Bowling community in shock as Eden Super Bowl to close doors for a few months

Association president says proposals for a new bowling alley ignored by the government

The Maltese bowling community is in shock following the news that the Eden Superbowl will be closing its doors for the next few months due to work that has to be carried out to revamp the facility.

This development has hit hard Maltese tenpin bowlers as well as the public in general who love to practice their sport in their free time as it left them without a venue for at least the first five months of the year.

In a statement, the Eden Superbowl said that they will be closing the facility on January 8.

Edward Mifsud, the president of the Malta Tenpin Bowling Association, said that the news has hit hard the sport and has criticised the government inaction over the years to construct a bowling facility that can be used by his association.

“The biggest problem as I see it is the government’s inaction to sustain the bowling community and the public at large who love to practice the sport,” Mifsud told the Times of Malta.

“In a way, I do understand the Eden Leisure Group as at the end of the day their prime interest is to generate revenue as much as they can. But it’s disappointing that we only received notice of this closure only a few days ago.

“The decision was a complete U-turn from their side as he had already submitted our calendar plans to the Eden Leisure Group and had received the green light from them that the new season could start as from January 8.

“Then I was contacted by Simon Decesare a few days ago when I was informed of the new development that the facility will be closed for a minimum of five months which means that we will have no facilities until at least the end of May and that left us in a very difficult situation.”

Mifsud said that his biggest disappointment was the fact that the government has ignored the governing body’s proposals to have a new bowling alley built so that it can host the association’s competitions.

“In October I sent proposals to the government to build a new bowling alley. It consisted of a 12-lane bowling alley that would cater to our needs,” Mifsud said.

“I tabled the proposals to the Minister for Sport and also involved SportMalta in it. But, unfortunately, we didn’t receive any form of feedback and our proposals were completely ignored.

“Once the new facility at the Eden Superbowl is ready, I sense that it would cater more to the needs of the general public rather than the tenpin bowlers as the aim of the facility is to provide entertainment. Looking at the plans in place, we will have fewer lanes available for us and that will leave us in a difficult situation.”

The Malta Tenpin Bowling Association president said that the effects of being without a facility for the next five months are set to be catastrophic for the sport.

“The effects of this five-month cooling off period for our sport is sure to leave a lot of repercussions,” Mifsud said.

“We had new teams who were preparing to take part in our competitions this year that might back out now while new bowlers who were interested to start practise the sport might look elsewhere. Added it to that, there is big problem for those young bowlers who attend the National Sports School who will have no venue where to train for the next five months.

“Added to that we have several international competitions coming up in 2024 such as the European Championship as well as the Mediterranean Games and we don’t have a facility where we can hold the qualifying tournaments for these events.

“We have eight young bowlers who are scheduled to take part in the European Youth Championships that will be held in Helsinki and now they have no facility to train before this important competition.

“The only other bowling alley available in Malta is the one at the Sea Bank Hotel, which is far smaller, and I am planning to at least try and book four lanes for the next few months so they can at least can have the opportunity to train.

“But we are facing a very difficult situation and we need some help from the authorities.”