News

May 5th 2008

Bol Chumann’s senior men and women performed magnificently at Bandon on Sunday afternoon last, the final day of the 13th European Championships, to reclaim top position in the road bowling discipline. David Murphy and Kelly Mallon are the new European champions bridging gaps of twenty and twenty four years respectively. Their achievements climaxed a wonderful three-day spectacle that brought crowds, colour and superb competition to Cork City, Rathcool and West Cork. The pressure was on the senior men’s squad to deliver on this occasion and the response could hardly have been better as, one after the other, they overwhelmed their German, Dutch and Italian counterparts in their respective matches filling the first nine places on the results list. David Murphy had often struggled in the many early morning practice and trial sessions undertaken at the venue and, in the third score out, it was not going his way entirely after his opening three on Sunday. A two hundred and fifty metre fourth off the first curve set up him up for his gold winning charge. Using his power and a higher level of accuracy he rattled up the metres with five brilliant closing shots. His eighth in particular saw him scorch up past the sixteen hundred metre mark and he beat the early leader Tim Pat O’Donovan’s total with his next. 2010 was his final tally and it stood the test for the rest of the day. Although it silver at the end when it might have been gold, Mick Young’s barnstorming performance was still one of the great stories of the weekend. The veteran Bantry campaigner gave further vent to the reality that age need not be a barrier to ultimate honours in the bowling game. A member of Bol Chumann teams not only in 1992 but, almost unbelievably, at the fifth hosting in Cork in 1977, Young literally burned up the course for the first seven at Bandon on Sunday last. His eighth might have been better but he was still within shouting distance of Murphy’s formidable mark throwing his last. It veered left missing by thirty five metres but there were no complaints from the amiable Bantry man. Michael Toal was tremendous as well. The Armagh man had spent little enough practise on the road but was smooth strong and fair on the sop in score four as he closed on Murphy’s total. His ninth undid his challenge for gold but his 1,969 metre total was good enough for individual bronze. Patrick O’Driscoll, Aidan Murphy, Eddie Carr, Tim Pat O’Donovan, Bill Daly, Philip O’Donovan took the next six places before Bastiann Zwiers of NKB Holland with 1,744 took tenth as the leading player from the continent. There was no doubting Bol Chumann’s winning the team gold honour. Mark McManus as team coach played a big part as did Christy Mullins and Bill Daly as managers of the senior selections. Within an hour came the final presentation of medals and the closing of the 13th European Championships. The Irish celebrated a marvellous success and a regaining of prestige lost on the road at Westerstede in 2004 when FKV took the top seven places on the results list. They received the congratulations of the vanquished and a promise of renewed battle in two years time when the NKB Dutch association host a World Road Bowling championship in 2010. Following that will be the next big gathering for the 14th European Championships at Pessaro, Italy, in 2012. The host Association received many plaudits for the organisational efforts that ensured the smooth running of the previous days. Susan Green declared the championships closed and passed the mantle for the 2012 games to Maurizo Della Costanz, president of ABIS, Italy. Mr Della Costanz, promised the visiting associations that the event in four years time would match what he had seen in Ireland on the previous three days.

A top three for the home team in senior women road bowling was not foreseen. Not since Gretta Hegarty in the inaugural women’s championships in Garding in ’84 had Bol Chumann won individual gold at this event. The extraordinary career of Kelly Mallon reached a new pinnacle when her 1,459 metres gave her European gold by just seven metres from Catriona O’Farrell/Kidney on a day when five of the six Irish competitors in the thirty strong field made into the top ten. The All-Ireland senior and U18 champion was a model of consistency throughout averaging close to 150 metres with every shot. O’Farrell/Kidney, superb in the Moors on Saturday, showed wonderful character with a courageous display again. A poor seventh derailed her hopes but two mighty efforts, her ninth and tenth, almost made it to gold. Two silver medals from the weekend bring her total medal haul from European championships since 2000 to five. Dervla Toal set the early pace with 1,436 and that was good enough for bronze. Emma Fitzpatrick was a creditable sixth on 1,308, Louise Daly eighth on 1272 and Louise Collins twentieth on 1030, all contributing handsomely to Bol Chumann’s top standing in the team stakes.

