70 Years of N&DTTL History
In the beginning
The headlines on Friday 29 March 1935 might have been taken up by the talk of Italy invading Abyssinia but closer to home a small group of individuals got together in a room at the YMCA in St Giles Street with a view to forming a table tennis league within the City. Representatives from 7 potential clubs, St Giles YMCA, Cowgate YMCA, CEYMS, Corporational Officials, County Council, Holt "Ivy Leaf" Club, and Steward and Pattersons were the initial names involved. The later were one of a whole host of various breweries that the City had at the time and whose premises centred around varying river sites but as to whom the Holt club were remains an unresolved mystery. One of the group, Gerry Rix (a name that was to become synonymous with the League for several decades to come) proposed the League's name and it was suggested that the league be limited to just 10 teams. City Police, 5th Company Boy's Brigade Old Boys and the Labour Club came along with the initial seven and subsequently the League was formed. At that time table tennis was already functioning in the Great Yarmouth area and the Norwich League decided that their own rules would operate on similar lines to those that Yarmouth were operating at the time.
The then Lord Mayor of Norwich, Mr P W Jewson was asked to take on the role of President but he felt unable to do so therefore it was proposed that "other important gentlemen in the City be approached on the same subject!" The exclamation mark is mine!
The first League winners were CEYMS who immediately laid down a challenge match against a Rest of the League side which the latter won at the Venetian Ballroom on 9 April 1936. That venue stood where the current Bonds (sorry John Lewis) building stands in All Saints Green, it was thatched and was opened as a cinema before being adapted as a furnishing hall, ballroom and restaurant before being gutted by incendiary bombs on 27 June 1942. The match itself was a five a side contest with each player playing a single set against each other (similar to the way the league matches were set up at the time) and the League triumphed by 15 sets to 10. A Mr Turner (no full names available) won all his 5 sets for the League against opponents who had a representative from one of the most famous of Norfolk sporting families in their lineup a Mr Pilch.
Affiliation to the ETTA was already a major discussion point because the officials felt that the initial joining fee of 3/6 pence per club would leave the League financially in dire straits given their own total fee income of 5/- shillings per club, (thats 25p in todays money). In the finish all players had to put in an extra 2 pence in cash each to enable affiliation to take place.
At that time table tennis in Europe was a huge sport and the ETTA offered the Norwich League the chance to host a series of exhibition evenings featuring foreign stars. For the first of these in March 1936 the secretary was asked to go and interview a Mr Harrison, the manager of the Lido Ballroom on Aylsham Road, with a view to hiring the dance hall. A fee of £5 was agreed but Mr Harrison also wanted a share of the profits. A special table was hired from Messrs Burroughs and Watts of London and several hundred spectators turned up for both this event and others which were held in 1938 and 1939. The legendary 5 times World Champion Hungarian Victor Barna (yes him of the bats) was the star of the show which was moved around major venues across the whole country.
Inter league matches against a host of others, including Gt Yarmouth, Bury, Kings Lynn were played with much prior discussion on selection matters. Indeed on one ocassion 3 players were asked to turn up for a trial at the Fire Station from which 2 would be selected from the trio. A team manager was put in charge and the minutes recorded that he had the position of authority over the team captain with manager's decisions being final. Interest was such that coaches were run to enable supporters to see their team play in the away games.
Controversary was never too far away and one meeting recorded that the committee were holding an enquiry into the affairs of the Young Liberals team deploring their conduct during the season. They defendants were hauled in to a special meeting in order for them to indicate to the committee what proposals the Libs proposed to put into place for the forthcoming season in order to ensure that they would amend their behaviour. No change there then!
The first mention of the war was recorded on 5 January 1940 when the committee agreed to hold a wartime competition competed for on league lines. An emergency committee decreed that no medals or trophies would be awarded during the period of hostilities but in their stead a series of certificates would be issued.The League then received a letter on 1 November 1940 indicating that the offices of the ETTA in London had been bombed.
