Rowe Twins Charm and Entertain New Zealand

A 36 day visit to New Zealand by twenty year old English twins Rosalind and Diane Rowe was negotiated in 1952 with encouragement and support from Viktor Barna and Ken Stanley, previous visitors to this country. But it was not just another tour by world-class overseas players - there was something distinctly different about this one. The string of earlier visits, from Fred Perry (1933) to Viktor Barna (1949) and on to Johnny Leach (1951), all bring to mind one term, awe-inspiring. But it’s not a description that fits the Rowe twins. Words that came up again and again in the media were: talented, skillful, spectacular, neat, radiant, charming, smiling, graceful, vivacious, good-looking, unassuming, warm, laughing, happy ….. (in another era “sexy” might have also been whispered but not in the staid, pre-rock’n’roll 1950s). “They smiled and played their way into the hearts of 1,800 people,” reported the Dunedin Evening Star.

Our previous visitors (all men) drew big crowds. Some were such good players that they seemed like demigods. Nobody felt they had the slightest chance of ever reaching their level. In contrast, the Rowe twins were down-to-earth. They played exceedingly good table tennis but in a way that said “Here’s how it’s done! Go away and do it.” They drew even bigger crowds than the men. New Zealand loved them.

Down-to-earth or not, their table tennis was world class. They had won the world doubles title when only 17 and would win it again. Their personalities combined with their table tennis skills inspired audiences to see the sport in a fresh and vivid new light. The media coverage was staggering: daily papers, weeklies, women’s magazines, radio – everyone wanted a share of this story. Their life history, likes, dislikes, eating habits, interests …. all were probed into with double-page features and photographs jostling for space alongside the two other big stories of the day - the recently crowned Queen and NZ’s mountaineering hero, Ed Hillary.

Prodigies

They first played at the age of 14 and Rosalind drew world attention when selected for England while still only 15. Left-handed Diane was soon also selected and, by winning a sponsored nationwide competition, was awarded a series of coaching sessions with Viktor Barna as a prize. Before long Barna had both girls under his wing and at the age of 16 they won their first of many English doubles titles. Their popularity rose and they were soon in demand for international tours. They won the world doubles title in 1951. By this year Rosalind had a world ranking of #4 and Diane #9. Viktor Barna insists their fame has nothing to do with their “twinship”. “They are popular because they have great talent, fighting spirit, personality and charm,” he said. “They dress neatly and their behaviour on the table is exemplary. They never gasp or yell if they miss a shot, and never play to the gallery.”

Their right-hand / left-hand combination was an asset, as was the extraordinary level of understanding between them. Rosalind played mainly over the table while Diane often retreated well back. Both had excellent chop defences combined with strong attacking stokes on both wings. Diane’s flick backhand and her game in general were modelled on Viktor Barna; Rosalind’s more on Richard Bergmann. Their spectacular exhibition matches contained no trick or novelty shots. It was simply a brilliant demonstration of their wide range of skills.

We welcomed them on 13 June. They visited practically every corner of the country. After 4,000 miles of internal travel they departed, weary but still smiling, on 22 July.

L/R: Diane Rowe,  Rosalind Rowe

---

New Zealand Players Try Hard Against World-Class Rowe Twins

Newspapers were not exaggerating when they reported people clinging to windowsills outside the Waterloo School hall to get a glimpse of the touring Rowe twins as they played their first New Zealand contest in Lower Hutt. The hall was filled, quite literally, to overflowing.

Veronica Williams was the first New Zealander to face the famous twins. With a forthrightness reminiscent of her father Tommy (Wellington chairman), she won the first point - answering the opening serve with a blistering forehand across the table to her left-handed opponent’s backhand, leaving Diane open-mouthed and the crowd practically on their feet. “But she soon pulled herself together,” said Veronica recalling the occasion decades later. “I lost confidence and just poked around. She beat me 21-8, 21-15.” Hutt Valley lost 0-5. So did every other Association.

Top New Zealand Women Put to the Test

Town Halls in Wellington and Dunedin, the Civic Theatre in Christchurch and a large college hall in Auckland were hired for the four test matches. In the first test in Dunedin Margaret Hoar managed to push Diane Rowe to 19-21 in their first game only to suffer a 4-21 humiliation in the second. The other singles player, June Magorian, barely averaged double figures and when Joyce Williamson joined Margaret Hoar for the doubles they were given a 21-8, 21-8 lesson from the 1951 world champions.

