OPEN LETTER TO ALL EUROPEAN PLAYERS

The European Bowling Tour has, since it started in 2000, developed from a small group of tournaments with rather low prize money to a much more business like tour with many new tournaments and much higher prize money.

Simplified in figures it can be expressed as follows: The tour has over seven years expanded from a tour with a total prize money of less than € 200.000 and an average prize money per tournament of about € 20.000 to a tour with a total prize money of about € 1.000.000 and an average prize money per tournament of about € 50.000 .

The European Bowling Tour has become an important tool in the visibility of our sport and by that the development of our sport, it is recognized by the bowling industry, more sponsorships comes in and the tour is also recognized far outside the European area.

The ETBF Presidium is fully aware of the fact that it does not stop with this. In the coming years there is a lot more to do to further improve the tour, to create a higher degree of uniformity, to attract more media and TV coverage and last but not least to attract sponsorships outside our own bowling circles. This can only happen in close co-operation with the tournament organizers.

The tour would be nothing without the players and the tour would be nothing without the organizers. They are the ones taking higher and higher financial risks as the demands from ETBF and the players grows and they are the ones to work for hundreds of hours to ensure that each stop is running as ETBF and the players expect a high class international event to run.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of years, a very costly and inappropriate habit has arrived among an - also unfortunately - growing group of players: late cancellations at tournaments.

Late cancellations are defined as:

·               Cancellations two weeks or less prior to the tournament

·               Cancellations when the tournament is running

·               No shows without any notification

It adds up to more than 50 cancellations for one tournament in the worst examples, sometimes more than 25 % of the expected number of players entering. A few years ago this problem hardly existed.

The problem is now so widely spread that some organizers are considering to stop organizing; we all loose money as a consequence (also the players by getting lower prize funds) and in the long term it is a threat to the development of the tour and in worst case a threat to the existence of the tour.

The ETBF Presidium is therefore forced to introduce a system of penalty points, especially developed as a consequence of late cancellations. You can read more about this system at www.etbf.dk. In addition we are investigating a system for pre-payments at bookings and also considering further restrictions to bring this number of late cancellations down to a very low level.

The ETBF Presidium, however, does not want to introduce a situation where players are feeling controlled, penalised for nothing and restricted in their behaviour by adding stronger and stricter rules and regulations for participating in the coming years, at least not more than necessary to limit the problem.

We are therefore appealing to all players to co-operate with us, to change attitude as soon as possible and to understand that this is a very serious problem with a lot of negative effects, also for your self. The better the problem can be solved by understanding and a changed attitude the fewer rules and penalty policies we need to introduce.

Therefore players;

(1)

Do not apply for spots in a tournament only if you think that you might want to participate. Order your spots when you know that you are going and that you indeed want to play in the tournament.

(2)

Should it, after booking, be impossible for you to participate, then cancel your spots as early as possible and basically never late. In case of illness or injury make sure that you announce it to the organizer as soon as possible and make sure that you are getting another person (for instance a federation official) to confirm it, should there be any doubt or need for evidence.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, for your co-operation and for your time to read this message to all of you.

It is indeed a common interest for all of us to limit the problem of late cancellations!

Kind Regards

European Tenpin Bowling Federation

Kim Thorsgaard Jensen

Vice President