Canterbury Will Oppose Rotation Of Tennis H.Q.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30294, 21 November 1963, Page 18

Canterbury Will Oppose Rotation Of Tennis H.Q.

[Bp Our Tennis Correspondent] The proposal by the North Shore association that the headquarters of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association rotate among those centres holding the national championships, at five-yearly intervals, is not favoured in Canterbury. The province's delegates will probably oppose the move strongly when it is debated at a meeting of the council in Wellington on November 28. “My views are very much against it,” says the chairman of the Canterbury association’s management committee (Mr M. C. Healey).

sideration and constant changes would make it even more difficult. And all the association's records would have to be bundled, packed and transferred every five years. Overseas Confusion Also, there would be some confusion among overseas administrators and players with whom the association was negotiating if one week : they were dealing with Wel- • lington, the next week with ' Auckland. Mr Healey considers it ■ would take two years for ad- , ministration to become pro- ■ perly organised in any centre > and by that time its term ■' would be nearly half over. - He also thinks there might be

Objections to the proposal are many, the main one the sharp break in continuity every five years. Experience i g a basis for successful administration and this would mean a completely new set of administrators unfamiliar with national association work. ’’’here may be merit in ai'”cl«ns that some serve on' for too long, but regularly to change all members at once would be likely to bring periods of chaos. Perhaps even more important is the secretaryship, which most needs continuitySports organisations often do not find it easy to get quali-' fled secretaries; a time con-

some difficulty in suddenly finding an extra seven administrator*—the number of the national ' management committee —because none can serve on the local association at the same time. On the other hand, Auckland has indicated it will probably support North Shore’s motion. The Auckland management committee chairman (Mr N. Barclay) has said: “Auckland has a strong body of administrators, and I feel there would be no difficulty in filling positions, particularly if the centre was shifted north, as there could easily be three or possibly four associations represented on the management.” As his four associations Mr Barclay must envisage Auckland, North Shore, Northland and Waikato. It is difficult to imagine members travelling from Whangerei or Hamilton for a meeting of a few hours one evening every week. It is known Waikato does not favour the rotation scheme but may be in favour of a permanent shift of the headquarters to Auckland.