L/R: Margaret Hoar, Joyce Williamson,
Diane Rowe, Rosalind Rowe

There was great excitement in Christchurch when Williamson, in front of her home crowd, took a game off Rosalind Rowe in the opening singles and held her to 9-9 in the third before losing 18-21. She had been a surprise omission from the singles in the first test but this performance against the stronger of the two twins secured her singles spot for the remainder of the series alongside Margaret Hoar. There was even better to come. In Auckland Williamson showed the sort of hard-hitting and all-round consistency needed to pull off an upset win over Diane Rowe, 23-21, 21-19. This made her the first New Zealander to beat an overseas touring player, and the world #9 at that. The New Zealanders (Hoar and Williamson) all but won a second match that night, losing their doubles against the former world champions 19-21 in the third game.

In the final test in Wellington it was Margaret Hoar’s turn to keep the twins on their toes, taking a game off Diane before losing 10-21, 21-18, 10-21. As she had in Christchurch, Joyce Williamson gave Rosalind another hard game, losing 20-22, 18-21.

Wellington’s Charlotte Savage (pictured) joined Joyce Williamson in the doubles for the final test.

In Auckland and Wellington there were some excellent mixed doubles exhibition matches where the twins combined with Russell Algie, Bob Jackson, John Crossley and Murray Dunn. The Rowes expressed regret they were not given a chance to face any of New Zealand’s top men either in singles or as a doubles pair. They had often played against male players in other countries, mostly in doubles.

Provinces Outplayed

Twenty contests were played against provincial teams. It was here that the twins’ sportsmanship came into its own. They were becoming fatigued with all the travel, media interviews and formal receptions, and often the opposition was weak. But the smiles, decorum and charm never wavered. Neither did the rapturous reception they were accorded wherever they went. All major cities, and smaller centres such as Levin, Pahiatua and Westport were visited. In the Auckland / England contest Barbara Packwood surprised Diane Rowe with a 21-19 win in the first game only to lose the next two 6-21, 9-21.

At Napier the weary and time-pressed twins were asked to autograph 400 photographs to be sold as a fund-raiser. They obliged without hesitation. 300 had been snapped up by the mid-evening interval.

The twins acknowledged their occasional lapses and gave credit where due to the New Zealand players. They agreed that Joyce Williamson and Margaret Hoar were easily our two best women. June Magorian and Charlotte Savage also rated a mention.

They thought Williamson would do well overseas if given the chance.

When at home the twins would practise 4-5 hours a day so it’s not surprising they felt New Zealand players did not practise enough. They pulled no punches and assessed the standard of women’s table tennis here to be well below average internationally. A common fault they observed was slow footwork. “Your players are too often caught off balance,” Rosalind said near the end of the tour. “You have some great raw material but what’s needed is a skilled craftsman to mould it all together.”

---

NZTTA Answers Itinerary Critics

“The itinerary for the Rowe twins’ tour was a classic example of mismanagement and lack of foresight,” chided the Star Sports under the headline Rowe Twins Were Given the Run-Around. The paper cited examples where the tour party had to double back several times to a centre previously visited, and also wondered why the first contest was in Lower Hutt when the twins' point of arrival in New Zealand had been Auckland.

A lengthy reply was penned by NZ Secretary Ken Wilkinson pointing out that several late changes in the twins’ arrival date coupled with venues in several main centres being available only on certain dates made the job of finalising the itinerary exceedingly difficult. He said the twins had seen the itinerary and approved it.

NZTTA faced a delicate balancing act every time overseas players toured the country: how to maximise the promotional opportunity without over-taxing the visitors. It could be argued that they never quite got the balance right.

---

Women’s Attire: Shorts or Skirts

A debate which consumed rather more 1952 AGM discussion time that it surely warranted (refer 1952 article), did not go away this year. The controversy was over the wearing of shorts by women players. Nobody was ever going to suggest that the Rowe twins should change their standard attire of extremely brief shorts and bright coloured jerseys. “We like playing in shorts – we feel comfortable in them,” they had declared. “They look nice and that’s what overseas players are playing in. Long skirts are impractical for speedy movements so necessary when going in to attack.” The twins vividly remembered their early playing days. “We wore skirts and ordinary shoes. But we soon realised the value of correct apparel.”

The twins were surprised, sometimes shocked, at the length of the skirts worn by some of their opponents in New Zealand.

After some debate, the NZ management committee agreed that the playing uniform for the NZ test team should be pleated shorts, similar in appearance to a short skirt. Shorts were worn by New Zealand players in some provincial contests.