The most galling miss for gold of the weekend is surely down to Aidan Hurley in the U18 youths road event on Sunday forenoon. It was a hugely exciting competition with less than twenty metres separating the top four. First out was Arthur McDonagh who won his match handsomely from his continental rivals setting a fine target of 1,673. Next on for Bol Chumann was Kieran Murphy who carded 1,477 good for seventh place at the end but leading this group was one Bernd Georg Bohlken, son of the legendary Hans of the FKV German team. He came desperately close to McDonagh with 1,673. Then came match 3 where Jann Galts of FKV clocked up the metres. He outgunned Thomas Mackle (Bol Chumann), before delivering a sensational last shot that ran and ran on the high left side as it rolled past McDonagh’s mark by three metres to grab the lead. In score four Aidan Hurley was in magnificent form. With three to go he had Galts in his sights but lost a lot of ground when his eighth caught the right hand grass. To his credit he recovered with a ferocious ninth shot that covered over 230 metres. He now had the gold in his grasp looking at the German’s mark less than a hundred metres away. To his consternation he dropped his attempt too close to his body and it cracked right from the off. It came close enough for second place but fell short of Galts by an agonising two metres. Bol Chumann duly won the team event here also.

A nomination for athlete of the weekend would surely go to the versatile Dutch six footer, Silke Tulk in the under age girls category who took two gold and bronze from the 13th European Championships. Brilliant in the Moors on Saturday, she was simply unbeatable on the road on Sunday. Her final tally of 1,454 was just four short of Kelly Mallon’s figure in senior women and 145 ahead of her nearest challenger in U18. FKV’s Kathern Blum, Fenja Frerichs and Anke Klopper were next in front of the fifth placed Jane O’Neill. The Armagh girl had a poor start hitting the barrier and, although playing well thereafter, did not have the power to overcome the deficit. Lorraine Hurley was seventh and Karena Hunter twelfth giving Ireland bronze in the team category.

The early morning mist and sporadic rain later made it a damp day at Rathcool, Mallow on Saturday but it didn’t detract one whit from a marvellous days sport. A glorious gold medal for Philip O’Donovan in the senior men’s competition crowned the occasion following the exploits of Killian Kingston and Catriona O’Farrell/Kidney earlier who won silver in their categories. O’Donovan’s duel with 2004 champion Dirk Taddings (FKV) in the final match of the day was a thrilling affair. Indeed all ten senior matches were exciting as the competitors battled the well-prepared but slippery track. Eamonn Bowen (Jun), a positive and rousing influence in terms of team spirit throughout the weekend, had the chance of an early lead with his 840 metres, David Murphy won his match with 844 later and Edmund Sexton took the lead with a fine tally of 864. The men who have done more than most to put Ireland on the international bowling stage, Bill Daly and Christy Mullins were outstanding on Saturday carding 867 and 871 but were both headed by the Dutchmen, Mark Oude Lutkhuis and 2000 champion, Robert Meijer on 876 and 890. And so it came to the final showdown. Through the mud came O’Donovan and Taddings neck and neck, the lead changing with each shot and scoring well with throw after throw. O’Donovan grabbed a vital lead with two to go and held his nerve in the mounting pressure to bring a wonderful first gold of the games for the host country. The scenes of joy were unbridled after that success and continued on the podium despite the pelting rain late on Saturday evening. Ireland won the team event by 500 metres from FKV.

Christina Damken (FKV) is the new force in women’s Moors bowling. She followed up her U18 gold at Westerstede by taking first place in senior on Saturday last with a terrific 655 metres in difficult conditions. Bearing down all the while was 2004 winner Catriona O’Farrell but a great display finished eleven metres short of gold. Sandra Schimanski (FKV) was third on 633. Gretta Cormican, in her seventh European Championships, showed the innate competitiveness that has stood her in good stead for so many years was next best of the Irish at twelfth with 569. Marie Noonan eighteenth, Louise Collins twenty first, Aisling White twenty third, and Susan Cullen twenty fifth filled the remaining Irish places resulting in bronze for the team prize. East Cork’s Killian Kingston had showed real potential in the Moors trials and he produced it on the day with a superb 860, a total that had him leading for most of the morning. The lofting expertise of Stefan Runge (FKV) (silver at Nemo on Friday) was to be a big factor in Kingston’s losing out for the top spot. Runge was in the last match out and ate up the metres with sixty metres casts to eventually overhaul the East Cork youth by thirty seven metres. Hendrick Rudebusch (FKV) was third with 853. Bol Chumann other participants, Christopher Murray, Arthur McDonagh and Paudi Lucey were thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth enough for bronze in the team placings. Silke Tulk (NKB) won the girls U18 Moors with 702 from FKV’s Anke Klopper and Kathrin Blum in second and third with 673 and 641. Lorraine Hurley seventh with 556, Eilish Murray eleventh (499) and Karena Hunter twelfth (487) wasn’t enough to get Bol Chumann into the team places. All three performed well but were at a disadvantage against the sheer physicality of the German and Dutch competitors.