Post War and the 1950's
After the Second World War the first season of play saw 48 teams involved for 1946/47 and this number continued to rise steadily before stabilising around the 100 mark. A ladies only section existed which at its height got up to 12 teams and these matches were played like the rest of the League on a 5 a-side basis. With the expansion of the Divisions a re-organisation saw parrallel divisional streams in operation to enable a cut down in the time that it took for the best teams to find their natural playing level. The committee held the view that "it would be better to keep to around the 100 mark and raise the standard rather than accept ephemeral (the dictionary definition of this word is short lived) teams indiscriminately as we did in the early fifties! Again the exclamation mark is mine.
Gothic, YMCA and Co-Op Central were the influential teams and between them the three took all the Division One titles, the top division, over this period. Gothic featured G Whittaker and Eric Filby, Co-Op had Billy Minors and Hans Fleck with a young Tony Hipperson starring for YMCA. Tony went on to grace the top levels of the League during 6 decades much of the time spent at the Gothic club and he has only recently retired from the game to turn his attention to tennis.
In the period up to 1952 the ETTA brought another series of exhibition matches to Norwich, 2 of which were played at St Andrews Hall and the other was held at the Lads Club in King Street. These evenings featured the leading English players of the time who included Johnny Leach, Jack Carrington and the ladies pairing of the Rowe twins, Diane and Rosalind. Leach had won the World singles title twice, firstly in 1949 and secondly in 1951 and it was at a time of English domination within the mens game as Richard Bergmann (albeit a naturalised Austrian ) took the 1950 prize.
Some gems from the Committee Minutes of the period.
15 December 1954 Mr Cutmore raised the question of the poor heating facilities at the Jetty Tea Rooms where the matches against Yarmouth were played.
8 September 1955 Mr Rix proposed a vote of congratulations to Mr Minors on the occasion of his marriage and this was warmly given by the entire Committee.
29 June 1954 The Secretary then showed the umpires badges that had been sent to the former umpires secretary and the Committee unanimously agreed that the quality was so poor that they should be returned and a refund of cash applied for.
Committee meetings were lengthy with much discussion and regularly went past the 11.00pm mark. They were held in a variety of locations which included the Home Guard Club in Pottergate, the Black Boys Pub situated in Colegate, the Gladstone Club St Giles and the Eagle Star offices in Bank Plain.
A letter appeared in the local press dated 25 March 1953 after the Committee had tried unsuccessfully to get teams reduced from 5 down to 3 players. "Let Norwich retain its individuality with 5 a side even though the rest of the country plays the other way" the writer implored. In the finish his pleas were to no avail because in 1956 all teams were reduced to 4 a side. Indeed to this day we retain some Divisions at 4 a-side, at odds with most of the rest of the country.
1960's
During this decade the League showed substantial growth with team numbers going up from 84 to 112 with the consequent player registration numbers rising 50% from 500 to 750. 9 Divisions were in existence with the leading clubs being CEYMS, Gothic and Lads Club. It was quite a performance making your way to the later's table tennis room as you had to make your way down through the training area for the amateur boxers, punches being thrown in all directions, and some nights roller skating would be taking place in the main hall with the noise level being such that you couldn't hear the umpire calling the score. When the session finished at 10.00pm the sudden lack of noise was deafening! Neville and Philip Graver were the Brigg St stars, Stan Honor the Gothic number one and Bob Mitchum, David Skedge and the Blanch brothers led the King St lineup.
An Amenities Fund was started late in 1969 under the stewardship of Len Miller, and it was he who was almost single handedly behind the efforts to secure the League their own Headquarters. Len's view was that the League could only progress by having its own premises but he had a difficult time a) in getting all the teams on board, b) finding a suitable site for the building and c) getting all the finance in place. Whilst progress was to be painfully slow his sheer persistence happily was to be finally paid off albeit some 14 years later.
