First New Zealand Women’s Team at World Championships

Amid mystery and confusion (refer next article) a two-player team represented New Zealand in the Corbillon Cup women’s team competition at the 1959 World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, West Germany in April. It was the first New Zealand women’s team to do so.

The team of Joyce Williamson and Fay Inglis won three contests out of eight – a respectable performance. They beat Canada and Italy (both 3-0), and Austria (3-1). Their losses were all to leading table tennis nations: Japan, Germany, France, Hungary and Belgium. But they still managed to win three matches in total against those countries - two against France and one against Belgium. Joyce was the star player overall, winning six of her eleven singles. Fay won two out of nine and the pair won four of their eight doubles.

New Zealand’s representative at the ITTF Congress was Alan Robinson, who also played in the individual events. No New Zealander progressed beyond the first round in either the singles or doubles but Joyce reached the consolation singles semi-final.

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A Lesson in How Not to Enter a World Championship

The creditable performance by our women’s team at the World Championships (refer above) is now permanently engraved in ITTF records. But the records give no indication of the drama that preceded it. After it was decided in 1958 to send a team to the event NZTTA Secretary Ken Wilkinson mailed pre-signed entry forms to Joyce Williamson, a former NZ champion who was living in London and a prime candidate for either a NZ team or for the individual events if no team was selected. But when New Zealand’s district associations did not accept the financial commitment required of them, all possibility of New Zealand attending the championships ended. Or so it seemed.

Then, just weeks before the tournament was due to start in April, 1959, a bombshell exploded. Joyce received a newspaper cutting at her London address, mailed from Wellington, stating that NZ’s No 6 ranked player, Fay Inglis, was on her way to England and that the two of them were to represent New Zealand at the World Championships in Dortmund, West Germany. The source of the article is unclear but it set off ructions in England, Germany and New Zealand.

Panic Stations
Joyce panicked. She cabled Germany with a provisional entry to the Championships and sent a confirmation letter, enclosing the pre-signed entry forms. She cabled NZTTA for official confirmation of the entry and was further confused by a reply stating that confirmation couldn’t be given as entries had closed. So, again, the issue appeared to come to an end.

Then just days later Joyce saw the published draw in the paper. New Zealand was included. More panic. She had to locate Fay but where was she? Her only thought was to contact London’s Missing Persons Bureau. She then received a cable from NZTTA stating that, as they too had seen the draw with NZ in it and had been in touch with the German organisers, they now approved the entry. The cable also gave Fay’s London address. Joyce visited her and broke the news that they were both playing at the World Championships, starting in less than a week. It was the first Fay had heard about it.

The action at the New Zealand end had been equally chaotic. After declining to confirm Joyce Williamson’s attempt to enter the championships after the entries had closed, and less than two weeks before the event, NZTTA received a cable from the German organizing committee advising that a New Zealand team (Williamson and Inglis) had been entered and accepted. Germany was requesting official confirmation. A hastily convened meeting of the NZ executive on a busy street in mid-city Wellington now decided to confirm the entry and ask questions later. NZTTA also cabled the English Association requesting them to advance money for the entry fees and liaise with the players regarding accommodation.

The Championships then took place with the New Zealand team parading proudly, if somewhat breathlessly.

At the first Executive meeting after the event a letter from Joyce Williamson was tabled informing the NZ officials that she was the one who had lodged the entry, and explaining the circumstances. The meeting accepted the explanation, wondering, as Joyce had, who could possibly have initiated the original newspaper article and who had sent it to her in London.

The Committee also approved a schedule of costs from England TTA, totalling only £76 as both players had travelled privately to London. Funding a selected team to travel from New Zealand would have been prohibitively expensive without District Association support.

When the dust settled NZ officials could only murmur: “Great that the women were there, great that they did well – but, there’s got to be a better way of doing this.”

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Thick Sponge Bats Outlawed

The New Zealanders who went to the 1954 World Championships in London came back eager to add another weapon to their armoury – sponge-faced bats of unlimited thickness. These eerily quiet bats had been around at world level since 1952 when the Japanese rocketed onto the medals dais at the Bombay World Championships. But they were not new. The occasional club player in New Zealand had been bamboozling opponents with them as early as the 1930s but most found them too fast and difficult to control. They were almost unheard of at world level until 1952.

Their sudden rise in popularity was something of a bonanza for bat manufacturers. A wide variety of sponge types and thicknesses were in demand. New Zealander Bob Jackson was in the midst of the action and became expert not just in the use of the bat but also turned to manufacturing, supplying and advising on them.

