The introduction of string bowling in Malta is a question of when, not if, Simon De Cesare, CEO of the Eden Leisure Group, said.

“Sports evolve. I remember many years ago innovations in bowling, such as synthetic lanes and reactive balls, were introduced. They were rejected by traditionalists who told us they would never bowl again. Today they are the norm and no one bowls the way they did prior to this innovation,” he said.

De Cesare was writing in reply to an interview carried by this newspaper with the president of the Malta Bowling Association, Edward Mifsud.

Below is De Cesare’s letter in reply:

I am writing this in reply to the interview with the president of the Malta Bowling Association which has undertaken a smear campaign on the Eden SuperBowl. I feel it pertinent to note also that the journalist, who published the interview, was in fact the PRO of the actual Malta Bowling Association.

The Eden SuperBowl has been in existence since 1988 and we have collaborated for the last 35 years with the bowling association to further the sport in a successful collaboration. In the past and till today the association has enjoyed free or highly subsidised bowling for training throughout the day. Just till last year the association was being provided with 10-12 lanes, more than half, in the afternoon to practise and half the lanes in the evening dedicated to leagues. Mornings in the weekends were also available. These lanes could have been more profitably provided to the public however in the spirit of the sport we had allocated these to sport bowlers at highliy subsidised rates.

It is frustrating to say the least to hear the association boasting about initiatives to boost the sport which has been struggling over the last years from the anaemia of the association itself. Some years ago the SuperBowl had even gone as far as to provide free bowling to all children in summer to stimulate grass roots in bowling. The one thing we asked was to have support from the MTBA to help train kids and identify talent. This was never provided and the initiative was dropped after several years of trying it and after providing over 12,000 free games to kids.

Today there are only two divisions of regular leagues, down from the four divisions and several sector specific leagues that were played at our centre. This is due to the lack of interest and commitment bowlers have in participating in MBA events.

It was equally unfair to accuse us of cancelling training on one-off events. We are a commercial entity and collaboration is required, as when they need additional free lanes to practise when they have important tournaments we provide them, cancelling open bowling.

The request for public funds for their own centre makes no sense to me especially as we have supported them for decades and have been instrumental in its success. A public-funded centre to compete with the private sector should not be considered by the authorities and further collaboration with the SuperBowl should be sought. I don’t believe anyone has considered the expense of setting up a new facility but more significant is the cost of running a facility such as this. The association is being provided with heavily discounted lanes on weekend mornings and weekday afternoon training and leagues at night so the lack of lanes for their use is not correct.

The dwindling number is a correlation of the lack of initiatives to grow the sport by the MTBA. The SuperBowl attracts free kids, schools and summer school to participate and host its own international and local tournaments for sport bowlers. The last Malta Open, organised by the Eden SuperBowl, attracted 109 participants from 15 countries.

With regards to the introduction of string machines in the industry, again it is a shame that no verification was sought by your journalist at all. I will start by stating that we haven’t definitively decided which way we are going, solely in the interest in the sports side as we are waiting to see what certain international associations are accepting/sanctioning and what they are not.

Sports evolve. I remember many years ago innovations in bowling such as synthetic lanes and reactive balls were introduced. They were rejected by traditionalists who told us they would never bowl again. Today they are the norm and no one bowls the way they did prior to this innovation. The approach, the way the ball is thrown and how the ball is meant to hit the pins remains exactly the same so the skill required remains exactly the same. I believe that the reintroduction of strings is just the same. It is a case of when, not if.

A few points that could have easily been ascertained with a simple Google search.

Today 90% of all new centres that are being installed around the world are string machines.

The concern is if the international federations will sanction strings for their tournaments or not. Some further facts.

-       Canada was the first federation to approve string machines in 2017;

-       Britain was the next to approve in 2018;

-       Australia approved in 2018; and

-       IBF (International Bowling Federation) approved in 2020 and suggested all their member federations to do the same too. 

The big question was the position of the USBC United States Bowling Congress. Over the last few years the USBC performed significant research in the new machines and provided suggestions to manufacturers to bring string machines in line with free fall machines. It published its report on their research in 2022 and subsequently recognised strings for sport bowling from 1 August 2023, although more research will be conducted.

The evolution and standardisation of the string machines is still ongoing and being fine-tuned, however, it is clear that this is becoming the mainstream technology in the sport; therefore the fears of the MBA are unfounded and are just to further some bowlers’ aspirational delusion of owning their own centre.

Simon De Cesare

CEO, Eden Leisure Group