PLAYERS, OFFICIALS UNITED... Tennis tournament on; ban to be defied

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 30

PLAYERS, OFFICIALS UNITED... Tennis tournament on; ban to be defied

(By

A. M. MENZIES

All the players are in New Zealand and the Benson and Hedges women’s tennis tournament will begin at Wilding Park today as scheduled.

Misses K. Melville and L. Hunt arrived yesterday from Australia, Mrs J. Dalton will arrive today from Auckland, where she played an exhibition match on Sunday after another in Wellington the previous day.

These are the three players who today, December 1, will be declared “not of good standing” by the Lawn Tennis. Association of Australia.

“We were expecting this would happen,” said Miss Melville. “I am going to play; we have our obligations to Gladys.” Protest group Miss Melville was referring to Mrs Gladys Heldman, editor and publisher of the magazine “World Tennis,” who late last year formed a group of women into a troupe because they were disappointed with the tournaments

available for women and also the considerable discrepancy between the rewards offered to men and women.

Last evening, the situation had reached an impasse. The Canterbury association is determined to hold its tournament with the draw as arranged, the three Australians are determined to play in it, and the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association still holds that the women should obtain permission. \ However, the women certainly have divided loyalties and their status is far from clear. The Australian association holds that it still has control over them; the women are taking their orders from Mrs Heldman. Status queried

When the international federation was approached about the status of the Christchurch tournament some time ago, it ruled that the three Australians were not professionals, so it did not have to be declared an open tournament. The chairman of the Canterbury association (Mr R. B. Brown) said that he had a telephone call early yesterday from the secretary of the New Zealand association (Mr D. R. Massam). He told Mr Brown that the meeting of the N.Z.L.T.A. management committee on Monday evening had ruled he was to tell the players to apply to the L.T.A.A. for permission, without which they should not be included in the tournament.

The deputy chairman of the New Zealand association, Mr I. D. Wells, of Welling-

ton, said by telephone last evening that he was certain that if the players applied to the L.T.A.A. for permission to play in the Christchurch tournament it would be granted. Mr J. P. Young, a council member and New Zealand delegate on the L.T.A.A., who arrived in Wellington yesterday on business, said he would telephone Mrs Dalton this morning. "I propose to ask Judy if she will make a formal application on behalf of all of the girls to play in Christchurch,” he said.

“If she agrees, I will undertake to ring the Australian association and ask the executive to approve the application.”

He warned that if Canterbury accepted their entry without approval, the N.Z.L.T.A. might be fined anything up to $5OOO by the international federation. No action taken However, the arrangement was for Mrs Heldman’s group to play in two tournaments in New Zealand, the Benson and Hedges event in Christchurch and the Benson and Hedges New Zealand Open in Auckland. Because it clashes with the Queensland championships, permission would be unlikely for the Auckland tournament

Therefore, the women have not applied to the L.T.A.A. and as matters stood last evening were unlikely to do so.

When Miss Melville arrived yesterday—Miss Hunt had also arrived on an earlier plane—she was adamant that she was a member of a group and she was fitting in with what it did. The Australian association has bound them not to leave Australia between December 1 and February 6 without permission but they will be leaving to play in a United States tournament beginning on January 12. Miss Melville said that six or seven Australian women would be going to that event and they would be banned then anyway.

Suspension unlikely

Miss Melville said she thought it unlikely that the Australian association would suspend them because it had the national championships coming up soon. It was more likely to say they were "out of favour.”

Miss Melville and Mrs Dalton faced a similar situation last season when they had indicated they would be leaving Australia to play in the United States before the permitted date and thev were not able to be selected for the Federation Cup side. There is certainly some confusion about the status of the Australian players. The L.T.A.A. regards them as registered players still under the control of their national association but Mrs Dalton, for one, according to a message from Auckland, regards herself as a contract professional and outside the control of the Australian association.

She and Miss Melville were among nine women who signed $1 contracts with Mrs Heldman last September. According to Miss Melville yesterday, the group has now grown to 45. $5OOO fine As far as Christchurch officials are concerned the tournament has no change. A fine of $5OOO has been mentioned as a penalty for defying the ban, but there is no precedent for this type of penalty and these officials ask wnat good that is going to do the game of tennis. Mr Brown said yesterday he was conscious that if the I.L.T.F. went the whole way the New Zealand association could suffer, but he added that the C.L.T.A. had had a reply from the I.L.T.F. to a request asking what the consequences of its action would be and all the federation had said was that the players would be declared not in good standing. Mr Brown again emphasised that the Canterbury association would continue with all its plans because of the money it had laid out, and the obligations it had to the sponsors, the public and the players.