Postwar Surge

With the war over, Table Tennis began a six-year surge in popularity that would never again be matched in the first 75 years of NZTTA’s existence. Interclub team numbers alone rose to 710 – up from 503 in 1945 and already exceeding the pre-war peak of 690. It would rise steeply every year for the next five years, reaching 1,760 four-player teams in 1951. The numbers fluctuated slightly thereafter and an all-time record of 2,169 teams was attained in 1957.

By now table tennis was being played in so many work places (especially within the Public Service) that separate business house and Government competitions were also being organised. Some teams in these competitions did not play in the association interclub so the true participation figures were even higher than official records. Table Tennis was recognised as the country’s most popular indoor sport.

The surge was partly due to general postwar euphoria which benefited all sports but another factor was an ambitious promotional programme undertaken by the national association. The entire country was divided into 25 districts and five separate road trips were undertaken to promote table tennis. The ultimate aim was to have an Association established in all 25 districts. Each of the five travelling parties consisted of two strong players and one official. The players (all based in or around Wellington) would give exhibitions to entertain and attract publicity while the officials would investigate the existing level of organised play. They would then encourage groups of players (clubs, business houses, church and social groups, schools, etc) to form Associations and affiliate to the national body. They paraded the benefits of affiliation as broader contacts with other players, representative opportunities, more competition and better coaching.

The travelling officials were Vern Mitchell, Perce Dudley, Ben Pegler, Stan Robson and Norm Ballinger. The exhibition players were Eric Boniface, Bill Raven, George Corbett, Laurie Howe, Max Gosling, John Crossley, Dick Gray, George Smith, Cyril Wesley and Steve Henderson. Centres visited were Hamilton, Te Kuiti, Morrinsville, Matamata, Utiku, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Gisborne, Wairoa, Hastings, Napier, New Plymouth, Stratford, Hawera, Wanganui, Dannevirke, Feilding, Marton, Palmerston North, Pahiatua, Masterton, Carterton, Nelson, Westport, Hokitika and Christchurch. 4,655 people attended the exhibitions in total, averaging 179 for each. The rapid growth of interclub participation is testament to the success of the venture.

Looking Further Ahead

Even as the number of people playing table tennis soared, officials recognised that the job was only half done. Many of the centres visited did not have adequate facilities or administrators to cope with rapid expansion. And the standard of play was not high. It was seen as a fun activity with a largely social element. NZTTA’s next major objective was to raise the standard - by appointing and training coaches, promoting inter-school competition, encouraging more inter-Association matches, enticing more players to take part in major championships and sending our top players overseas for international experience. These programmes were implemented in future years with enthusiasm. It was a time of unlimited optimism.

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Revivals, Affiliations and Innovations

The North Island Championships were revived this year as were open championships in Taranaki, Manawatu, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa. Three new Associations affiliated: Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Nelson. Bush, East Waikato and Thames Valley would follow in 1947.

Introduced for the first time were top ten ranking lists; a North v South Island contest and a national club team championship.

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North Wins First Inter-Island Contest

A North Island v South Island contest was introduced this year and became a tradition destined to last fifty years, with one short interruption in the 1950s.

In a demonstration of male chauvinism typical of the times, officials confined the event to men only. The women had to wait until 1956 for the first dual-gender contest although, by default, they played a one-off in 1955 in place of a cancelled men’s contest.

The fixture would eventually become the opening attraction at the NZ Championships. But in 1946 it was held in a different city (Lower Hutt) two days after the completion of the NZ Championships in Auckland.

Spectators were charged for admission and the event was well supported. “Thrilling table tennis was witnessed,” wrote the Sports Post. The standard was undoubtedly high and the contest exciting with the result in doubt until the last match. A disappointment was that it did not feature a singles between the top two players in the country: Ken Cantlay and Russell Algie. In a puzzling selection decision Ken Cantlay was omitted from the North Island team, named three weeks before the event. Cantlay had not played at top level between 1940 and 1945 and when the team was picked his unbeaten run at the 1946 NZ Championships still lay in the future. But he had been NZ champion twice and had won the 1946 Auckland title so surely should have been selected at least ahead of Hutt Valley’s Cyril Wesley, the North’s fourth player after Eric Boniface, Owen Jaine and Laurie Wilson.