The leading administrators at the time were Eddie Peake, Billy Minors, the energetic Russell Harris, Dave Thompson, Jack Penny of the mathematical brain and statistical wizardry with the ladies headed by Hilda Ewles. At the AGM on 20 May 1965 Jack Cutmore lost his seat as vice-chairman after an uninterupted period of service going right back to the League's formation. It seems odd now to think that almost all Committee positions were contested as there were so many people who were prepared to put themselves up for consideration to league administration posts.
There was a general stability about the teams although names like Butlins Social, Norfolk News and works sides like Page Bros, Southalls and Esdelle Works disappeared but they were counter balanced by the arrival of Jarrolds, Prison, University, MAFF and HMSO.
This was the time of the "Coby affair", the CEYMS player courting disfavour with the Committee with allegations of mis-demeanours. As the Minutes recorded "mischievousness gossip and rumour which is going round the City". He was suspended for 12 months from League and County play but after a Special General Meeting held on 23 April 1964 attended by the whole Committee and representatives of 71 clubs it was subsequently reduced to 8 months. Alan won 4 singles titles on the bounce and such was the superiority of the CEYMS team at the time (they won 6 Division One titles in the period) that they would bet amongst themselves on the time that they could finish teams off!
1970's
This was the start of a halcyon period for table tennis which was to last well into the 1980's. At the end of the decade the League ran a Premier Division and 13 other divisions making a total of some 188 teams. The sheer amount of administrators and administration required to run such a huge operation, and remember that the league season comprised 26 matches, seems quite difficult to imagine these days. There were several multi-team clubs indeed Telephones got up to a G team as did Norwich Union, whilst Deaf Social were at D as were Norwich Water whilst Spixworth on their way to something higher at F.
After 32 years in office Harold Betts stood down as Secretary at the 28 May 1970 AGM and he was replaced by Len Miller. At that time the EEN paid for any press copy received from the League and Len reported that he had been sent a cheque for 2 entries amounting to £3-11-6p and he wanted to know what he should do with all that money!
The Committee Cup, which was played on a handicap basis on a friday evening at venues around the city, was at its height with much argument on who and who had not been selected by the various Divisional secretaries to represent their respective Divisions. The Divisions were placed in 2 different leagues with the winners of each meeting in an always hotly contested final.
The City's first twinning arrangement with the French city Rouen started in May 1970 with players Philip Graver (CEYMS), Tony Hipperson (YMCA), Bob Mitcham (Lads Club) and officials Derek Aldous and Les Holdom going across the Channel to represent table tennis. This was to be the start of a series of very successful get togethers in Norwich and Rouen which continued to run for several years thereafter.
Prior to the World Championships which were held in Birmingham in March/April 1977 a Norfolk team took on the full USA squad as part of their pre games warm up at a packed hall at Norwich Union's Pinebanks on 23 March. It was quite apt that Pinebanks was used as it was NU who were the major sponsors of the World Championships and also ran the national championships at that time. Bob Thornton, Chris Bensley, Mike Musson, a 16 year old Douggie Bennett plus Jeanne Brown and Wendy Hogg gave a good account of themselves against the US visitors who included the world number 29 Danny Seemiller and his brother Rick. Umpiring duties for the evening were shared amongst Ray Hogg, Vic Bennett, Eric Thornton and Derek Aldous.
1980's
This was an exciting period in our history with a competitive league and a player registration figure which reached an all time high of 1,087 at the beginning of season 1981. It was a time when social organiser Ron Harrowven could fill the Mayfair Suite at the Norwood Rooms when he arranged the Annual Dinner Dance.
The Miller Hall project gathered place with a special AGM called at which a levy was placed on all teams to help fund the building. In 1983 the Hall was finally completed with the work carried out under the supervision of the Vice-President Fred Hornsby assisted by Mike Spinks, surveyor and Barry Cole, architect. It represented the fullfilment of the dream of the former League Secretary Len Miller. The opening ceremony was carried out by Mr Mike Ashley the Chairman of the Norwich City Council Amenities Committee.
