The Great Britain Team for the 2019 World Fullbore Palma Team Match taking place in New Zealand under the captaincy of David Calvert has now been announced and includes 2 members of the Scotland Team – Matt Charlton and Sandy Walker. Matt has been selected as one of the target coaches and Sandy as one of the shooters.
The Palma Match is the premier Target Rifle international team match and takes place every 4 years. The match consists of teams of 16 shooters firing 15 rounds to count at 800, 900 and 1000 yards on 2 days. Great Britain has won the last 4 matches and 6 out of the last 7 matches and at the last match in the USA in 2015 achieved a team score of 7,106 out of a possible 7,200 points.
The history of the Palma Match goes back to 1876 when the first match took place in the USA on the Creedmoor range on Long Island, NewYork. That was the only time that Scotland took part in the match because the NRA declined to send a Great Britain team. Scotland came 3rd behind USA who won the match and Ireland who were 2nd with Australia 4th and Canada 5th. There have been 30 Palma Matches since 1876 but there was a large gap when no matches took place after 1928 until 1966. Palma Matches are now held every 4 years and after New Zealand in 2019 the next match is due to take place in South Africa in 2023.