Hungarian Stars Visit

New Zealand had already entertained one former World Champion (Fred Perry, in 1933), when the news broke that Hungarian star Miklos Szabados would be touring Australia in early September with compatriot Istvan Kelen. What an opportunity! Szabados had won the world singles title in 1931 and had partnered the world’s greatest player Viktor Barna to six world doubles championships, the last as recently as 1935. And Kelen and Szabados had each won the world mixed doubles twice. They had a reputation as great ambassadors for their country and for playing a stunning exhibition match.

By June plans for the Australian tour were complete and both had entered the Australian Championships. The cost of bringing them on to New Zealand was considerable. By far the wealthiest district Association was Wellington and at their June meeting they considered volunteering to finance and co-ordinate a tour themselves on behalf of the national body. The Evening Post newspaper was present at the meeting and in their 12 June issue wrote: “The visit of Perry and Wilde in 1933 will long be remembered as one of the outstanding events of New Zealand Table Tennis and another such visit at the present time of players such as Szabados would be of inestimable value to the sport in this country. It is only by competition with the world’s best players that local men can attain to the highest ranks, and any immediate financial loss that might be sustained would be more than compensated for in the added public interest and improved standard of play that must result. The (Wellington)Association would be well advised to spare no effort to establish contact with Szabados and Kelen before they leave for Australia.”

Wellington showed little hesitation in deciding to make arrangements for a tour and liaised with Australia and a representative in England to finalise the details. As the world class stars moved through Australia in early September, indications were exceedingly promising for a successful tour here. The 1,200 seat venue booked for the Melbourne event sold out, incredibly, in just one hour. When it was moved to the much larger Wirths Olympia (5,000 seats), that too was filled to capacity with hundreds turned away.

As their arrival in New Zealand drew near Miss P Hodgkinson (England No 9) was visiting Wellington. She had first-hand experience of the two Hungarians and described Szabados as a consistent player with a terrific forehand drive and a great defence, and left-handed Kelen as agile, strong on both wings and favouring a lethal backhand flick.

On September 13 the visitors were welcomed by Internal Affairs Minister Mr WE Parry. “I welcome you to NZ on behalf of the Government as the representatives in sport of a country for which we have the greatest respect and reverence,” said Mr Parry, beginning with due formality but later reverting to a more typically Kiwi style. He referred to the guests as Mike and Steve and continued: “I have had many pleasant and profitable evenings playing table tennis though, as you might assume, I am not a great player.” Demonstrating the depth of his interest Mr Parry traced the history and present-day status of the sport in New Zealand. He also acknowledged that Hungary had a fine record at world level and had been the first country to introduce rubber covering on the bat.

The first contest was a sell-out in Dunedin. There were matches against local players and the visitors then presented their much-heralded exhibition. Unlike many to come in future years, this was best of five; went the full five games, and lasted 35 minutes. The “Freelance” reported “…time and again Szabados was driven back by Kelen’s devastating backhand flick shots which leaped off the table travelling at great speed. Szabados however countered these shots brilliantly, frequently striking the ball when it was inches from the floor and placing it just over the net on his opponent’s side.”

There was plenty more of this wherever they went and by the end of the tour in early October the sport had been given a tremendous publicity boost.

There would be an even greater spectacle, and an even more famous visitor, in 1938.

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Publicity Coup Secured by Future NZ Secretary

In early September, just before the Hungarian players arrived and as part of the massive publicity given to the up-coming visit, Otago Secretary Norm Ballinger wrote a 2,000 word article entitled “Table Tennis – Its Origin and Growth”. It was not only published in full by Dunedin’s Evening Star Sports Edition but the full text was read as a radio broadcast by Norm Ballinger himself. A full transcript of the material has been preserved in NZTTA records.

