JOHN BIGLIN

October 26, 2009
When Karlgarin farmer John Biglin went on holiday to Safety Bay in 1980, bowls was the furthest thing from his mind. “I had no interest whatsoever in the game at that stage,” he said. Wandering past the bowling club, he saw the greens full of competitors and spectators for the Australia Day weekend carnival, and stopped for a looksee.

What he saw impressed him so much that the first two things he did on arriving back at Karlgarin was to sell his brand new pair of tennis shoes and join the local bowling club, purchasing a set of bowls for twelve dollars.

Sport has always been a big part of John and Barbara Biglin's lives.

John was a keen Sunday tennis player, but when the Cricket Association changed from Sundays to Saturdays, he joined the local cricket club as well. “ I made a promising forty not out first up, followed by eight consecutive ducks, then got a hundred,” he laughed.

He represented Karlgarin-Hyden for twelve Country Weeks in a row. At the beginning of that period they were in D Section, but quickly moved to the A's by winning each year. “When we were in the C Section we played the final against North Eastern Districts, and were in deep trouble to be all out for 49, which turned to diabolical when they reached 48 with five wickets in hand,” he recalled. “We got the last five wickets for no score and got out of jail.”

The following year,in the B Section, they fronted the strong Albany side, led by the legends of Country Week, Joe Menegola and Leith Roe. In a hectic final session run chase, Biglin hit forty five in five overs (eight ball) including three sixes off Menegola. They won the game and entered the A Grade section

And then there was football! John played in the local Karlgarin team and in 1949 played in his first Association game. He went on to play association footy until 1960 and was once selected in a combined associations team to play against a Claremont league side.

John laughs about his exit from football. In 1960 he decided not to put his name forward for the association team, as it seemed that it was about time to retire. (“the young ones were starting to run around me”) But he got a call from the selectors asking to go on for one more year.
After consultation with Barbara he decided to give it one more go. “We had a practice game against Brookton,” he recalled. “I felt that I contributed quite well, kicking five goals and assisting a few more. ( I played in the ruck) We won the game by about twenty goals as far as I can remember. But then after all this palava the selectors, in there wisdom, left me out of the team! Why they didn’t just leave things alone I could never quite work out.
Nothing like a kick in the bum now and again”, John laughed! Apart from that, John talks about the wonderful comradeship amongst all footy players in those days. “You could fight and scrap all game,” he said, “but afterwards there was a beer to be shared with your opponents. All the other rubbish was forgotten—wonderful days!”

“Karlgarin was a great place to live in those days,” John recalls. “Besides the sports mentioned we had a gymnasium club and a badminton club as well as the usual darts teams etc. Country life was never dull.”

The sporting resume of Barbara Biglin is nothing short of amazing.

A keen golfer, she won the Hyden Golf Club Championship for thirty years in a row, and is still playing pennants for the Rockingham Golf Club.
Barbara holds several course records thru the Great Southern. Both Barbara and John are Life Members of the Hyden Golf Club A handy bowler as well, she was also on the honour board at Karlgarin.

Between them they took off both the pairs and the singles in the one year at the Karlgarin Bowling Club. Barbara also won the singles and the pairs in the same year at Safety Bay.





John Biglin kicked off his career on the green playing pennants as lead for Allen Ray. “Allen taught me well, with solid guidance, and teaching the right attitude,” he said. Selected for the South Central League side in his third year, he was promoted to skipper for Karlgarin a season later.

In 1987, John had a rink for South Central League, was selected as a skipper for the Southern Zone, then had the same honour for Country versus Metro. Named in the State squad the same year, Biglin played in a State second side against Victoria. He said that playing under skip John Caffell was the thrill of a life-time. “ I always saw John as an icon and a great guy and one of the great bowlers of those days”

Dominating the local scene, John won seven club singles championships in nine years at Karlgarin, as well as three League singles in a row on the way to five in all. He also won the club pairs several times, playing with his great mate, Mick Douthie who went on to play one red for Kalamunda and won the singles there.

Retiring in 1992, John and Barbara bought a house at Safety Bay. It was only fitting that the club that had been the catalyst for a wonderful bowling career should be the ultimate recipient of his services, and so it was that John Biglin began an association with the Bays that is still going strong after seventeen years.

He has been runner up for the club singles a couple of times, including one year when by his own admission he was a lucky winner of the semi final. “It was an absorbing tussle with Ray Kennedy,” he said. “On the last end I was 19-20 down and with one bowl each left we both agreed that Ray was shot in a close measure. We both put down our last bowls, walked to the head, I got out the tape and stepped forward. His bowl then decided to fall out, giving me, not one, but two shots, snatching a finals berth from the desperately unfortunate Ray's grasp.”

John Biglin has been a committee member for twelve years at Safety Bay, including a stint as Senior Vice- President. Following in the footsteps of his mother, Eileen, he was awarded life-membership at Safety Bay in 2007. He is now heavily involved in the organisation of club carnivals and corporate bowls. “We had fifty two teams at our September Carnival, and the corporate bowls fills three greens,” he said.

John ranks Peter Sardelic and Steve Srhoy as amongst two of the best he's played against. “I've managed a couple of wins over Peter. He's a tough opponent, and Steve is a bloke I could seldom get over.”

John and Barbara Biglin are enjoying their life by the sea, commuting to Perth fortnightly over the winter to watch their beloved West Coast Eagles. They can both look back on their many achievements in their chosen sports with satisfaction, with neither showing any signs of slowing down.

RON HEAD