Superstar Visits New Zealand

Five times World Champion Viktor Barna spent 24 days in New Zealand in 1938.

Gyozo Viktor Barna, known to all as Viktor or Victor, was table tennis’s first world superstar. Born in 1911 during a lull in the sport’s popularity he first held a bat just as the game was rocketing back into favour in the 1920s. He played “day and night” with friends in his home city of Budapest which was brimming with clubs as table tennis in Hungary was now rivaling football in popularity. He played his first tournament in 1925, finishing third in a junior event. His prize was a small bronze plaque which he kept throughout his life. More than 2,000 further prizes would follow.

In 1927 he became national junior champion, beating Miklos Szabados in the final. By then the profile of table tennis in Hungary had risen even higher - only a few months earlier the national team had competed in the first World Championships in London and won every title: teams, singles (Roland Jacobi and Maria Mednyanszki) and doubles.

Viktor Barna became world men’s singles champion in 1930 while still aged only 19. He went on to win on four more occasions and also won nine world doubles titles.

The most common expressions heard when attempts are made to describe Barna’s game and demeanour are “graceful” and “dignified”. He had an impeccable defence and an irretrievable backhand flick. As the world-wide popularity of table tennis soared Barna’s name became legendary.

A turning point in his life occurred in 1935. Just weeks after winning the world singles for what turned out to be the last time he was involved in a motor accident in France. His only injury was a broken arm but complications set in and after surgery he knew his game would never be the same again. A new era was dawning anyway and the game was changing. The net had been lowered and a harder-hitting but less tactical style was developing. But his career didn’t end – merely changed direction. While continuing to play for his country and compete at the World Championships he focused more on touring and giving exhibitions with a playing partner (mostly fellow-Hungarian Laszlo Bellak) and his world-wide fame reached even greater heights. His visit to New Zealand in 1938 was one of many overseas trips and he would come again in 1949 with a new exhibition partner (Richard Bergmann). After the war he settled in London and became involved with the development and marketing of Dunlop Sports equipment – giving his name yet another lease of life as a reliable endorsement and brand. He also continued to tour the world giving exhibitions. He visited New Zealand one more time as a businessman in 1969. In 1972 he suffered a heart attack and died at the tragically young age of 61 while on a business trip to Peru.

When he came here in 1938 his world-wide fame was at its height.

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Barna’s Touring Partner: Laszlo Bellak

In total contrast to Viktor Barna, the name Laszlo Bellak was comparatively unknown until he began touring with Barna. And yet he was an extraordinarily good player. He was an exact contemporary of Viktor Barna, born in the same area in the same year (1911) and they were childhood friends. It was Bellak who diverted Barna’s attention away from football, for which he was showing considerable talent, and towards table tennis when the 13 year old Bellak received set of table tennis equipment for his birthday. The two friends began playing together endlessly, both showed enormous talent, both eventually represented Hungary and the crowning event was when they faced each other in the 1930 world singles final. Bellak was regarded as the best player to never win the world singles title. He was in the gold-medal winning Hungarian team six times, had reached the singles final in 1928 where he held three match points before losing to compatriot Zoltan Mechlovits, and he reached the final again in 1934, losing to Barna. He did win the world mixed doubles in 1938 (paired with an English woman he had never played with before) and thus toured this country as a reigning world champion. But he will always be best remembered as Barna’s early touring and exhibition partner. It was in this role that his extraordinary talent for trick shots was perfected and he exploited it to the full, much to the delight of audiences world-wide. Even during his peak playing years his acrobatic antics earned him the title of “Clown Prince of Table Tennis”.

He moved to the United States prior to the war and was still winning national titles there in 1941.

At the age of 84 he wrote a book entitled “Table Tennis – How a New Sport Was Born” – with the subtitle: “The History of the Hungarian Team Winning 73 Gold Medals”.

He finally passed away in 2006, aged 95.

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Tour by Hungarian Pair Delights New Zealanders

The visit by Szabados and Kelen in 1937 had sent interest in table tennis surging to unprecedented levels in New Zealand. It had been building anyway, just as it had been world-wide. The public support for their appearances left organisers in no doubt that a return visit in 1938 would be a guaranteed success. But when it was discovered that Viktor Barna would be touring internationally with Laszlo Bellak and that both had entered the 1938 Australian championships, all thoughts of Szabados, Kelen, or anybody else were forgotten and replaced with “Get Barna and Bellak, whatever it takes!”

Arrangements were relatively straightforward given the experience gained and contacts established with the 1937 tour. Unlike last year when control was delegated to the Wellington Association, this time the national body held the reins.

The visit lasted from July 8 to August 1. As the arrival date drew near two questions were uppermost in the minds of NZ table tennis fans: could the exhibition matches get any better than those played by Szabados and Kelen; and which New Zealanders would get to play against the visitors in the test matches.

