If you’re a ‘Lord of the Rings’ fan, Matamata is probably the centre of the universe … the ‘mecca’ … the town with the Hobbiton-like visitor centre which acts as a gateway to the movie set 15km away.

If you’re a racing devotee, then it also doesn’t get much better than Matamata.  So consumed is Matamata with the equine industry that a couple of years, ago a sculpture of a thoroughbred was unveiled in the main street signalling the fact that Matamata was ‘racing ahead’!

And if you’re a lawn bowls aficionado, you’ll be familiar with the rich history of bowls in Matamata and the neighbouring countryside.  Until recently there were six bowling clubs within cooee of Matamata : Matamata, Matamata RSA, Rewa, Hinuera, Walton and Waharoa.  Matamata was home to the great Millie Khan.

Walton and Waharoa have gone … amalgamating with Rewa and Matamata respectively.

And now Matamata and Rewa have amalgamated on the Rewa Sports Club site.

It’s not a big geographical shock to the members of each of the clubs … they’re only 450 metres apart as Google Maps flies.  And it’s not a big social shock … because Matamata being Matamata, everyone already knows everyone anyway.

But as the bowls community knows, amalgamations can be fraught … for whatever reasons.

But happily, this has been one of the most ‘fraughtless’ amalgamations to date … and the drivers of the amalgamation at both clubs, are purring with delight at the way things have gone thus far.

“We’re settling in well,” says Charlie Bougher, President of the Matamata Bowling Club. ‘And I put that down to two things : the willingness of the people at Rewa to facilitate this amalgamation, and the discussions we’ve previously had with Rewa in the months leading up to the move to iron out any potential issues, deal with the details, and to ensure that things run smoothly.”

Those joint discussions lead to the executive committee at the Rewa Bowling Club being expanded from 8 to 12, to accommodate 4 members from Matamata.  They’ll run things until the next AGM in the middle of 2025, when the need for representatives from both clubs on the committee can be reassessed. Or whether the passage of time means that there is no longer a ‘them and us’.

That’s looking likely.

“We had a great season open day the other weekend,” says Charlie. “Rewa made us all feel welcome, and we all mixed in.  Even a couple from our club who said they weren’t keen to go to Rewa turned up and enjoyed themselves.  There are two members who have gone to Matamata RSA instead, but that’s only because the RSA roll-up days fit in better with them.”

Members of Matamata Bowling Club have received gratis membership of the Matamata Club Inc. for the first year.  Matamata has also matched Rewa’s bank account by tipping in $30,000+.

“It means that we’re not in a hurry to sell the site at the old club,” says Charlie. “And we can afford to wait for the economy to pick up and get the best price.”

The old Matamata Bowling Club site could attract buyers with more than $1million … the site is zoned both residential and commercial, and is a stone’s throw from the town centre.

“That money will all be used for the benefit of Matamata .. and of course bowls in Matamata.”

Bryan Scott, President of the Rewa Bowling Club, share’s Charlie’s enthusiasm for the merger.

“The merger’s been a huge success.  And that’s because a lot of attention was given to the groundwork … it’s been a couple of years in the making.  We worked through multiple different options in a seamless process with the Matamata Bowling Club members.”

“Charlie and his Matamata Bowling Club committee have been awesome to work with, and four of them have joined our committee, and are involved in the day to day running of the club.”

James Riley, speaking for the amalgamation committee, has similar sentiments.

“It’s going very, very well,” observes James.  “It’s created a new long-term home for both clubs.  We’ve managed to secure a 15 year lease on the green at the Matamata Club complex, with a 10 year right of renewal.  So it’s not only guaranteed our future, but will enable us to look at investing in the facility without fear of losing the site from beneath us.”

The idea of ‘investing’ is little surprising … although the club has only one natural green, it is a beautiful green.  And heaps of other clubs in New Zealand would give their eye teeth for a green of that quality.  But Charlie and James are both in agreement that an artificial would be a great asset enabling all-year round play.

“I’d like to see a roof too,” says James. “But that’s a lot of money.  However, I want to put a potential plan for a roof in front of the committee to see whether we could make it a goer.”

That may sound ambitious, but Rewa is not your average provincial club.  “We’ve already got 80+ full-playing members … 50 men and 30 women … and a roof would just attract more to the game.”

That’s what we like to see!