The Nemo Rangers complex at Trabeg was the perfect setting for the German loft discipline of Friday. The Geramn associations are the masters and filling the minor places was the role of the Irish. Nonetheless it was an interesting showpiece that developed into two way fight between FKV and VSHB. The stiff headwind cut distances as the great Hans George Bohlken led the way in senior men for much of the day with a combined total of 241 for his three lofts. Youth prevailed at the end as twenty two year old Frank Goldenstein also FKV won the day with 257 and Thore Frollje came second with 255. Behind Bohlken in fourth was the VSHB top man Sonke Dreeben with 240. Best of the Irish was Martin Coppinger 19th with 202. Next was Eamonn Bowen (Jun) twenty first with 200 and David Murphy twenty second with 198. Down the list came Christy Mullins (24), Mike Bohane (25), David Hubbard (26), Edmund Sexton (28), John Shorten (29), Seamus Sexton (31) and Ian Callanan (32). Good enough to take the bronze in the team prize from the Dutch (NKB). The VSHB got their gold in the loft when Ute Uhrbrook won the senior women with 157 just five ahead of the second placed Anika Noorman (FKV)_ 152 and Andrea Bloom (FKV) 145. Geraldine Daly was tops for Bol Chumann with a very good 108 and fourteenth spot among the thirty competing. Aisling White (19), Marie Noonan (21), Emma Fitzpatrick (22), Susan Culllen (23) and Gretta Cormican (25) were too far back for bronze in the team prize. Killian Kingston was Bol Chumann’s best performer by far in the German loft at U18. A superb 197 earned him seventh in the overall placings less than forty behind the winner Timo Petznik (FKV) on 236. Moors winner, Runge was second with 231 and Daniel Runge also (FKV) on 210 was third. Christopher Murray, Paudie Lucey and Cian Shorten at fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth were behind a four man Dutch grouping and so out of the team medals.

The parade of nations through the City on Thursday evening was one of the largest and most colourful seen in the southern capital for some time. Culminating in the official opening at City Hall, it was attended by Chief Executive, Irish Sports Council, John Tracey, Bishop John Buckley, Bernard Allen, President of the International Bowlplaying Association Jan Dirk Voights (FKV), leader of (VSHB) Ernst HInrich Reimers, Maurizio Della Costanz (ABIS, Italy), Alloys Timmerhuis (NKB, Holland) as well as members of Bol Chumann’s executive. Amid bands and fanfare, speeches of welcome and encouragement, Susan Green, chairperson of Bol Chumann, declared the 13th European Bowling Championships open. What followed over the next three days was a truly great coming together of the bowling fraternity of Europe. Twelve hour days of competition and presentation ceremonies left little enough time for the social niceties that go hand in hand with events such as this. For Bol Chumann the organisational effort was huge. That it was such an outstanding success is a lasting testimony to the drive and determination of a committed team. Susan Green and James O’Driscoll cajoled, harangued and pestered but, most importantly, united all strands of the Association in a wholehearted effort. The Bandon road on Sunday presented a big logistical undertaking from transferring and erecting equipment used in Rathcool on the previous day to the smooth and safe running of twenty three scores each with five competitors. The sight of several hundred club members from all corners of the county arriving on the road from seven o’clock onwards, ready and willing to give of their time, was a positive indicator that this was going off without a hitch. Referees, markers, stewards and scorekeepers all played their part in momentous weekend for bowling and Bol Chumann. Satisfaction there was too for that tight knit group who, on some days, did the morning afternoon and night shift in the lead up to the championships. The energy and dedication of Susan Green and James O’Driscoll was reciprocated by many not least by their own family members. Gretta Cormican in her role as secretary of the IBA had to pull the strings among the five competing associations. Finbarr Aldworth, Dan McCarthy and Geraldine Daly were ever present to tie the knots together. For all concerned it was a rewarding experience. None had been involved to any great extent in the 1992 championships and as James O’Driscoll repeatedly stated, with Ireland not due to host again until 2028, it was a once off for the present membership to give it their best shot. That they certainly did.

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23rd April
The 13th European Bowling Championships are upon us. On this May Bank Holiday weekend, starting with the Parade of Nations through Cork City and the raising of the National flags at City Hall at 8pm on Thursday 1 through to the conclusion of the road bowling at Bandon on Sunday evening, this festival of bowling will bring together the many strands that make up the five Associations who now constitute the International Bowlplaying fraternity. Competitive contest intermingled with social interaction will form the core of the weekends activities as the games top athletes share in this unique sporting tradition that can trace its origins to the middle ages. Parallel to the Summer Olympics, the European Bowling Championships are held every four years. The national associations the Nederlandse Klootschieters Bond, (NKB, Holland), the Verband Schleswig-Holsteinisher Bobler, (VSHB) and Friesischer Klootschiefser Verband, (FKV), both Germany, Bol Chumann na hEireann, (BC Ireland), the Associazione Boccetta Italiana su Strada, (ABIS, Italy) who are all members of the International Bowl Playing Association (IBA), take it in turns to organise the championships.