The latter question was of particular interest. No tests had been played against Szabados and Kelen and the up-coming contests with Barna and Bellak would be the first opportunity for New Zealand players to represent their country. A central figure was Arthur Meachen, appointed by the NZTTA executive as Sole Selector. Meachen therefore became the first of a long succession of officials charged with the always controversial task of selecting players to represent New Zealand. He was well-suited for the role: experience as Wellington selector, having travelled with Szabados and Kelen through the South Island in 1937 and watched the local talent performing against them, and having attended the early North Island matches against Barna and Bellak. Nonetheless, he acknowledged publicly that the selections would be difficult, especially for the doubles.

His final choice for the two tests was to play Eric Boniface and Ken Cantlay in the singles and the pairings of Boniface / Max Gosling and Cantlay / Harry Boys in the doubles. Some respectable scores were recorded and sensationally Eric Boniface won a game against Barna to inflict the only blemish on the great man’s entire Australia/New Zealand tour. But in general the New Zealand players were outclassed. In the Otago contest, played on 19 July in a packed Dunedin Town Hall, two young local players faced the challenge of a singles against Viktor Barna. One was the youngest in the team, 15 year old Morris Friend (pictured). He was Otago’s most promising talent and had won the South Island junior singles in 1937 but this was a baptism of fire. He managed only 7 points in each game but could proudly claim that he had been selected to face a five times world champion when only 15 years old. He went on to become New Zealand junior champion in 1940.

Also dealing with Barna was a certain 17 year old named Russell Algie. Until the previous year he had been practically unknown but since collecting the 1937 Otago and Southland open singles titles at the age of 16 was now regarded as one of Otago’s best. His scores against Barna were a modest 6 and 10 but at the end of the tour the legendary star singled him out as the young player with the most potential in all Australasia.

The tour was tremendously well supported by the general public and a great success by any measure. As expected, the exhibition singles was always the highlight and extra value was added by the comedic antics of Laszlo Bellak. Juggling bat and ball, racing round the table playing against himself, and imparting enough backspin on the ball to bring it back to his end without any need for an opponent were all part of his well-practised routine. Needless to say, his acrobatic rallies with Barna were even more entertaining.

Twelve centres were visited by the tourists, with sightseeing (including the famous “Waimungu Round Trip” in Rotorua) incorporated into the itinerary.

For the second year in a row, table tennis in this country was given a huge boost thanks to the generosity and talents of players from the top table tennis nation in the world: Hungary.

L/R: Harry Boys, Laszlo Bellak (Hungary),
Viktor Barna (Hungary), Ken Cantlay

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Auckland Continues to Dominate at New Zealand Championships

After Wellington had hosted the NZ Championships for the first four years, in 1938 it was finally Auckland’s turn. Their male players responded superbly to home crowd support and filled all four semi-final spots. Aucklander Miss A Wilkinson also reached the women’s final, losing there to Miss L Hughes of Manawatu.

It was a good performance by the four men. They had to contend with two strong Wellington challengers, Eric Boniface and Max Gosling, both of whom played for New Zealand against the Hungarian tourists. Harry Boys never looked like losing to the more fancied Boniface in the quarter-finals and the 1935 champion Frank Paton put an end to Max Gosling’s chances in the same round. Ken Cantlay and Errol Cheal, both also former champions, were the other two semi-finalists. The final, between Cantlay and Boys, was won in scintillating style by Boys who hit right through the more tactical and more stylish 1936 and 1937 champion. It was a spectacular match.

Boys became the fourth men’s champion in the fledgling national association’s first five years of existence, following Cheal, Paton and Cantlay (twice champion). Miss Hughes was also the fourth champion, preceded by Misses Masters, Dove (twice champion) and Wilkinson.

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Table Tennis Attains Vice-Regal Status

The tradition of electing the incumbent Governor-General to the honorary position of Patron began this year and continued unbroken until the position was discontinued in a major administrative restructure in 1996. Governor-General Viscount Galway was elected Patron at the AGM and was placed in a titular position above the President in the list of NZTTA Officers.

The move was prompted by the election of King George VI as Patron of the English Association so it was logical to elect his representative in this country to a similar position here. It had also been reported that the King spent an hour every day playing table tennis as part of his programme to maintain physical fitness. Whether or not Viscount Galway or any of his successors followed the King’s example is unknown.

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President Visits ITTF

With New Zealand now affiliated to the International Table Tennis Federation, our President (Malcolm Fraser) took the opportunity to pay a visit to Federation headquarters in England while there on a business trip. Among the topics discussed were the rapid growth of the sport in New Zealand and world-wide; and also the problem of what was then termed “chiseling play” – overlong rallies when both players played for safety and avoided attacking strokes. It was a problem that never really went away, despite a succession of rule changes over the years attempting to address it.

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Four More Associations Affiliate: Total Now 15

With the affiliation of Hamilton, Taranaki, Marlborough, Canterbury and Mid-Canterbury the total membership of the national association rose to fifteen. The full list (alphabetically) is: Auckland, Canterbury, Hamilton, Hutt Valley, Manawatu, Marlborough, Mid-Canterbury, Taranaki, Otago, South Canterbury, Southland, Wairarapa, Wanganui, Wellington, West Coast.

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