

“The bowl removed an Eaglehawk bowl out of a counting position, and Arnold leaped over the bowls in the head and high-fived his team-mates.

“In doing so he bumped into an opposition player in Leigh Thurwood, who retaliated and apparently struck Arnold in the face.

“I saw Arnold leap into the group of players, but did not see the specific blow to his face. I did, however, see him stagger backward and sit stunned on the green. I later saw a fresh internal laceration to his mouth.

“My analysis of the incident is that Arnold was over exuberant in his approach to the head, but contact was accidental. However, the retaliation was totally unacceptable and, in my view, a sanction is warranted.

“Thurwood advised that he had only pushed Arnold away, but Arnold was obviously knocked to the ground by some sort of blow. Arnold insists he was punched.”

After a break of about 15 minutes in which some Bendigo players threatened to walk off, play later resumed, with Bendigo winning 98-92.

Eaglehawk president Phil Godkin said on Sunday the Hawks deny that Thurwood was the instigator of the incident and that he was “retaliating to frontal contact from Arnold.”

Thurwood did not wish to comment on the incident.

Bendigo Bowls Club director Don Bennet acknowledged an altercation occurred, but said the club and Arnold would not comment as the matter was now in the hands of the BBD.

The BBD match committee will meet on Monday night to discuss the incident, however, any sanctions would have to be handed down by the Bowls Victoria Disciplinary Committee.