COMBINED TEAMS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29998, 6 December 1962, Page 19

COMBINED TEAMS

No Change In Decision A recent decision of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association to retuse combined teams entrance into its senior men's competition came under fire at the quarterly delegates’ meeting last evening. However. although the majority of speakers appeared to be against the decision, a recommendation, put forward by Mr F. H. G. Johnstone, that the management committee accept combined entries for its interclub competition next season, received little support. Mr Johnstone suggested that the combined teams should be limited to two clubs only, but that they might be included in all grades. There was no club spirit in the senior men's competition, the St Albans club delegate said. It seemed to be: ’’l will play for you if I can play top,” she said. “We are very dissatisfied. We are losing our top players because we have no senior team.’’ Another speaker said that this ffar the best players were not the highest grades. The standard of the senior grade spoke for itself, he said. Delegates had admitted that their clubs were weak and that there was something wrong with them, said the chairman of the management committee (Mr G. E. R. Atkinson). “Our job is to promote inter-dub competition. We can't have that unless we have clubs playing against one another. We provide competitions where clubs can build teams through the grades.” Combined teams would be a sign of weakness In Canterbury tennis, said Mr M. C. Healey. It would weeken the association in the eyes of the rest of the country. If some of Ute juniors were loyal to their clubs, the clubs would be able to get senior teems without poaching, aald Mr W. Clothier. Some found that their clubs were not strong and they “zoomed” off elsewhere. be said. I