Had Cantlay been selected he would still not have met Algie. The Otago-based NZ titleholder had been, not surprisingly, selected for the South Island - along with Bill Fogarty, Neville Brown and Jack Borough. But at a late stage he was unable to play and was replaced by South Canterbury’s Sid Bremford. (pictured)

On paper the North looked the superior team and they raced to a 4-0 lead. But the South won five of the next seven matches to close the gap to 5-6. A win to the South in the final doubles would have won the contest for them in a count-back. But Boniface and Wilson comfortably defeated Bremford and Brown to secure the 7-5 win for the North. Eight of the twelve matches had gone to three games.

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National Club Team Competition

Another postwar idea was the introduction of a nationwide competition for the best club team. The suggestion came from Otago and it looked an exciting concept. With 710 interclub teams representing 296 clubs throughout the country a flood of entries was thought a distinct possibility.

In fact, a mere six teams had entered by the September closing date. Realistically, no more than about 20 should have been expected as each of the 18 affiliated Associations had conducted its own interclub and only the winning teams plus a few close runners-up would have committed to the cost of travelling to a central venue for the national event.

The clubs to enter were Durie Hill (Wanganui), West End (Taranaki), Empire (Hutt Valley), North Beach (Canterbury), St. Patrick’s (South Canterbury) and YMCA (Otago). The YMCA team included brothers Russell and Afton Algie.

A play-off was conducted to establish a North and a South Island champion. West End beat Durie Hill 9-2 but then lost to Empire 1-11. St Patrick’s beat North Beach 7-5 and lost to YMCA 4-8. The final between Empire and YMCA was played in front of a good crowd at the Wellington Sports Centre on 28 September. It was a gripping contest with YMCA the warm favourites although Empire had the current Wellington champion Harold Chapman; Jack Wall, who had taken a game off Bill Fogarty at the 1945 NZ Championships; Alf Harding, the wily pen-gripper who had triumphed in a wartime Pacific tournament; and Steve Henderson, a steady defensive player. But even this solid line-up was always going to struggle against a team containing the Algie brothers, who had five NZ titles between them.

YMCA won the first three singles putting Empire on the back foot. But then Chapman won the fourth and Empire asserted its strength in the doubles, winning two of the first three. The Algies swung the contest back to YMCA and Don Miller beat Steve Henderson to give the southern team a 6-5 lead going into the final doubles. It was between the Algie brothers and the Empire combination of Jack Wall and Alf Harding. The Algies (former NZ doubles champions) were obvious favourites but in the upset of the night Wall and Harding won 25-23, 21-15. The 6-6 deadlock was broken by a count-back in games which revealed a 14-12 tally favouring Empire. Many individual games had been close but the deciding factor was Alf Harding and Steve Henderson both winning one game against Afton Algie in their singles loss to him. All the other matches were won two straight by one club or the other.

Empire team - Winners
L/R: Steve Henderson, Alf Harding, Jack Wall, Harold Chapman

Competition Short-Lived

The national club team competition was not played in 1947 and a 1948 AGM decision called for the event to be discontinued altogether, mainly due to the cost. It would be revived in 1973 for several years, backed by commercial sponsorship.

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NZ Championships: Ken Cantlay’s Comeback

Men’s title-holder Russell Algie chose not to travel from Dunedin to the Auckland-hosted 1946 NZ Championships. This gave 1936/37 champion Ken Cantlay an ideal opportunity to prove the selector had been wrong in omitting him from the North Island team. Although he hadn’t played in the NZ Championships since losing the 1938 final to Harry Boys, he had won the 1946 Auckland Championships and was playing well.

Unseeded, his bid to assert himself began strongly with a three-straight win over the tall, hard-hitting left-hander John Crossley. This brought him into a seeded quarter of the draw and another three-straight win over junior giant-killer Albert Kwok took him into the semi-finals. Here he faced fellow 1939 NZ representative and top seed Eric Boniface. He won 21-7, 21-16, 24-22. The final was between Cantlay and the 1945 bridesmaid George Corbett. This time Cantlay was finally stretched to four games – winning 16-21, 21-12, 21-15, 21-19. He had proved his point. He also won the doubles with 1934 champion Errol Cheal. In the mixed doubles he and Miss D Rae almost beat the top seeds Laurie Howe and Margaret Haynes. He won both his singles in the teams final between Auckland and Wellington. He had an excellent tournament and the question on all minds was, could he also have beaten Algie if he’d been there? (A later article examines this.)