This athletic get-together tests the participant’s prowess in Dutch Moors, Road Bowling and German Loft disciplines. For the Dutch Moors game a nederlandse veldkloot (Dutch bowl) is used. (65mm in diameter, 300 grams in weight) and ten shots allowed on a prepared grass track. For Road bowling we use the Irish steel bowl (58mm in diameter, 28oz or 794 grams) again with ten shots per player on the chosen roadway. For the German Loft the German bowl is used (men 58mm 475 grams; women and juniors 55mm 375 grams), with three shots deciding the result, the distance rolled not being counted.

The present day championships have expanded to embrace men and women and youths male and female. Section 1 senior men (10 Players from each of the five Associations); section 2, senior women (6 players); section 3, U18 boys (4 players); section 4, under 18 girls (3 players).

Both individual achievement and team placings are important. Overall team placement is based on a points system. Placings in individual competition are the basis for the awarding of points. The winner is awarded one point while the last in any one position receives as many points as participants. Points gained by all the members of an Association are added together and the Association with the fewest points is declared the winner. Once the competition commences everyone is free to throw when stewards and referee indicate it is safe to do so. Each discipline starts with groups of five bowlers, one per Association. The distance achieved by an individual throw is measured from the back of the bowl.

As stated the Championships commence on May1 with the march of Nations through Cork City at 7pm and the raising of the National flags at City Hall at 8pm. On Friday May 2 the German Loft event gets under way at 9am at the Nemo Rangers GAA complex, Trabeg and concludes with the medal presentation ceremony at 5.30. Later in the evening at 8 pm at Curraheen Greyhound Track, Bol Chumann host a gala fund raising ‘Night at the Dogs’. On Saturday May 3, the Moors Bowling championships commence at Rathcooll airfield, Rathcool, Mallow and these will be followed by the medal presentation ceremony at 5.30pm. On Sunday May 4, the closing day, the Road bowling championships will begin at 9am at Bandon (on the R586 Bandon – Dunmanway road). These will again be followed by the presentation ceremony and closing of the championships which will include the passing of the Standard to the Italian Bowling Federation who will host the 2012 championships.

These European Championships have evolved into an all embracing spectacle since those early formative years almost forty decades ago. It has taken persistence, patience and a fair modicum of hard work, but it has been a hugely rewarding experience for players, supporters and administrators whose contributions down through the years have made the International stage into what it is today. Any synopsis of the championships to this date must start with the very different world of forty years ago. ‘History-making trip to Holland a Big Success’ headlined the bowling column in the Southern Star of Saturday June 7, 1969. Under his well recognised pen-name ‘Raymond’, the late Flor Crowley, whose far sightedness and vision had led to this international gathering of bowl-players, vividly chronicles the ground-breaking event at Losser that would leave such a wonderful legacy through the decades that followed. The wonderful public reception that included bands and processions, and voluble speeches from the City Mayor and the bowling authorities in Holland and Germany had made the visitors feel welcome, but now it was time for action. Flor Crowley describes it thus: ‘these things apart however, for us the score at 9.30 this morning is what counted most. We came to bowl and speeches, pageantry, costumed cailini and those other things are no more than side-shows to the bigger thing. At 9.30 our seven players, Johnny Creedon, Mick Barry, Christy Keating, Denis Scully, Liam Daly, Johnny Holland and Vincent O’Donovan, in that order, broke off against a Dutch team and straight away the tempo of the weekend was set. It would be unkind to say that the score was a runaway for our men but it was nearly that in what was in actual fact a two and a half mile, seven a side score in which the Dutch men got just one fore bowl, and in which we had lost all track and trace of the odds long before the finish’. Historic indeed as we now, almost forty years later, welcome our peers from the continent to an expanded, all embracing thirteenth hosting of the European Bowling Championships.

