British Tenpin Bowling Association

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Official BTBA logo

The British Tenpin Bowling Association (BTBA) is the official governing body of ten-pin bowling in the United Kingdom, of which the sport is sanctioned and governed by. The BTBA also produce the world renowned magazine, Go Tenpin.

The BTBA is devoted to the interest of the game itself and is a credit to bowling throughout the world and like the US equivalent it ensures the integrity and protection of the future of the sport, providing programs and services and enhancing the bowling experience. In its role as British governing body, the responsibilities of the BTBA include the Coach, Education and Qualification System.

The current chairman of the BTBA is Mrs Pat White.

1 History
2 Quality
3 Reference
4 External links

[edit] History

The BTBA was formed on 26 May 1961, since when it has stood the test of time with flying colours, having made a considerable impact on the Sport of Tenpin Bowling, not only in Britain, but World-wide. Prior to this time there were no rules, no guidelines to follow and as a result without schedules, average calculators, standing sheets, record cards etc. not only were there continual arguments but chaos reigned and, there was no recognition whatsoever.

One of the original founding members of the BTBA was Mrs. Doris 'Dolly' Hart, who died on March 8, 2006. Dolly was one of the enthusiastic newcomers to tenpin bowling when the first British centre opened at Stamford Hill, alongside Norman King and Maurice Glazer. The two principal American manufacturers of tenpin machinery - AMF and Brunswick - had expanded their operations to the UK when it became apparent that they had virtually saturated their home market in the USA at the end of the 1950's. The American Bowling Congress (ABC) took a close interest in this expansion, and actively helped British bowlers to set up their own governing body. Thus BTBA was set up under its first General Secretary, Maurice Glazer - then a professional photographer in Dalston, East London. His High Street shopfront became the first official residence of the British Tenpin Bowling Association. The rule-book was copied almost verbatim from the ABC original, and as their annual membership subscription was then One Dollar, we Brits followed suit with the sterling equivalent Five Shillings (25p). The ABC with about half-a-million members found this adequate remuneration, but of course this was lamentably insufficient to run the whole organisation for the few thousand British bowlers so far signed-up. Authority was delegated to local "Area Representatives" of varying quality, some of whom chose to take on the Bowling Centre proprietors head-on for their own personal reasons, and would for example insist upon a complete re-surfacing of the lanes with no obvious need. This was of course very costly, and the proprietors soon rebelled, setting up their own rival organisation, the TBPA, in 1967. An acrimonious Annual General Meeting of the BTBA at Wembley saw most of the governing council resign, leaving Maurice Glazer to regroup among loyal followers, and bring back all decisions to the BTBA head office. It nevertheless took several years to achieve a raprochement with the Proprietors. Maurice continued to follow his instincts in the best interest of British bowlers, became President of the world governing body (FIQ) and was later awarded an MBE of which he was very proud.

[edit] Quality

The term "BTBA Sanctioned" is like a guarantee on a product, reassuring the consumer of continued reliability and service. It indicates that the league conforms to rules and regulations etc., laid down by the BTBA in a pocket size rule book.