Second Time Lucky for Joyce Strange

After being deprived of the women’s singles title in 1945 by the narrowest of margins (at the hands of unseeded Marie Tracey), the prim and stylish Auckland star Joyce Strange stamped her authority on the event this year. After dropping one game to Taranaki’s Mrs L Thomas in the first round of the singles, she won every match thereafter two straight – beating Margaret Haynes in the final. The two finalists also overcame a small field to win the doubles together. Miss Strange was top seed in the mixed doubles partnered by fellow-Aucklander Owen Jaine but the pair surprisingly fell to the Wellington / Hutt Valley combination of Laurie Wilson and Margaret Guthrie in the quarter-finals 21-18, 14-21, 23-25. Max Gosling and Dawn Croxton won that event.

Another Junior Giant Killer

Emulating almost to the last detail the stunning performance of Canterbury’s Jack Borough at the 1945 championships, Otago’s Albert Kwok (16) topped off his easy win in the Under 18 boys singles with a brace of upsets in the men’s singles. Playing in his first nationals and only his third season, he beat men’s and mixed doubles finalist Laurie Howe in the first round and then scored a five-game win over Max Gosling – mixed doubles winner and former NZ representative. Kwok’s dream run came to an abrupt end when he faced Ken Cantlay in the quarter-finals.

He would retain the junior title in 1947 and both he and Jack Borough went on to become highly respected senior players. Borough did not compete in this year’s NZ Championships.

The 1946 annual report noted that the pattern of play at the nationals was noticeably different from previous years. There was a greater variety of styles and more tactical play. In the past most players had relied either entirely on attack or entirely on defence.

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Auckland Stumbles as Host of Teams Events

Auckland had first hosted the NZ Championships in 1938. This year’s event was only their second, and their first involving inter-Association teams events (they were introduced in 1940). While the individual events ran relatively smoothly, the team events preceding them were conducted at several different venues and were plagued with problems. Player accommodation arrangements, lack of punctuality by Auckland players, minimal space behind tables, light entering through windows not blacked out, some nets and tables in a bad state of repair, a slippery floor and inadequate publicity were all on the list of concerns reported back to NZTTA.

Only teams from Auckland, Rotorua, Hutt Valley, Wellington and Otago participated – a disappointment considering that 18 Associations were now affiliated. There were absolutely no complaints over the standard of play - particularly the men’s final between Auckland and Wellington. Wellington emerged the winner of both the men’s and women’s sections and therefore reclaimed the Kean Challenge Shield which they had lost in 1945 to Auckland.

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First Ranking List Published

As early as 1939 an unofficial “ladder” was maintained by an NZTTA representative who travelled, visited tournaments and noted results. A snapshot of the list was published in August that year, with Harry Boys, Russell Algie, Ken Cantlay, Evan Hughes and Eric Boniface occupying the first five positions. The list was updated as new results were reported so was constantly mobile. No women’s list was maintained.

It was the 1946 AGM that decided the time had come to appoint a rankings committee and charge them with the unenviable task of drawing up a list of the top ten male and top ten female players at the end of each season. It was never going to be a popular job. Tournament seedings were difficult enough but seedings are quickly forgotten once actual results enter the records. Rankings are locked into history for ever.

The sub-committee was Keith Longmore, Vern Mitchell and Stan Robson. Their recommended rankings would be subject to approval by the full executive before being published. The inaugural rankings are listed elsewhere on this page and will be similarly displayed each year hereafter. They inevitably triggered a wave of protest, comment and general controversy.

Leading the charge was a Southern Cross reader who, under the cloak of a pseudonym “Puzzled”, scathingly criticised the low ranking of George Corbett in a letter to the editor. “Now, sir, can you or your readers explain the reasoning or method by which the ranking was arrived at which places Corbett No 9? Had he won the NZ title (he was runner-up), I take it he would have been No 1.” The writer of the letter then proceeded to enumerate Corbett’s achievements, including five appearances in NZ finals over the last two years and two Hutt Valley titles.

Another newspaper article examined and analysed every ranked player. The author expressed doubt over the allocation of places 5,6,7,9 and 10 in the men’s list and listed the names of Gosling, Crossley, Wesley, Wall and Cheal as players whose performances could rightfully have justified a ranking. Similarly, several positions on the women’s list were challenged as either too high or too low although the top two (Joyce Strange and Margaret Haynes) were both given a rare tick. Audrey Hughes and Nora Roys were considered unlucky to miss out.