But they were living a perilous existence – between 1954 and 1959 there were two attempts to ban bats beyond a certain thickness so when the issue arose again at the 1959 ITTF General Meeting there was spirited debate. By the surprisingly wide margin of 72 votes to 19 it was decided to ban sponge-faced bats and limit the overall thickness of any bat to 4mm each side, including a layer of pimpled rubber. Japan in particular was aghast, claiming the decision set the sport back ten years in their country.

In New Zealand it was clear that the bats had improved the game of our top players. Murray Dunn was one of the last to make the switch to sponge-face and he and Bob Jackson had given a dazzling display of its use in the 1958 NZ Championships final.

In the other camp, Garry Frew disliked playing against the bats as they forced him into a purely defensive game. He had previously relished mixing sudden attack with defence using his trade-mark hard bat.

The issue was laid to rest. The era of the thick sponge bat had come and gone, never to return.

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Bob Jackson’s Long Reign Comes to an End

This year’s New Zealand Championships were a landmark event and a reminder that all good things must come to an end. Bob Jackson had been New Zealand men’s champion every year since 1953, had also won in 1950 and been thwarted in 1952 by Ken Stanley of England. In this year’s event he had his sights on an eighth title, and seventh in succession. Not even Russell Algie had attained that level of success.

But it all had to end sometime and the media and the pundits were cautiously predicting the emergence of a new champion this year. Excitement was heightened by the fact that the Championships were being held in Auckland, Jackson’s home turf, for the first time since 1946. Several rivals were breathing down the reigning champion's neck, with Alan Tomlinson (also of Auckland) the biggest threat as he had beaten Jackson earlier in the season in two provincial championship finals and also at interclub. Murray Dunn had run Jackson very close in the 1958 NZ final and Bryan Foster had beaten him in the 1958 inter-island contest.

When the top players squared off in the semi-finals Tomlinson beat Dunn in four games while Jackson beat Garry Frew, also in four. Frew had eliminated Foster. Then came the much-heralded final between Jackson and Tomlinson. Almost from the start Tomlinson was on top, his powerful forehand working well. By slowing things down Jackson was able to rescue the second game but Tomlinson adapted, pulled off a patient and crucial come-back from 16-18 down in the third and eventually won 21-10, 18-21, 21-18, 21-15.

There were signs that Jackson missed his fast sponge-faced bat (now outlawed), but it was the same for everyone and, it must be remembered, Jackson was a champion prior to 1954 when the new bats came into vogue.

While the end of the Jackson era was the main talking point of the championships, what a season it turned out to be for Alan Tomlinson! As well as the New Zealand and North Island titles, he won the men’s singles in seven of the eight provincial open tournaments he contested, beating Jackson four times in the process including the NZ final. He was ranked No 1 for the season and won the “Player of the Year” award. His success was well-merited and very clearly signalled. In previous years he had been runner-up to Bob Jackson in open tournaments on at least four occasions, including the 1957 NZ championships. And, partnering Jackson, he had won both the New Zealand and North Island men’s doubles for the last four years.

Slipping under the radar somewhat, an even longer Bob Jackson era was also coming to an end. He had won the North Island singles every year from 1950 to 1958, and didn’t compete in 1959. It was a nine year unbroken run. Nobody else ever managed that in our first 75 years. Margaret Hoar came the closest with six North Island women’s singles titles in succession.

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Juniors Surprise Top Women’s Seed

Top seed Joan Brown showed enormous courage to survive a challenge from 15 year old Bay of Plenty junior Margaret Ross in the 4th round (round of sixteen) of the women’s singles at the NZ Championships. Ross won the first two games 21-12 and 21-17, Brown saved the match by scraping home 21-19 in the third and then came the drama of the fourth. Ross led 20-12 but Brown fought back tenaciously to save nine match points and take the game 23-21. She cruised through the fifth to win 21-12.

Joan Brown could be forgiven for thinking she now had the measure of the younger generation. But in the quarter-final along came a 13 year old competing in her first nationals. Norma Attwood had demonstrated her intentions, and her potential, in previous rounds with eighth seed Pam Crowe lying by the wayside among her earlier victims. Her unorthodox style (playing both forehand and backhand with the same side of the bat) could have bamboozled Brown. This time the top seed couldn’t manage another comeback and young Norma won 21-10, 21-19, 15-21, 21-19.