For the bowling men of Ireland it has been a magnificent journey. Our greatest players have become International ambassadors, recognised and revered for their exploits and feted by their contemporaries in the strongholds of the game in Ostfriesland, Schleswig Holstein and Tubbergen. Our heroes have been many in the intervening years. At that inaugural meeting in Losser the Irish might have won the road but the lofting expertise of the German associations was very much to the fore. Nevertheless, Denis Scully came within touching distance of beating the Germans at their own game, gaining third place to the then peerless Martin Siefkin FKV. In that era the individual gold was only awarded to the best over all competitor, a practise that prevailed also when the championships were hosted for the first time in Ireland in 1970. Ireland handsomely won the road event here but, surprisingly lost to the German team in the Moors event at Upton and, with the Germans again winning the loft at Bandon GAA pitch, it was again Martin Seifkin who took the individual gold. The first German hosting came with the 1972 championships in Garding. It produced two titanic battles with the hosts for the team laurels in Road and Moors. Ireland won both with Mick Barry playing a starring role. Flor Crowley describes a wonderful exchange between himself and Martin Seifkin in the road match. ‘The Friesland mentors had kept their best wine for the last, the great Martin Seifkin, world bowling champion. But we also kept a fair sample of good wine for that vital last thorw. We had Mick Barry facing the great Seifkin, and what a task Mick had to face. Seifkin has the strength of a lion and the style of a Corkman. His bowl died on the road so far in front of Barry’s mark that it seemed impossible that Barry could cover it. One was reminded there and then of the Kickham story of the Hammer-throwing episode, with Seifkin throwing as captain and Barry throwing for the honour of the little village’ and how Barry threw that bowl, the most vital and testing bowl of his career. I honestly believe that he beat Seifkin’s mark not by a mere fore bowl but by fifty metres to hold us in the lead for the way back’. Later in the contest Johnny Creedon ensured Irelands success with one of the longest ever thrown. Flor Crowley again attests; ‘Johnny’s bowl covered exactly 501 metres measured carefully by a local committee man on whose authority I now quote these figures. I have never seen such a bowl and I know I will never see another like it. If there were world records for long shots this would surely be the record’. The Moors event was equally epic and won again by the Irish but Martin Seifkin was again the supreme competitor having won the loft and performed so adequately in the other two disciplines.

It was to Jever, Ostfriesland in 1974 for the fourth European Championships. The introduction of individual placings for each of the three disciplines was innovative and the awarding of gold, silver and bronze for the top three ensured a lasting recognition for the major personalities. Irish bowlers were well to the fore in Jever and the championships announced the arrival of Seamus Sexton of Nadd as a major player on the international stage. Sexton won the gold on the road ahead of his compatriots, Mick Barry and Liam Daly while Barry further enhanced his reputation with gold in the Moors event. Back in Cork for the second time in 1977 the fifth championships saw Seamus Sexton win his second road gold, the only player so far to accomplish that momentous feat. This time he finished ahead of Eamonn Bowen and Jim O’Driscoll as the Irish continued to dominate their own game. The Courtmacsherry man P J McCarthy won the Moors event in Crios na Leanbh with a splendid display to round off a hugely successful home championships for the Irish. Sean Crowley of Ballinacarriga was second here. Martin Seifkin,a having been relegated to third in Jever was again on top in the lofting discipline. Tubbergen in Holland hosted the 1980 championships. The event was now a fully fledged international showpiece of bowlplaying that would continue thence forward on a four yearly basis. At these games a youth’s championship was introduced adding a new dimension. Tubbergen saw Bill Daly succeeding Barry, Scully and Seamus Sexton as Ireland’s new international star. Daly won double gold in Road and Moors in what was a clean sweep for the Irish. Denis Collins and Pat Sutton filled second and third on the road while John Murphy and Christy Mullins did likewise in the field. Capping one of Irelands best ever excursions abroad was Ciaran O’Gorman’s gold medal in the inaugural youths road championships. ’84 in Garding saw Hans Georg Bohlken come on the scene with his phenomenal lofting expertise. Still to the fore today, Bohlken won his own speciality but Noel O’Brien of Clonakilty won the road and Michael Buckley, Cork City, the Moors to keep Ireland very much in the forefront. For the first time a women’s competition further enriched the games and it was our own Gretta Hegarty who won the coveted gold. Ominously perhaps one Nico Leussink of the Dutch NKB association won the youth’s road event and he would come again more devastatingly in 1992. The ’88 games in Norden, Germany, saw a diminution of the Irish challenge. Dan O’Halloran’s brilliant victory on the road was the undoubted highlight and little did we realise that that honour would not come our way again in the intervening years. Perhaps it is a tribute to our own game that it is now one of the main focuses of our international competitors. Christy Mullins was second on the road in Norden following a similar placing in the Moors in Garding four years previous and the Bantry man was now established in the top echelon of international players.

