Page 27 - Autumn 2019

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CIVIL WAR 27
CIVIL WAR
IN SWEDEN?
IN SWEDEN?
This is the subject of a number of emails
I had recently. Prior to the 2018 World
Championships, a club in Sweden was
banned along with all its members. As I
understand it, and at relatively short no-
tice, The Swedish Association appar-
ently declined to host the
Championships. Nevertheless, the World Council accepted that the officials of this banned
club had done a lot of work to organise the event in Sweden and the World Council backed
those banned officials and helped organise the event, and it went very well indeed.
This simmering row has now been going on for some time and is still continuing. Apparently,
a second Swedish Association has now been set up and I have been informed that they have
applied to the World Secretary to join the sport representing Sweden. If this has been done
then the matter should be sorted out at the next council meeting, one-way or the other. In the
early days, similar problems were experienced in England and Scotland.
The problem with disputes is often confused by people assuming that a legitimate act
and right/wrong are often rolled up as one but they are separate. In the Swedish problem one
group is claiming not to know why they have been banned. Provided the original Swedish As-
sociation did everything correctly with its ban with a full explanation then the legal side is cor-
rect, if their rules cover it.
If they did not give an explanation then the legitimacy must be in doubt and this surely
applies to all bans and disciplinary actions by us all. The other side of this is whether people
consider the rights and wrongs, which is outside the scope of legitimacy. Thus, the ban may
be technically right but we may not personally agree with it. Often with such problems very
few people know all the facts and may arrive at a conclusion based on half the story or perhaps
one person’s explanation of the “facts”. In the end I decided not to reproduce the emails as I
could not verify everything contained in it but it made interesting reading and illustrated an
open wound in Sweden, which may go legal..
As far as National Groups are concerned, there is already a precedent for one group to
replace another. It happened with Scotland when the original recognised Scottish group was
replaced by a second group. It was a long time ago and a long and difficult meeting I remember
but the Council came to a unanimous decision to recognise the second (new) Scottish group.
So why raise topic? I have been involved at various levels and sports for a lot of the last
60 years and I have seen very many disputes and I have been involved in a few. A clash of
ideas is nothing new but one feature I have seen over and over is the stubborn insistence by
some senior officials that everything must be done according to their ideas and nothing else
will do. This especially seems to happen to some chairmen, who can become dictators. Sound
familiar? I use the Chairman term in its general terms and applies to ladies as well i.e. Madam
Chairman. I hate the term ”Chair”. No doubt the “gender free” freaks would disagree.
There are times of when things have to be driven to make them work at the start. I would
own up to doing this in the early years the ESMBA, although I was never the chairman. How-
ever, the problem arises when the drive becomes a dictatorship and some individuals simply
never let go and this has often ended in metaphorical tears as they are forced out of office.
I wonder whether the Swedish problem has fallen under the same effect, just a clash of
personalities by which the ordinary grass roots bowlers lose out? I certainly cannot publish all
I know but I do wonder. Looking at our politicians (god help us!), it seems to me that the same
jockeying for position and the personal individual ambitions of some people undo all the good
they seem to have done? There is very much more to say on this saga and it could get very
serious, unless the World Council faces up to it and does not dodge the problem!