Barna Returns – to a Gruelling Schedule

Eleven years and a World War had intervened since his last visit, but many New Zealand table tennis players, organisers and supporters who had met Viktor Barna on his memorable 1938 tour were again on hand to greet him as an old friend when he arrived for a return visit on 29 August, 1949.

But little did the five times world champion know what was in store as he steamed from England towards Australia and New Zealand aboard the Orcades, accompanied by his wife Suzy and current exhibition partner, 1948 world champion Richard Bergmann.

The two former champions were scheduled to make 24 evening appearances (including four tests) in 20 towns over 31 days. And needless to say, almost every day was to be spent either travelling, or attending press interviews, civic receptions and variety of other engagements. Barna only learned of the itinerary twelve days before his arrival and immediately protested and asked if it could be changed. NZTTA officials couldn’t oblige as the arrangements had been complex and any attempt to revise them would almost certainly result in chaos, not to mention major disappointment around the country.

So the tour went ahead as planned. The players were able to cope, limiting most of their exhibitions to a single game. To put the schedule in perspective, Barna’s 1938 tour with Laszlo Bellak (also deemed to be physically demanding) comprised 15 contests in 25 days. In Australia en route to New Zealand, Barna and Bergmann played only five centres in a tour lasting six weeks.

Rapturous Reception

But as the tour proceeded, audience responses to the exhibition matches made a far greater impact on the tourists than any feeling of weariness. In a weekly column for “Cavalcade” magazine on his return to England, Bergmann shared his more colourful memories. “Never in my life have I witnessed such wild scenes of enthusiasm,” he wrote, referring in particular to the Wanganui exhibition. “When I won the world championship at Wembley the stadium shook with the roar from some 15,000 lusty throats. But this was mild and well-mannered in comparison with the din of the Maoris in Wanganui, who clapped, laughed and cheered themselves almost into hysterics.”

The Wanganui experience was largely repeated elsewhere and the tour was an outstanding success, with good attendances and widespread publicity. In the opinion of at least one enthusiast writing to the Dominion, it surpassed all that had gone before. “The speed of play, the ball control, the footwork, the ability to turn defence into attack was a real education. There has never been a more thrilling demonstration of table tennis and that includes all previous visits from world-class players.”

This was probably correct. The earlier visitors (Perry, Szabados, Kelen and Bellak) were not quite in the same league. Barna (38) had by now amassed 15 years experience as a specialist exhibition player on top of his five years as world champion. Bergmann (29) had won the world singles in 1937 aged 17, won again in 1939 and 1948, and was poised to win yet again in a few months in 1950. He had been touring with Barna since 1940. When the two played each other it was pure top-level table tennis. They were stunningly good. Bergmann had a devastating forehand and amazing defence. Barna was the master tactician with a delicacy of touch and a repertoire of flashing drives. Both were acrobatic and many action photos show them in mid-air. They also had a seemingly limitless repertoire of trick shots.

Viktor Barna’s concluding words in a press interview given on the eve of their departure were music to the ears of overworked NZTTA and provincial association officials. “When I arrived,” he said, “I complained about the strenuous itinerary. But the receptions we received all over the country made the difficulty of the tour more than worth while.”

Even Ken Wilkinson, the newly elected NZTTA secretary responsible for the lion’s share of the administrative work, would probably have agreed.

---

Barna and Bergmann Challenge the Audience

Part of the concluding section of the night’s performance on the Barna / Bergmann circuit was an invitation for any member of the audience to come forward and play either Viktor Barna (with his bat behind his back), or Richard Bergmann (sitting on a chair), or both. The challenge was invariably taken up, often with young teenage boys to the fore. Barna would lead off and showed remarkable control reaching right around his body to play a shot while still facing the table, only occasionally having to turn sideways. He had the measure of his opponent in Wellington until Richard Bergmann, who was umpiring, whispered to the boy “Serve short!” This tied the normally graceful Barna into knots and he ended up sitting on the table, scooping furiously for the ball behind him. Come Bergmann’s turn, he appeared to dictate play to a remarkable degree from the comfort of his chair. It was noticed, however, that the distance between the chair and the table was inversely proportional to the skill of his opponent. He would quietly edge the chair forward if he felt a threat looming. The nearer his chair was to the table the further he would lean back, appearing relaxed but still seemingly able to cover the whole table with ease. There is no record of whether Barna whispered any advice to a struggling opponent but one suspects a short serve might again have been an effective tactic.

The two players concluded their novelty segment with a demonstration of trick shots, rounding out an entertaining finale to the evening.

