Dubai Filipino Bowling Club traces its roots from the mid ‘80s original group of Filipino bowlers based at the 10-lane Dubai Bowling Centre on Airport Road and was among the pioneers of organized Filipino groups in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. The club was formally organized in 1992 on the principle of good governance, which, coupled with commitment to providing continuity to its members’ activities, built the organization’s stability and growth. DFBC spearheaded the formation of the United Filipino Bowlers – UAE in cooperation with other member clubs. Within two decades, it has laid claim to numerous bowling achievements locally and GCC-wide. It is the only member club of UFB-UAE to have won a championship grand slam of all Inter-Emirates Invitational Tournaments in one year.
It also takes pride in having captured the GCC-AFBT Women’s Team Championship 8 times in a row since the 1st GCC-AFBT it hosted in Dubai in 1998 among other individual Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals in the succeeding years. The jewels in its crown are the Philippine President’s Cups for the Championship victories in the Women’s and Men’s teams and doubles events during the 3rd Philippine Friendship Games also held in Dubai in 1999, a feat that was mirrored in the overall titles for both the men’s and women’s divisions in the 7th GCC All Filipino Bowling Tour held in Doha, Qatar in August 25-27, 2004. From then on, more laurels were reaped during the GCC-AFBT. DFBC won the overall championship title (combined men & women) 11 times including the last 8 consecutive GCC-AFBT (2009 to 2016) that were held in Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, on its home turf in Dubai and again last year in Qatar respectively.
As a natural progression, DFBC expanded its reach to world Filipino bowlers in 2014 by organizing the World Overseas Filipino Bowling Tour, a brainchild of Hashim Guinomla and Elsie Marcial. DFBC is blessed to have triumphed with flying colors in both men’s and women’s events to capture the Overall Championship from the 1st WOFBT 2014 in Dubai, 2nd WOFBT 2015 in Abu Dhabi, 3rd WOFBT 2016 in Rome, 4th WOFBT 2017 Athens, Greece and looks forward to the 5th WOFBT to be held in London, in August 2018.
The exemplary leadership of DFBC President Dante Herras during this last decade has always been the catalyst that propels the club and its members to aim for success as evidenced by its multiple victories in the GCC on a regional level and WOFBT on the world front.
The club, however, is not confined to playing the sport alone. Apart from its bowling achievements fulfilling its sports objectives, it has incorporated in its mission the act of giving to various charitable organizations in the Philippines for many years now, including “Bantay Bata” and Gawad Kalinga-777 among others. Similarly, the club has extended help to various distressed OFWs in the country and is always an active participant in various Filipino community activities under the auspices of the Philippine Embassy and the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai.