Cork in 1992 was an amazing occasion. Nico Luessink came to haunt winning the road gold on our home patch from Chris O’Donovan but there were memorable victories in the Moors event for Bill Daly with Christy Mullins second and Seamus Sexton third and a superb double for Donal O’Riordan winning youth’s events in Road bowling and also the Moors. The then Susan Barry claimed third place in women’s senior, while Liam O’Sullivan and Eddie Carr won silver in Moors and Road respectively. Tubbergen in Holland in ’96 failed to yield individual gold in any discipline for the Irish selections but disappointment was tempered with some thrilling performances as Sharon O’Driscoll ran Antje Schottler very close in women’s senior, Christy Mullins likewise to Robert Luessink in Moors and James Buckley to Frido Walter on the road. The big battle here was between the Germans in the lofting arena as the VSHB team in the form of Sonke Dreeben really put it up to their more powerful rivals, FKV, whose Dietlef Muller eventually won narrowly. The Millennium championships in Meldorf saw Ireland claim two gold medals in youth’s events. Louise Daly, daughter of Liam of the ’69 Irish team, captured gold in the first U18 girl’s road championship, a splendid achievement in a very competitive field. David Murphy, Brinny, showed a lofting ability that stunned the German contingent taking third place in the youths category and also, significantly, winning gold in the youth’s Moors. Phillip O’Donovan came within a whisker of reclaiming top spot in the senior road but Mark Oude Luttikhuus of NKB prevailed at the end. Westerstede in 2004 was a chastening experience for our senior road team as, on their home road, FKV filled the first seven places with a powerful well-practised selection. The redeeming features were Seamus Sexton (Jun) winning an enthralling battle with FKV’s Kevin Dupravic to take Moor’s gold in youths category and Catriona O’Farrell doing likewise to win the Moors senior women. Those gold medals did much to quell the disappointment of our senior road placings. Denise Murphy was a creditable second in girl’s U18 road and Carmel Ryan third in senior. Westerstede saw a welcome expansion of the European Championships with the inclusion of a new nation to the games. The Pesaro based Italian ABIS association came with spirit and pride and, although not in the final shake-up for major honours, showed versatility in their play and a willingness to be part of bigger picture that augurs well for their future participation.

From an Irish perspective, we come with some ground to make up, to our 13th hosting of the European Championships. The big challenge is to win back our domination of our own game. The portents are good. With little practise on the road, Eddie Carr triumphed in the Skibbereen hosting of the 2005 World championships. Aidan Murphy won a similar event in Italy in 2006. Our present squad is brimming with experience and talent and have ably guided by men who have been there and done it, Christy Mullins and Bill Daly. Likewise our senior ladies with Gretta Cormican and Geraldine Daly at the helm and long serving youth’s organiser, Dan McCarthy, in charge of our under 18 teams, our expectations are high. Laurels will be hard won and that is the way it should be. Our competitors have studied our game and developed it to suit their requirements and that is perhaps a tribute in itself to the sport as we know it. We welcome the Dutch NKB, German FKV and VSHB and Italian ABIS to these games and promise them fair battle. We will celebrate our victories and congratulate our conquerors and the bond of friendship will remain as firm as ever. We will, too, be ever mindful of the great men who set the train in motion, Flor Crowley and Eamonn O’Carroll of Bol Chumann and Johann Poorthuis, Holland. Succeeding down the years, our own Association has been blessed with leaders of similar outlook who have promoted the international concept and made the games what they are today. Brendan Roche, Jerry Desmond, Seamus O’Tuama with Christy Santry and our present day figureheads, Susan Greene and James O’Driscoll, never wavered in their commitment to the European module. We in Bol Chumann are honoured to host these championships. With the International Bowling Association now approaching its fortieth birthday, the popularity and continued expansion of these championships has been of enormous benefit to the competing bodies. Both organisers and players look forward with huge enthusiasm to the four yearly competitions. The great Dutch champion, Jos Leussink, puts it well when he states that each occasion is one of unity, based not only on sport but on relaxation and the joy of being together. When we look back we can see that tremendous developments have taken place in the years that have passed. The Association ratings that was in vogue at the outset has been complimented with individual titles. Senior and youths women and U18 men have also been included making it a complete championships event.

The organisational effort is tremendous but a basic friendly atmosphere is still the hallmark of each championship. We wish every visitor a hearty cead mile failte and an enjoyable stay in Co. Cork. To our rivals from the continent we say good luck but to our own well-tutored teams we say go for glory for it’s our greatest chance yet.
We wish a safe and enjoyable weekend to all and on Sunday evening we hand the torch for 2012 to our Italian friends.