Ultimately, it has to be acknowledged that the ranking committee has access to all the relevant information, is able to deliberate as a group and is better placed to make fair overall judgments than any comfortable, and not always objective, armchair critics.

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Who’s Best? Algie or Cantlay?

The 1946 rankings placed Ken Cantlay above Russell Algie and there was little or no controversy over this. But although Algie was destined to go down in history as one of the greats of the game and Cantlay to be quickly forgotten, in 1946 the question was, who will win when they eventually play each other? Or, more pertinent, will they ever play each other?

Since Algie burst into prominence in 1939 he and Cantlay had engaged in an apparent (though not real) game of cat and mouse. Cantlay had already won the NZ singles in 1936 and 1937. Algie won in 1939 and 1940 but Cantlay did not compete in either year. He did not compete in 1945 either when Algie won his third title. Cantlay won his third title in Auckland in 1946, but this time Algie didn’t compete – playing only the Otago championships and the national club team tournament that year. Neither played in the 1946 North v South contest.

It is likely the two met each other in the trials for the team to travel to Australia in 1939. Records are incomplete but it was widely reported that Algie, the dark horse at the trials, beat Gosling and Hughes so it can be assumed that either he didn’t play Cantlay, or, if he did, Cantlay won.

But what is quite definite is that, since 1939, the two have never met.

And it was to continue that way for a further three years. Cantlay did not enter the NZ Championships in 1947 or 1948. In 1949 both players competed and were both in the same half of the draw, with title-holder Bill Fogarty top seed and Algie second. Cantlay was unseeded and would have to get past Frank Paton to meet Algie in the semi-final. But he lost his first match to John Stewart. Algie won the title.

The two finally met in an Auckland competition in 1949. It would have been billed as the match of the decade in the mid-1940s but in 1949 was an anticlimax. Algie won 21-7, 21-10.

By now people were asking, who would have won if the two giants had met while both were at their peak? It was never answered. They were recording similar results against other players and picking one or the other to win in a 1946/47 encounter would have been a dangerous gamble.

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Excitement in Palmerston North as North Island Championships Revived

As hosts of the first North Island Championships since 1940, the Manawatu Association threw everything into making the tournament a success and obtaining maximum publicity.

It was indeed a success and the volume of press coverage was remarkable – large feature articles were published well beyond Palmerston North with extensive columns of match descriptions and results. In a field largely confined to players from the lower North Island, prewar NZ champion Pat Valk disposed of the top two seeds in the women’s singles in fine style and could well have been a major threat had she entered the NZ Championships. Valk beat May Wareham 21-10, 25-23 in the semi-finals and Margaret Haynes 21-14, 21-17 in the final. The men’s singles was won by rock-steady defender Evan Hughes whose success surprised even himself. He acknowledged in a press interview that he had not been playing much lately and only entered to meet up with old prewar friends (he had won the championship in 1938). His road to the title included five game cliff-hangers against Max Gosling and Bill Raven and a spectacular four game final against Eric Boniface. The wartime title-holder Frank Paton, who won in 1940, participated but was narrowly beaten by John Crossley in the quarter-finals. Crossley then lost to Boniface.

The South Island Championships were hosted by South Canterbury and were well supported by players from Canterbury southwards. Bill Fogarty and Valerie Townsend (17) were the singles winners.

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Another War Legacy – Laurie Sweetman Memorial Shield

Prior to the hosting of the North Island Championships the Manawatu Association announced they were donating a shield for competition among the lower North Island Associations as a memorial to prominent Manawatu player and administrator Laurie Sweetman who had died on active war service.

In due course teams from Manawatu, Wanganui, Hawke’s Bay, North Taranaki, South Taranaki, and Wairarapa would all compete for the Laurie Sweetman Memorial Shield.

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Ball Shortage All But Resolved

A ship carrying three hundred gross of table tennis balls was a welcome sight on the horizon. And a further two hundred gross were on the way. This virtually resolved the shortage which had plagued the sport since the outbreak of war in 1939.

Supplies of the elite ball of the day, the Villa XX, were reserved for the major national championships and still had to be carefully managed.

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