---

Test Matches: NZ v England

The tourists won every match without dropping a game. Contests were played against sixteen provincial teams but it was the test matches in the four main centres that attracted the most publicity and drew the largest crowds. The contests were accorded “test” status after the English Association agreed to declare that the players officially represented England. Hungarian-born Barna and Austrian-born Bergmann were both now naturalised English citizens.

The New Zealand test players were rotated and only Russell Algie played in all four tests. In the singles he was joined in Auckland and Wellington by Bill Fogarty, in Dunedin by Neville Brightwell and in Christchurch by Laurie Wilson. The doubles pairings were (Auckland) Algie / Fogarty; (Dunedin) Fogarty / Jack Borough; (Christchurch and Wellington) Harold Chapman and Hugh Lauder (pictured). Algie put up a fine show in his first match against Barna, losing 17-21, 16-21, 15-21. Laurie Wilson held Bergmann to 17-21 in one game. Probably the most exciting match was Algie against Bergmann in Dunedin when Algie, after losing the first two games, opted to play a hard-hitting game over the table in the third. He matched the 1948 world champion point for point all the way to 17-17, after which Bergmann closed the match off at 21-17. It was a brave performance by Algie in front of his former home crowd.

Both visitors agreed Algie was by far our best player. His scores averaged 13 points per game over 24 played, compared to 8 for the other three singles players totalled and averaged out. When asked about the general standard in New Zealand Barna considered that it had risen since he was here in 1938, but not much. Comparing us with Australia he thought their top players were superior (not surprising – Szabados was now living there), but New Zealand had the greater depth. He would like to have seen more of our women players - they featured only in the occasional mixed doubles.

Barna was optimistic over the future of the game here, even saying that New Zealand had more promising young players than he had seen in England. He singled out Bob Jackson (age 17) and also Albert Kwok. He mentioned Joyce Williamson, the Canterbury 14 year old who had, like Jackson, just drawn attention to herself at the NZ Championships, played while the tourists were here.

A further hint of New Zealand’s future talent, probably not even seen by the tourists, was a curtain-raiser to the England / Wellington contest featuring two college students in a single game to 21. Tony Darroch (age 15 and future international umpire) beat Murray Dunn (age 13 and future NZ champion) in a crowd-pleasing marathon which ended in a 33-31 win to Darroch.

When the popular tourists flew out of Auckland on 29 September, they left behind a table tennis community feeling good about itself and its future, and a general public savouring memories of an unforgettable spectacle.

---

Come to the Movies and Watch Table Tennis

“Now on at the Majestic”, screamed the newspaper advertisement. “The greatest drama ever seen: Command Decision, starring Clark Gable. Short features include Goggles the Fishing Bear (cartoon); NZ defeats Australia in First League Test; Barna and Bergmann – World Table Tennis Champions in Action”.

It was made by the National Film Unit and featured the exhibition match and excerpts from the novelty segment. It cost NZ Table Tennis nothing and gave the sport some great publicity.

---

NZ Championships – Algie Back Where He Belongs

One quickly sensed that Russell Algie had no intention of making an early exit from this year’s New Zealand Championships, no doubt still smarting from his 1948 loss to Neville Brightwell. All predictions were that he would win and he did – beating title-holder Bill Fogarty in the final 21-6, 21-5, 21-11. He was untroubled in the semi-final against Kevin Dwyer and in the quarters Laurie Wilson managed to win the first game before losing in four.

Margaret Hoar, still aged only 18, proved her 1948 win was no fluke by coasting through to the women’s singles final where she wore down June Leathley 21-18, 21-18, 21-6. Hoar dropped only one game in a relentless march to her second consecutive title.

The championships were well conducted by the Wellington Association but the tournament promised rather more than it delivered. Maybe it was built up too much beforehand. The NZ Sportsman, dealing with just the men’s singles, spread a 1,400 word article over two pages, naming thirty-two players and assessing the chances of each.

There were reasons to look forward to this year’s championships in particular. A large entry was expected considering the central location. That was well and truly met – a 30% increase on last year. Both fields contained an exciting range of new players while many of the established campaigners were still in fine touch. The tournament also claimed the rarity of fielding every former men’s singles champion with the sole exception of 1938 champion Harry Boys. The line-up included Errol Cheal, Frank Paton, Ken Cantlay, Russell Algie and Bill Fogarty – meaning Cantlay and Algie were (finally!) playing in the same NZ Championship. In the women’s field, only Margaret Hoar and Audrey Hughes were previous title-winners.

But for some reason, the tournament didn’t sparkle. There were one or two exciting matches in the earlier rounds but few upsets and the finals were unspectacular. The one exception was a fast-moving men’s doubles final in which Harold Chapman and Hugh Lauder beat Russell Algie and Neville Brown in five games.