The last bastion of support for skirts, Wellington chairman Tommy Williams, asserted his perennial position on the issue when he controversially refused to allow a player at the Wellington-hosted NZ Championships to wear shorts similar to those worn by the Rowe twins. It was but a brief convulsion in the death-throes of a now outdated tradition. Shorts soon became an acceptable option for women players. Thanks in large measure to the Rowe twins’ visit, the matter was finally laid to rest.

Left: Beverley Jepson (HV) - shorts disallowed at the Wellington Open!

 

---

Big Media Interest in NZ Championships

Sandwiched between the Rowe twins visit and the announcement of a men’s team for the 1954 World Championships, the 1953 NZ Championships rode on a wave of unprecedented media interest. 1951 champion Joyce Williamson was back having favoured Australia in 1952 and a stirring final between her and title-holder Margaret Hoar was expected. The men were fighting for the rare honour of World Championship selection. All trials were over and the nationals were the last chance to impress the selectors. The tournament was held in Wellington, attracted a large entry, and was well-supported by spectators. Expansive newspaper reports were supplemented by three times daily radio broadcasts.

Margaret Hoar and Joyce Williamson, as expected, were untroubled to reach the women’s final. The other two semi-finalists were the former Leathley sisters, now June Magorian and Dorothy Chapman. June was seeded third while Dorothy was unseeded but did well to beat fourth seed Betty Powell (South Canterbury) who in turn had the distinction of being the only player to beat Margaret Hoar in the team events.

The much anticipated final was an interesting match in which Hoar demonstrated her perennial steadfastness and Williamson her relentless aggression. The difference was that Hoar was able to maintain her stamina throughout whereas Williamson wilted after two games of power hitting. The result may have been different if she had shown more patience in the latter stages and waited for the right ball to attack. Hoar won 20-22, 20-22, 21-15, 21-6, 21-14. It was her fifth title.

Men’s Singles: Bangs Followed by a Whimper

Fireworks began exploding in the men’s singles round of 16 when a star junior from Northland, six-foot-three Garry Frew, drew attention to himself at senior level by coming within two points of beating second seed Bob Jackson. Jackson survived 10-21, 19-21, 21-17, 21-19, 21-12. Russell Algie wasn’t so lucky. Seeded outside the top four he bowed out to the same man who had eliminated him in 1948, Neville Brightwell. He played well, but Brightwell played better, winning in four games and then pushing top seed Owen Jaine to four in the quarter-finals.

John Armstrong also did well, eliminating third seed Murray Dunn before losing to Bob Jackson in the semi-finals.

Seeded fourth in response to some excellent results in the World Championship trials, the energetic, lightly-built Trevor Flint had a superb tournament. He beat John Crossley and then Owen Jaine to reach the final. Both matches went to five but Flint was never in danger of losing. His match with Jaine was one of the most spectacular of the championships. Sadly, his final with Jackson was just the opposite and a big disappointment to an audience expecting better after fine table tennis in the earlier rounds. Jackson won the lack-lustre encounter 21-18, 21-9, 21-7. Its only mark of distinction was that it began a record-breaking run of titles for the Auckland star who had now firmly displaced Russell Algie as the country’s top player.

The “find” of 1952, Tweenie Evans, wrote her name in the record books as the youngest to win an open title. The 14 year old paired with Joyce Williamson to win the women’s doubles.

---

1954 World Championships Team Announced

At the conclusion of the NZ Championships it fell to NZTTA Chairman Vern Mitchell (pictured) to announce the four-man team to represent New Zealand at the 1954 World Championships in London. Before the announcement he declared that the selections would be controversial, thus alerting the gathering to expect the unexpected and straining the nerves of the front-runners. The four names, read alphabetically and each greeted with rapturous applause, were Murray Dunn, Garry Frew, Bob Jackson and Owen Jaine.

In due course this would turn out to be an inspired selection. But at the time, it was a gamble. Jackson, undeniably our best player, was a certainty. So too was Jaine who had displayed remarkable consistency over nearly a decade. It was the selection of the two 18 year olds that Mitchell feared might trigger a backlash. Dunn was inconsistent and Frew inexperienced. But their current form was good and their talent and potential obvious. Dunn had beaten Jaine in the team matches and Frew had all but put Jackson out in the round of 16.

The anticipated controversy did indeed arise – not so much over the inclusion of youth as such, but over the omission of three specific players, all from Canterbury.

---

Canterbury Protests Over World Selections

The entire 1954 World Championships team was from the North Island. Charges of discrimination were leveled against the all-North Island selection panel with Canterbury particularly vitriolic. Three of their players had been widely tipped for selection by commentators nationwide. Such was Canterbury’s chagrin that at the 1954 AGM they attempted (unsuccessfully) to move a vote of no confidence in the selectors and also in the management committee for approving the team.

