LIAM DURKIN
BOCCE
By LIAM DURKIN
UNDERDOGS are common in Australian sport.
Think Steven Bradbury, Cliffy Young, or even the Australian cricket team at the 2023 World Cup.
All have been celebrated for their improbability and inspiration that the ‘little guy’ can triumph over much more fancied opponents.
The Australian bocce team for this year’s World Senior Raffa Championships however might be in a class of its own as far as national representation goes.
The entire Australian team for the championships, beginning next week in Brazil, are all from Morwell.
A town of 15,000 people is about to compete against a country of 200 million.
More than 30 nations will compete at the championships.
The Italians are reportedly bringing professional players, a doctor, a trainer and a strength and conditioning expert.
Australia is bringing two amateur players and one coach – all from Morwell – and a delegate, Tony Biancacci.
Diane Penney and Tina Durbano, along with coach Franco Fava, will take to the courts to see just how well they stack up against the very best.
The odds may be high, but the Morwell Bocce Club trio are far from intimidated.
“Raffa is very, very competitive. Anybody can win because anybody can throw,” Fava said.
Raffa is a modernised format of traditional bocce, where players are permitted to either bowl or throw at a declared ball or jack belonging to the opposing team.
Games stay ‘live’ for longer, as there is more objects and therefore more chances of scoring points.
The format also allows a more even playing field, because the best players aren’t necessarily those with the most trick shots. Strategy is preferred.
Penney compared the game to chess, where players have to constantly think one or two shots ahead.
Penney has played in a host of international tournaments before, and said Australia has come a long way within bocce circles.
“We’ve earnt respect. When I first started it was ‘oh we’re playing Australia (this will be an easy win)’,” she said.
Her teammate, Durbano, is also making another overseas venture.
“Very proud to be going, very exciting,” she said.
The duo qualified following success at the Asia Oceania Championships in late 2024. They will compete in women’s doubles and women’s precision shooting.
While a trip to Brazil would ordinarily carry with it connotations of sand, sun and surf at Copacabana, the bocce championships are being held “in the hills” of Garibaldi.
The location (around three hours south of Rio de Janeiro by plane) does make sense however: Garibaldi’s population is mostly of Italian descent.
The Italians have taken their game across the world. So much so, just about every continent now plays the sport at a very high level.
Italy is still viewed as the pinnacle however, and many of its players dedicate up to six hours a day to practise.
Despite this, Morwell-Australia believes there is nothing to suggest they can’t give a good account of themselves.
“You never underestimate your opponent, just play, sometimes things can turn. The main thing, stay cool, calm, don’t let the nerves get you,” coach Fava said.
“Brazil’s strong, Argentinian’s strong, Italy’s the strongest in raffa – world champions, European champions, they dominate the sport, (but) I think we can give them a bit of competition.
“It’s how you feel on the day. Some days you point close to the jack, you come in the next day and miss everything.”
In preparation for the biennial championships, Penney and Durbano have been training on surfaces akin to what may greet them overseas.
While traditionally thought of as a sand-based sport, various climates and access to indoor facilities across the globe means there is often a variety of court surfaces.
The Brazilian courts (rather ironically) won’t have sand, but instead be a felt-like surface laid over the top of basketball floorboards. It is described as “a 2.5 mm anti-slip rubber base topped with 3.5 mm of material”.
“We will have to adjust differently because it’s very different to playing on the sand that we play here,” Durbano said.
“They should play straight, because there’s no bumps from the sand.”
Australia played on similar courts in Türkiye, although Fava said they bounced more, equivalating bocce to the old WACA pitch.
Travelling to Brazil also requires preparation of a different kind for the players.
Disease runs wild in the Amazon, and the Morwell trio has made sure they are fully vaccinated before stepping foot on the plane.
Like going back to school, they’ve lined up for their needles.
You name it, they’ve had a shot for it: malaria, yellow fever, typhoid etc.
Much as team Australia will be running with its underdog status, there is plenty of support from the homeland.
“Our athletes carry not only the Australian colours but the support of the entire Australian bocce community,” Bocce Australia President, Frank Funari said.
“Representing Australia at a world championship is the culmination of many years of training, competition, commitment, and sacrifice.
“I wish all our athletes, coaches, officials, and support personnel every success as they prepare for these championships.”
