Following Malta’s successful participation in Lawn Bowls at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, held in Melbourne, Australia, the Board of Directors of World Bowls, the world governing body, met in September 2006 and in a rare exception of expeditiousness took only two months for a proposed draft amendment to the regulations to be “formulated, scrutinized, considered, approved by the Board and enacted in November 2006 as a revision to World Bowls Regulations”.

The revision in the eligibility rules made it imperative on Australian born Maltese to have lived in Malta for a period of 36 months in order to be eligible to represent this island in World Bowls sanctioned events.

This amendment affected two of our top bowlers, Shaun Parnis and Frank Vella, who had taken part in the Commonwealth Games and at other World Bowls sanctioned events.

However, these two Australian born Maltese bowlers, who performed exceptionally well in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, would still be eligible to play for Malta at any future edition of the Commonwealth Games.

The Lawn Bowls Association of Malta objected strongly to this new rule as it restricted the right of Maltese-Australian players to represent the country of their choice. As a result of this official protest, the Board of World Bowls reconsidered its earlier decision and this rule has now been rescinded.

Unfortunately, however, it was too late for the eligibility of the athletes concerned to be reconfirmed in time to enable them to participate in the World Cup 2007, which was held in Warilla, New South Wales, Australia between 24 April and 4 May.

Malta, however, still managed to be represented by Joe Saragozza, a Malta born player, who had just missed out in forming part of the Maltese team in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

At the opening ceremony, John Zammit (manager), Joe Saragozza and his coach Crawford Linton, wore the Maltese Red and White and proudly carried the Maltese flag. Saragozza finished a creditable 14th out of 24 countries, losing on a tie-break in the quarter-final to the eventual second place winner Ratish Lai from Fiji.

The Malta Lawn Bowls Association is in the process of introducing the game to the Maltese islands with regular competitions being organized. Anyone interested in forming part of the Association as committee member, official or athlete is requested to contact Ms Marie Therese Zammit on [email protected].