The mens playing scene was graced at the time by Doug Bennett, Phil Logsdon, Neil Pickard and the Stevenson twins, Martyn and Richard. The twins went on to become, and indeed still remain, a huge influence on the coaching side with numerous youngsters having been improved by their patient coaching skills. The Mens singles title at the time was cornered by Doug, Phil and Neil apart from Trevor Bunn who interupted the big three with his only success in 1982. Wendy Durrant (nee Hogg) continued to dominate the ladies scene with an impressive 8 singles wins out of 10.
In 1984 the former Taverham player Bill Todd formed the Foxwood club to encourage youngsters in and around that area to play in premises he had adjoining his guest house. His enthusiasm ensured that the club grew and grew and at one time they were running 7 sides with a membership of around 30 players. However, it was the Taverham club that was the major force as they reached the monumental total of 10 teams in the League and had a thriving friday evening club night. Vic Bennett after seeing his son Douggie travel to Soham to take part in British League fixtures thought it would be a step forward for the Norwich League to have a team of its own in this exhalted company and so persuaded Bill to sponsor a side in the British League. Bill took this on in his usual full on attitude and he decided one of his jobs would be driving the mini-bus around the country. The matches drew some fine players to the area and it saw good supporter numbers drawn to watch the home games which took place at the Miller Hall. Bill's untimely early death in January 1993 left a huge void in the League but the Foxwood Club lives on and Yvonne Todd has provided many very happy and successful presentational evenings at the Foxwood facilities.
This decade saw the Spixworth club under the guidance of Derek Barwick and Andy Watson make big strides with the Club getting up to an H team and winning 4 Divisional titles in the 1986/7 season.
The Richard Morley Handicap Tournament was started in 1981 in memory of a well liked and respected league servant. Divisional Secretaries were invited to put forward player names to be considered and voted on by the Committee. When the names were considered they were graded on a points system based on the under-noted :- Sportsmanship/Attitude 30%, Competitiveness 25%, Turn Out 20%, Assistance to young players 15% and Help in Admin work 10%. The eight with the best percentage total were then invited to participate in the tournament. The tournament has just seen its 26th playing and in its history, with the previous winners invited back the following year, has had 2 players who have managed to notch up a trio of wins on the bounce namely Steve Sadd and Lauren Spink.
The Summer League was going strong with 44 teams split into 7 divisions in 1985 and was under the guidance of Norman Laws. Derek Wortley was another notable summer admin man.
The death of Gordon Whitwood on 2 August 1989 after a period of 40 years in playing and administative service saw Dennis Calver take up the role of Chairman. The League has been very fortunate to have him in this role, which ran until 2005, as his willingness to take on a huge workload covering so many diverse aspects such as the Miller Hall upkeep, championships, cup competitions, umpiring, record keeping, and Handbook and Rule work has been invaluable. Indeed he really along with Margaret, who has been treasurer since 1984, has been the glue that has held the League together during a period which has at times has tested everyones resolve.
1990's and beyond
This has been a difficult period as table tennis along with many other sports have found it difficult to compete against the might of the almighty football circus and also the lack of natural facilities in order for us to bring new and young players into the game. Numbers started at 135 teams in 1990 but season 2005/6 saw us at just 78 which highlights the decline in players and this obviously has knock on effects both for the Miller Hall usage and the income levels that are coming into the League.
The death of Ken Edwards in 1995 left a huge adminstrative hole for as Secretary he had delighted on taking on an array of jobs but after some deft splitting down of functions Glen Holdom was persuaded to assume the main secretarial mantel and he ensured that season 1995/6 got under way in the usual efficient manner.
The refurbishment of the Norman Centre in the summer of 1998 put our league premises out of action for the start of the season but some splendid rallying around by clubs ensured that the disruption was kept to a minimum. However, the structual changes to the Centre (the increase in the flower garden area and the consequent fall in the number of parking places was a bone of contention for many of us) meant that the Centre never really recovered its previous social aspect. The moving of the bar area away from the main entrance and the fall in Miller Hall team numbers have all contributed to a fall in post match get togethers that used to be so much enjoyed by many players. However, word has it that a good friend of the League is looking to open up the bar facility again so hopefully those evenings may return.