Another junior, Neti Davis, already a national mixed doubles title-holder with Garry Frew in 1958 at age 14, had won through to the fourth round before losing to the eventual runner-up, Mary Anderson 21-14, 21-18, 24-22. Anderson eliminated Attwood.

After first entering the NZ Championships in 1947, Pat Purdon (nee Quinn) (pictured) won the women’s singles title. Along with 1958 winner Thelma Hale, she occupied a narrow two year gap between the lengthy reigns of Margaret Hoar and the young future champion Neti Davis (later Neti Traill).

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Change of Teams Format at NZ Championships

Amid some controversy, the A Grade teams competition format was changed from teams of four players to teams of three by an AGM decision. Contests continued to comprise twelve matches with nine singles and three doubles. Under the previous format only the top two and bottom two played their counterparts in the other team, resulting in only eight singles. Each doubles pair played the other two pairs making four doubles. Under the new system both teams still had to declare their playing order and order of doubles pairings before seeing those of the other team.

At this year’s championships Auckland had one of the biggest wins ever. Unbeaten in all their contests, they won a total of 57 matches and lost only three - one to Wanganui and two to Otago. All three Auckanders (Bob Jackson, Alan Tomlinson and George Wilkinson) beat Murray Dunn in the Auckland v Wellington final which Auckland won 12-0.

Auckland also won the women’s A grade, but only after a tight final against Canterbury with matches tied and Auckland winning by just one game after a count-back. The entire competition rested on the final doubles.

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25th Jubilee

It takes a rare table tennis event to attract the presence of the New Zealand Prime Minister but such an event occurred on 17 April when NZTTA celebrated its 25th Jubilee. Prime Minister Walter Nash joined the Mayor of Wellington, other dignitaries and several foundation members at a formal dinner in Wellington to mark the occasion. Several speakers relived New Zealand’s early table tennis history. Among those in attendance was Merv Allardyce, then of Wanganui and later Manawatu and Hutt Valley. He was the only person present who would later participate in much more elaborate celebrations at the 50th and 75th Jubilees.

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Fluorescent Lighting Gamble Pays Off

Despite a warning from ITTF that fluorescent lighting was unsuitable for table tennis (causing strobe effects and rendering the ball difficult to see, more especially for spectators), New Zealand officials took a bold step and allocated both the North Island and New Zealand Championships to Associations who proposed conducting their respective tournaments in fluorescent-lit stadiums. The North Island hosts (Hutt Valley) tested the lighting by playing a night of interclub at the proposed venue and the experiment was observed with keen interest by NZTTA officials including the national president who had travelled from Christchurch. By and large it was successful. After a short period of adjustment players noticed little difference and the lighting over the whole playing area was more uniform. But there were comments from spectators that the ball appeared to move jerkily when viewed from a distance.

The fluorescent lighting at the Auckland venue was also tested, by a group of top players who gave it their nod of approval.

The two national events in Lower Hutt and Auckland went ahead under fluorescent lights and before long the practice became generally accepted.

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Coaching Schools Introduced
An enduring tradition of boys and girls coaching schools in the May school holidays began this year. Twelve trainees of each gender were selected from district Association nominees. The first boys school was held in Manawatu and the girls in Waikato. Both were under the direction of Mr Tommy Williams who was assisted administratively by several national officials and in an advisory capacity by a number of top players.

The three-day schools began with a full round-robin series of matches followed by an analysis of each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Training films were shown and the trainees then played matches against the invited senior players followed by further analysis of their games.

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Table Tennis Leads the Way with Sunday Sport

A motion calling for unrestricted play on Sundays at all levels of table tennis was passed at the NZ Annual General Meeting. Until now, Sunday play at national tournaments was not permitted at all and allowed only during restricted hours at provincial open tournaments.

A wry article in the NZ Truth newspaper, known for its propensity to sensationalise, described the proposal, voted on late at night by a “tired-looking gathering hardly taking any interest until the motion was put and carried” as one which “caught some men with their metaphorical pants down.” The paper was pointing out that some senior officials who had openly opposed the idea the previous year, did not vote against it this time.

“The action of the NZ Table Tennis Association will shock some societies,” warned the Truth in its May 12 issue.

In due course Sunday sport became a way of life in New Zealand. Table Tennis had shown the way.

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Star Players Visit East Coast

NZTTA Chairman Bill Mullins escorted top players Alan Tomlinson and Garry Frew on a week-long tour of the Poverty Bay / East Coast region, giving talks, coaching demonstrations and exhibition matches. The contrasting styles of the two players complemented each other admirably and the exhibitions, notably at Ruatoria School, were received rapturously.

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