Ken Cantlay never had the chance to test himself against Algie or any other seeded player. In his second match against John Stewart his old touch deserted him and he lost 16-21, 21-7, 21-13, 16-21, 15-21. It was a sad end for the three times champion but a great win for the young Wellingtonian who would later become NZTTA Chairman.

There were signs of things to come in the junior events. 17 year old Bob Jackson, a future champion, won the under 18 boys’ singles. And a sturdy, hard-hitting 14 year old named Joyce Williamson (pictured) won both the under 16 and under 18 girls’ singles. She had already won the Canterbury women’s title, would be ranked No 7 for the year and, like Jackson, was poised for NZ championship honours at senior level. Both these future stars were eliminated from the open singles by the current title-holders. Jackson lost to Bill Fogarty in round three, 8-21, 22-20, 9-21, 12-21 and Williamson lost to Margaret Hoar in her first match, 11-21, 14-21, 19-21.

Players on the Move Influences Team Events

The season saw Russell Algie move from Otago to Auckland, Margaret Hoar from Wairarapa to Wellington (temporarily) and Frank Paton from Auckland to Bay of Plenty. These moves along with the rise of new young players caused pundits to look for a shift in the balance of power at the inter-Association teams event. With new acquisition Russell Algie, well supported by Owen Jaine and 22 year old Kevin Dwyer, and with young Bob Jackson also in the team, Auckland won the men’s contest. They beat Algie’s old province Otago in the final and began a spectacular run of eleven wins over the next twelve years. Led by the Leathley sisters June and Dorothy (now Mrs D Chapman) with support from Pat Quinn, Marie McLennan and Gladys Shore, Otago won the women’s title to retain the Teagle Shield. In the final they staged a comeback from 1-5 down against Wellington and won by 2 games after drawing matches 6-6. The decisive factor was a win by June Leathley over Margaret Hoar, to be later reversed in the singles final.

At the end of an intense three days of competition in the individual events, Russell Algie (28) and Margaret Hoar (18) had emerged clearly as our two best players. The question now was, how long could they keep winning?

---

Ballinger Steps Down – Wilkinson Era Begins

After nine years as NZTTA Secretary / Treasurer, Mr HN (Norm) Ballinger stepped down from the position of Secretary. He was at the helm during stirring times and had seen interclub participation more than triple. Along with Arthur Marshall (Chairman from 1936 to 1947), he could claim a large measure of the credit for the dramatic post-war growth.

Prior to election to the national body Ballinger had served three years as Secretary / Treasurer of Otago in which capacity he managed the first South Island Championships in 1937 and the South Island segment of the 1938 Barna / Bellak NZ tour.

His career at national level was far from over. He continued as Treasurer for a further thirteen years.

The new Secretary, Ken Wilkinson, was poised for an even more monumental period of service to the national body. He would remain in the post for 36 years.

---

Women’s Matches Now Best of Five

Women’s singles matches at the New Zealand, North and South Island Championships changed from best of three games to best of five. Any fears that this could be over-taxing physically for female players were short-lived but a large number of women were still playing defensively and some over-long games created timetabling problems.

---

First President Dies

Mr Malcolm Fraser, the first President of NZTTA, died this year. He had served in the top administrative position from 1934 to 1938 and was influential in setting up an efficient organisational structure for table tennis in New Zealand.

---

Offer of Barna Cup Accepted

Prior to his departure at the end of his memorable second tour of New Zealand, Viktor Barna offered to donate a trophy. His suggestion was that it should be presented to the winner of an inter-Association competition featuring teams of three men and one woman playing singles and one mixed doubles. The offer was accepted but the suggested format was substantially revised when competition for the cup began in 1950.

---

New Zealand Trio Sets Out For 1950 World Championships

As early as mid-1948 three NZ players were formulating an ambitious plan: work a sea passage to England late in 1949, gain valuable overseas experience and, ultimately, compete in one of Europe’s glamour events – the English Open in March 1950. The players were John Crossley (23), Neville Brightwell (22) and John Stewart (21). They discussed their proposal with Viktor Barna while he was here and he immediately urged them to include the 1950 World Championships in their itinerary. “You will finish bottom but what does it matter,” he said. “It will be good experience for you.”

So the plan changed and became more urgent. The World Championships were in Budapest, Hungary, in January.

NZTTA approved the team, thus auhorising the players to represent New Zealand in the Swaythling Cup World Teams Championship. The representation would go on record as unofficial as the players were not chosen by a selection panel but nonetheless they would have the distinction of being the first NZ team to participate in the Swaythling Cup. NZTTA also entered the players in the individual singles and Brightwell and Crossley together in the doubles.

The trio left New Zealand aboard the Trojan Star on 20 November.

---