Taking the Canterbury players individually, first there was Neville Brightwell (27). He had World Championships experience (1950), had twice played for New Zealand in tests against touring players (1949, 1951), had twice eliminated Russell Algie from the NZ Championships (1948, 1953) and, most significantly, had beaten three of the selected players (including Jackson) in the final trial matches held only a month before the selections were announced.

Presenting perhaps an even stronger claim was Trevor Flint (28). He had caught the eye of world champion Johnny Leach while competing at the 1951 World Championships. He had reached the final of the just-completed NZ Championships, beating Owen Jaine in the semi-final. He had beaten all four selected players in the trials. His 1953 ranking was #2.

The one thing that could possibly have counted against the above two (their age) most certainly did not apply to 19 year old John Armstrong. Although he did not perform well in the final trials, many thought he should at least have been picked ahead of Dunn whom he had eliminated from the NZ Championships both this year and last and only narrowly lost to in the trials. He also had a fine win over Russell Algie in the NZ team events. He reached the final of the South Island championships (losing to Brightwell) and the semi-finals of both the North Island and New Zealand Championships.

Canterbury’s outrage was understandable. While both the Association and the players would have accepted there was no realistic possibility of all three being selected, additional concern was expressed over a lack of communication regarding selection policy. All candidates competing in the trials were told the four best players would be selected, determined by their performance at the trials and at major tournaments in 1953. On that basis Flint and Brightwell should have been selected alongside Jackson and Jaine. But a late directive from NZTTA management authorised the selectors to apply the selection policy of their choice, opening the way for them to pick young developing players with potential ahead of others with better playing records. The tragedy is that this change of policy was never communicated to Associations or to the trialists, either as a group or privately to the leading contenders.

Selectors do not enter into discussion or correspondence with aggrieved players or Associations once selections are announced. While this is a logical and probably inevitable policy, it does mean that any bitter feelings engendered by selection controversies tend to linger. For Canterbury, and the players involved, the wounds were slow to heal.

Déjà vu?
The whole issue revived memories of 1939 when the man poised to become New Zealand’s best player was all but forgotten when selections for our first overseas representative team were being considered. The sole (North Island based) selector had to be prodded into adding Otago’s Russell Algie to the all-North Island trial squad. Algie was selected, and returned from Australia with the best playing record.

Could any of the three overlooked Canterbury players have emulated Algie and returned from the 1954 World Championships with the best playing record? We’ll never know.

More selection controversies would arise in the years ahead.

---

Algie’s Retirement Final – This Time

He had set a wedding date for January, 1954 (to marry Barbara Williams); had declared his unavailability for the World Championships; and was seen to be playing with slightly less dedication throughout the 1953 season. Then in October came Russell Algie’s announcement that this would be his last year. It was a quiet and dignified retirement; a low-key exit by a man whose imprint on NZ table tennis is surely indelible. His career included six NZ singles titles since 1939, experience at the World Championships and multiple other international contests in New Zealand and Australia.

Algie had originally announced his retirement in 1950 but made a comeback the following year. Some details of his earlier career appear in 1939, 1945 and 1946 articles. His seventeen years at top level constitute a memorable era in New Zealand table tennis history.

---

Crossley Win Celebrates Queen’s Coronation

When the Hutt Valley Open Championships fell only a few days after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II it was dubbed the Coronation Tournament and promoted nationwide. The hoped-for large entry didn’t eventuate but the men’s field at least was of high quality. John Crossley was the hero of the day, beating Bob Jackson in the semi-finals and Murray Dunn in the final.

---

Death of Arthur Meachen

The Arthur Meachen Memorial Cup has kept the name of this Wellington administrator to the fore for many decades since his death and eventually into the 21st century. Originally it was for presentation to the Association whose players amassed the highest number of titles at the New Zealand championships but was later restricted to only senior events after a separate trophy was presented for juniors by Bill Hurrey of Northland. The Meachen cup was donated by Mr D Hughes to memorialise a man whose contribution to Wellington table tennis was immeasurable. At national level he was a Vice-President, had served a brief term as Secretary / Treasurer and had the distinction of selecting the first New Zealand representative team in 1938.

Arthur Meachen (pictured) suffered from polio as a child and required crutches thereafter but in spite of his disability this diminutive man was energetic and industrious. Supported by one of his two crutches he was also able to play a reasonable game of interclub table tennis.

He passed away on 21 July at the age of 46.

---