Gran Joyce banned in tenpin bowling ‘cheats’ mystery

A 77-year-old gran has been banned from playing tenpin bowls for four years after a row over alleged cheating.

Veteran bowler Joyce Hetherington and her son, Andy Gillespie, played in the Dunfermline Trios League last season. But a mystery complaint was lodged about their team to the Scottish Tenpin Bowling Association.

Officials at the sport’s governing body asked the pair to send in their score sheets. At first, Joyce and Andy, who’ve been bowling together for more than 40 years, refused to comply as they felt they weren’t given enough detail about the grievance. They argued that any allegation should have been dealt with by their local league committee first. But their stance led to them being suspended indefinitely on charges of bringing the game into disrepute.

Four months after the first request for the score sheets, Joyce and Andy backed down and sent them in. However, while their lifetime ban was lifted, it was replaced with a four-year suspension for taking too long. It means Andy can’t work as a coach or play in international matches until 2017.

Meanwhile, Joyce has been told she’s not allowed to take part in any competitive games under the STBA’s jurisdiction for the same period.

Joyce claimed: “We didn’t get a proper hearing. No-one seems to care. I’d say there’s been a bit of bad blood because other teams haven’t supported us. We’ve been left to fight on our own.”

Joyce and Andrew suspect another team accused them of cheating after a mix-up over a handicap that a rival team was given. However, the STBA insist the complaint against them did not refer to cheating but merely asked the association to investigate their team’s score sheets.

Joyce said: “We think a team complained to the association that we cheated. We didn’t”

The STBA claim Joyce and Andy referred their case to other governing bodies and all “found on the side of the STBA”. It also said it had explained the reasons for the suspension to the pair.

A spokesman said: “We have nothing to answer for.”

However, Joyce maintained that she and Andy have never had an appeal.

In handicap tenpin bowling leagues, the scores are a combination of the number of pins knocked down, plus the addition of a “handicap” value. A formula is used to determine each player’s handicap using their average scores. Handicaps are used to give teams with lower averages a chance to compete against better teams.

Each side in the Dunfermline Trios League had five members but only three could bowl on a particular night to allow the team to rotate. Each match consisted of three games with each game having 10 frames. Players’ handicaps fluctuated throughout the season depending on how well they played. Score sheets were printed out before each game, stating each player’s handicap. The scores sheets were then filled in with the scores from each game. These were then collected by the league secretary who updated the league positions each week.