All aspects of the sport were covered: its humble origins as an English parlour game, its dramatic growth in the early 20th century, its lull during the first world war and resurgence in the 1920s. There was a whole segment on the development of playing equipment, another on the sport in Hungary (winner of eight of the first nine world team championships) and a large portion devoted to the history and status of the sport in New Zealand and in Otago. It was a remarkable piece of writing.

1937 was Norm Ballinger’s last season in Otago and after moving to Wellington he was destined to serve nine years as NZ Secretary / Treasurer from 1940 and a further 13 years as Treasurer.

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North and South Island Championships Introduced

With New Zealand officials now travelling the country to promote the sport, set up new Associations and encourage existing table tennis organisations to affiliate to the national body, registered player numbers had increased to the point where separate North and South Island Championships were viable. Both were introduced in July and well supported. Otago hosted the inaugural South Island Championships and drew an unexpectedly high entry of 114.

The men’s singles winner was 18 year old G Laidlaw and the women’s M Bennett. The first North Islands were in Auckland with J Swift (pictured)  and A Wilkinson winning the singles. Swift beat the 1936 and 1937 NZ Champion, K Cantlay, in the final. Miss Wilkinson went on to win the NZ singles title.

The annual end of season New Zealand Championships were again conducted in Wellington.

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Net Lowered

A change in the international rules required the net to be lowered from 6¾ inches to 6 inches. The higher net had always made attacking shots difficult and consequently a problem with “pushing play” had arisen. Even the world championships once witnessed a rally lasting two hours.

The change was far from successful. Pushing play continued despite time limits being imposed and, decades later, the expedite rule enacted (1962). The lower net brought out a whole army of hard hitters and caused a temporary demise of the tactical player. In earlier years one of the delights for spectators was to watch delicate use of placement and spin gradually lead to an opening for a kill shot. The hard hitters, many of them American, were now putting the ball past even the best defensive players and this led to fewer long rallies pitting attacker against defender – another feature popular with spectators. These lost aspects of the game were gradually restored but a new era had begun.

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Development in Provincial Centres Continues

Rapid development of the sport in provincial centres was ongoing. As an example, after just one meeting in Timaru the South Canterbury Association was formed and affiliated to the national body. Eleven clubs participated in the first year’s competition and four new ones were added in 1938.

Meanwhile, one of NZTTA’s foundation members, Wellington, implemented the novel idea of inviting principals of all local high schools to become Vice-Presidents of the Wellington Association conditional on their undertaking to promote the game in their schools. Four principals were quick to accept the invitation.

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Australian Team Visit Discussed

It was only an idea and the discussion was largely limited to the committee room. It came to nothing and for a variety of reasons the table tennis version of trans-Tasman rivalry was exceedingly slow off the mark. New Zealand men were in Australia in 1939 but played no test matches. The two countries met at the World Championships in 1954 but it was not until 1960 (23 years after the initial proposal) that a team of Australian men toured New Zealand and even longer (1969) before a team that included women arrived.

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Trophies for Champion District Associations Presented

An offer to present the trophy destined to become one of the ultimate prizes for Association supremacy was made by a man who took a great interest in table tennis generally, Fred Kean of Wellington. NZTTA accepted the offer immediately but for reasons unknown the matter was put on hold until 1940 when Mr Kean was asked if the offer still stood. It did and the trophy, the Kean Challenge Shield, was duly donated. It was first presented that year with Wellington the inaugural winners, having won both the men’s and women’s inter-Association championship. The shield was then presented annually and eventually (in 1947) the Herbert G Teagle Memorial Shield was donated for presentation to the champion women’s team. Mr Teagle was a Lower Hutt resident and served two terms as NZTTA President. By a tragic co-incidence, Mr Teagle and Mr Kean both died in 1947.

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NZ Joins International Body

NZTTA applied for membership of the International Table Tennis Federation this year. Making such an application was one of the conditions before permission could be granted for the visit by the Hungarian players.

Acceptance was confirmed in a letter from the ITTF dated 14 April 1938.

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