The 10-day carnival is a celebration of competition, community and culture that’ll bring together players of all ages and abilities for a showcase of bocce excellence.
Kyabram will host the first event of the carnival, the bocce raffa Open from Saturday, May 31 to Sunday, June 1.
Raffa is a speciality discipline of bocce that is played worldwide, but particularly in Asia and Europe, that is more adaptable for all ages and levels and uses coloured balls as opposed to standard brass balls.
Due to diminishing bocce players, Kyabram switched to playing raffa bocce in 2023 at the suggestion of Bocce Australia, which is trying to popularise the format in Australia.
The competition will have 30 raffa players from across NSW, Vic Metro and Gippsland compete across the two days, with some notable Kyabram players set to feature.
Maria Greco, who has represented Australia in raffa competitions in China and Türkiye, will partner Angiolina Borrelli in the women’s doubles.
Liam and Oliver McInnes will participate in the junior doubles, while Giuseppe Greco and Pat D’Aulerio, Graham King and Paul McInnes and Tony and Mario Borrelli will make up the men’s team.
Tony Borrelli has also represented Australia internationally, playing in Türkiye in the Bocce World Cup in 2022.
North-East Bocce Association president and Kyabram treasurer Giuseppe Greco emphasised his and the club’s excitement for the event.
“The bocce carnival is an annual thing and gets moved around to a different state every year and this year they have chosen to have it in Victoria,” he said.
“The raffa side of it will be held in Kyabram, which is exciting, so all the athletes will come here to compete.
“This is the second time we’ve held it; we hosted the first year we, as a club, switched over to raffa in 2023 and it is great to have it back again this year.
“We have teams coming from all different states to participate and it’s good to see that the players that can’t play bocce any more are taking up raffa.
“It's great to be able to continue with the sport and an event like this is a fantastic opportunity to highlight raffa to the community.”
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