‘They’re laughing at us’: How a community lost its beloved bowlo

When the Norths Leagues Club galloped into Bangalow on the state’s north coast to rescue the local bowling club from administration, not everybody was sold.

Some locals were worried that Norths would import a gaming-oriented business model into their small community. Others were hesitant about handing their assets to a mega club group that might not have their interests at heart.

But with a dilapidated clubhouse and piling debts, there was little alternative. Norths promised to pay off the club’s debt, renovate the clubhouse and upgrade the bowling green. Members voted two to one in favour of the amalgamation.

When staff turned up to work in late October, the doors were shut and a sign was stuck to the inside of the door: “The club is closed until further notice.”

Far from getting an upgrade, the clubhouse had fallen into such disrepair that Norths now claimed it was unsafe for occupation. But the trading outlook did not support further investment, Norths chief executive Tony Mathew wrote to the bowlo’s advisory committee. In the three years since they signed the contract, losses had exceeded $900,000.

“The Norths board has determined that the only responsible and sensible course of action is to cease trading from the Bowlo premises immediately,” he wrote.

The 15 staff who were terminated that day soon put up their own sign on the bowlo’s billboard: “FCK YOU NORTHS LIARS $AVE BOW1O”.

Once the backbone of regional and suburban communities, bowling clubs have been reshaped by decades of shifting regulations on gambling policy into whales or krill.

Clubs that capitalised on favourable gambling policies in the 1970s and 80s by stuffing their premises with poker machines were well placed when the Carr government allowed pubs to introduce pokies in 1999.

But those with few or no poker machines have found it increasingly difficult to operate. Their greens are expensive to maintain, their decor is outdated, costs are rising, and their members are ageing. Their boards often lack the experience to compete with pubs, which have grown slick and corporatised on the back of their pokie profits.

About 44 per cent of all small clubs in NSW are currently operating at a loss, according to ClubsNSW. About 80 clubs have closed over the last decade.

An increasing solution has been amalgamation. This enables small clubs to achieve economies of scale, and larger clubs to increase their asset base and borrow against the land. A ClubsNSW spokeswoman said they were “an opportunity to invest in and preserve important community assets”. Among the 68 clubs that have amalg