In the new century the sport has undergone enormous change with the increase in ball size to 40mm in season 2000/1 followed by the new scoring system of 11up. Our League took the view that the new scoring system should at least be debated by every registered league player. Despite an overwhelming wish for no change following the return of the proformas that were sent out to every registered player, pressure from the governing body and a very quiet AGM, which didn't seem to want a fight, saw us accept the situation. In the event few players were lost directly because of the change, it seemed that most just wanted to play the game regardless. In a relatively short period of time, therefore, players have had to react to a ball now 10.8% larger in surface and 16.6% plus in volume and a scoring system which some felt rather more akin to a tennis tiebreak. With rubbers now offering an array of fiendish attractions such as NANO Technology, FAKTIS construction, ALLIGATOR a rubber for destructive play and with the Firstline Factors team turning up in lycra shell suits, it is no surprise that many players now feel that they are involved in a very different game to the one most of them had been brought up with.
On the playing side County Council have emerged in the past few seasons as a really strong force and in their lineup have players who have happily travelled from outside our county in order to partake in what they see as a high quality league with competitive cup competitions. Their prowess emerged at the highest level when they reached the 2003 English National Team Championships in Knowsley where the team of Paul Cicchelli, Martin Gray, Steven Annison and Mark Bellamy, despite looking the underdogs on paper, pulled off a stunning victory over teams from Guildford (Merrow), Nottingham (Siemens) and Reading (Polish TTC). This completed a remarkable season having won Premier A and the 2 cup competitions the previous season which represented a treble feat never performed before. Their arrival broke the previous CEYMS, Park Lane Premier A stranglehold in 2001/2 and then in a further first Taverham secured the first top title in their history in 2004/5. However, all the others have a long way to go to get anywhere near the runaway total of 31 wins racked up by CEYMS in the top division since the inception of the league.
Park Lane became the first winners of the Bill Todd Cup defeating CEYMS in a 3 a side event which replaced the Readwin Cup in the league calendar.
The mens game saw the arrival of Leeroy Pye who represented the English Schools in France in 1993, took the County Senior title at the age of 15 and went on to play professionally abroad. Our current outstanding player is Lauren Spink of Taverham who has already attained a 9th ranking in the English Senior women listings and 2nd in the Junior Girls. With a whole host of League, County and National titles to her name she looks to have every chance of progressing even further with a terrific attacking game and a good attitude. From an entry list of 83 Lauren has just returned as the National Junior Girl's singles runner-up and winner of the doubles crown with partner Kelly Sibley.
The League's senior mens team reached the last 4 of the Wilmott Cup in 2006, the country's leading tournament for individual leagues, for the very first time in our history. Philip Logsdon, Jon Cockburn and Andrew Hawes were the successful trio.
Despite a whole host of iniatives for the first time in our history the League Championships were cancelled in 2005. A declining level of interest had already put our preferred venue, the Sportspark, in doubt due to losses of around £600 being incurred in recent tournaments. The Committee could not possibly justify such a continuing diminishment of our funds. For the proposed move to the Miller Hall less than 15 entries were received and it was decided that this did not warrant all the time and effort needed to get the event on. We were very fortunate to secure sponsorship for the 2006 competition from John Lewis and it was pleasing to see a terrific response particularly from the top end of Premier A and this provided a high quality day which was enjoyed by all those who attended at the Miller Hall. It does appear that we can now look forward to this event being staged at our own headquarters in the foreseeable future in surroundings and in an atmosphere that are very acceptable to the players. We are also very pleased to be able to announce that Pilch Intersport, now part of the Jarrolds group, have kindly given us league sponsorship for the coming season and we hope that this will be a good partnership and give the League a higher sporting profile within the City.