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The announcement of the panel of players who will battle with the best from Germany, Holland and Italy in the May European championships has generated widespread interest. The panels selected have a spread of experienced and youthful aspirants with virtually all the big names included. The different selections for road bowling, moor’s bowling and German loft vary a little with the well-attended recent trials at the Lee Fields and Bandon showing the potential of those chosen to lead the way. A top place in the road bowling discipline has to be the main objective with a twenty year gap to be bridged since Dan O’Halloran captured the individual gold in Norden, Ostfriesland. Those going forward under coach, Mark McManus and team managers, Christy Mullins, Bill Daly, Gretta Cormican, Geraldine Daly and Dan McCarthy are: Senior men; Road Bowling; Aidan Murphy, Bill Daly, Christy Mullins, David Murphy, Donal O’Riordan, Eamonn Bowen (Jun), Ian Callanan, John Shorten, Mark Crean, Martin Coppinger, Mick Young, Pat Butler, Patrick O’Driscoll, Philip O’Donovan, Tim Pat O’Donovan; Dutch Moors; Aidan Murphy, Billy McAuliffe, Bill Daly, Christy Mullins, David Murphy, Donal O’Riordan, Edmund Sexton, John Shorten, Michael Bohane, Mick Young, Philip O’Donovan, Richard Murphy, Seamus Sexton (Jun), Tim Pat O’Donovan, Tim Young; German Loft; Aidan Murphy, Billy McAuliffe, Brian O’Donovan, Christy Mullins, David Hubbard, David Murphy, Donal O’Riordan, Edmund Sexton, Ian Callanan, Jerry Gibbons, Michael Bohane, Nicholas Carey, Patrick O’Driscoll , Seamus Sexton (Jun), Philip O’Donovan. Senior women; Road Bowling; Catriona O’Farrell/Kidney, Geraldine Daly, Louise Collins, Gretta Cormican, Louise Daly, Emma Fitzpatrick, Aisling White, Marie Noonan, Susan Cullen, Juliet Murphy; Dutch Moors; Catrioan O’Farrell/Kidney; Emma Fitzpatrick, Aisling White, Gretta Cormican, Louise Collins, Marie Noonan, Susan Cullen; German Loft; Catriona O’Farrell/Kidney, Emma Fitzpatrick, Geraldine Daly, Gretta Cormican, Aisling White, Louise Collins, Marie Noonan, Susan Cullen. U18 youths; Road Bowling; Aidan Hurley, Arthur McDonagh, Christopher Murray, Kieran Murphy, Killian Kingston, Liam Hurley, Peter Nagle; Brendan Rafferty, Dutch Moors; Aidan Hurley, Arthur McDonagh, Shane Lotty, Killian Kingston, Padraigh Lucey, Christopher Murray Kieran Murphy; German Loft; Aidan Hurley, Arthur McDonagh, Brian O’Sullivan, Christopher Murray, Cian Shorten, Killian Kingston, Padraigh Lucey. U18 girls Combined panels; Cliodhna NiLaoire, Colette Wilmot, Karina Hunter, Eibhlis Murray, Lorraine Hurley. There will be additions to these lists from Bol Chumann, Ard Mhaca. The elimination process is ongoing in Ulster to decide the northern representatives. To this end Thomas Mackle, U18 All-Ireland champion, has qualified in the youth section and will be joined by Eunal Rafferty or Sean Donnelly.

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Bol Chumann chairperson, Susan Greene, launched the thirteenth European Bowling Championships at the Kiln Room, Heineken Ireland, Leitrim Street, on Friday evening last. The event will be hosted in County Cork from May 1 to May 4, 2008 at venues provisionally selected but not yet finally ratified. It was an auspicious occasion dignified by the presence of Lord Mayor, Cllr, Michael Ahern, and Lord Mayor, Cork County, John O’Shea, together with leading officials from each of the six Associations who will participate in the forthcoming championships. Jim Cashman, Heinekin Ireland, welcomed the assembled guests to the launch and spoke of the long association that his company has with the sport of bowlplaying which, he said, preceded, through its links with Murphy’s Stout , even the formation of Bol Chumann itself. Cllr Michael Ahern welcomed most especially the international delegations and wished them well on their stay. He looked forward to seeing them return in large numbers in two years time when they partake in a uniquely Cork sport. Cllr O’Shea reflected on his interest in the game in his native Bantry and praised all concerned for their promotion of the European Championships.

Susan Greene, in an expansive address, outlined the aims and aspirations of these four yearly championships. She stated ‘It is not by chance we are gathered here this evening. The reasons we are here are many and varied but hey are all related to one single thread of our past. That single thread of good fortune is that those generations that went before us invented, developed and cherished a traditional sport — a game of bowling. Games of bowling come in many shapes. But we are part of a particular family of European bowling games. We represent the community traditions that run beside the North Sea from Schieswig-Holstein, through Oldenburg and Ostfriesland onto Dutch bowling heartlands. From there our game jumps to Ireland, with another fork to the south facing the Adriatic coast of Italy.

Without these special games we would not be here. We would never have got to appreciate the distinct part of the wonderful tapestry of Europe that each of our small communities represent. We are at once the hidden Europe and its most welcome face. We represent hundreds of years of tradition and at the same time we are part of the new Europe. Ours is a heritage as deep and sacred as any world sporting tradition. Ours is a heritage as varied as European life itself. Yet we speak a common language not just of sport but a language of bowling. That common language and connection might have never have been but for the pioneering spirit of our Dutch bowlers. In that special way that has marked out Dutch people since the middle ages they went on voyages of bowling discovery and found us here in Ireland and our bowling comrades in Germany.

In those early days friendships and rivalries were forged that have kept our games alive and vibrant. Like all traditional games the initial links were tentative, but look where they have led. They led to the cementing of deep and lasting relationships, to friendships and mutual respect and the coming together of a very special family.

We lived in the warm welcome of our friends in Schleswig-Holstein, epitomised here tonight by Hans Jacobs, a man of astonishing warmth and comraderie, a man who has lived a special life, a man of deep integrity, a man who represents all the best traits of his home community. Our friends in Oldenburg and Ostfriesland presented to us professionalism and high standards of sporting excellence. They also showed us that you don’t have to compromise the high values of true sporting endeavour at the alter of success. Both are compatible and each glows in the reflection of the other. I have mentioned the special place the Dutch play in this family. They are at the centre of the North European bowling family not just geographically but as its heart. To them we owe the longevity of our continued good relationships. I have not yet mentioned our friends in Italy. I hope they excuse me. I leave them to last not because they are the new children on our IBA family, but because as an Irish bowler they come closest to what we know as bowling. Like us their tradition is of the road. Like our beginnings they used a stone bowl. They bowl exactly like Ulster bowlers. We each revere and respect our own games. We each revere and respect each others games. We each play a version on a theme. We may be far flung and diverse, but we are the bowlplaying family of Europe. What makes our games special is their irrefutable authenticity. They are built upon layers of tradition, shaped by greatness of our games, the feats of our heroes and heroines, victories shaped in adversity and others carved from the genius of special talent.

If sport si to have meaning into the twenty first century I would advise the politicians and policy makers not to focus on what they see on satellite TV. That sport has its place too, but ours and sports like us are part of the blood that flows through communities, families and generations and links us back to early Europe and forward to a diverse and changing Europe. I don’t want you to take me at my word alone. I invite more people to come and enjoy our special games. I invite all of you to go out from here tonight and in turn invite others to come and see what European bowlplaying is about. There will be no better place to see that than at the 2008 European Championships here in Cork. I want you to come and see supreme athletes competing with the honesty long lost in so many sports. To see sports that have origins lost in the mists of time, but with a vibrancy that will ensure they will be long part of the European canvass.

When you come to our events you will see sport at its best, but also a welcome at its best. Bring your children and grandchildren, your parents and grandparents, your relatives, your friends. We are a family sport. We are about people as well as being about sport.

I thank our hosts Heineken and Murphy’s Irish Stout for hosting our launch here tonight. Like our sport this fine brewery has a foot here in Cork and one on the continent. What’s more this is not a new friendship. Murphy’s Irish Stout is synonymous with our sport. It’s a relationship that predates Bol Chumann and I am confident that it will continue long into the future. Murphy’s has more than played its role in maintaining the unique diversity of sporting traditions in Cork. We are proud that it continues to play that role and that we are partners with it I keeping the best of traditions alive and vibrant.’

Outgoing President of the International Bowling Association, Hans Jacobs (VSHB) echoed the sentiments expressed by Susan Green and hoped the 2008 Championships would continue to promote the disciplines of the member countries in their most positive light. MC for the evening, Brendan Hayes, secretary, Bol Chumann, thanked all who had attended the launch.

The launch preceded the two yearly get together of all the leading personnel of the European Bowling Associations which went on later in the evening at the Duchloyne Inn. Principal on the agenda was the transferring of the office of Presidency from the outgoing Hans Jacobs (VSHB) to Jan Dirk Voghts (FKV). Gretta Cormican (Bol Chumann) will be the secretary IBA for the next four years.