Last word to players?

Press, 8 November 1978, Page 48

Last word to players?

By JOHN BROOKS : The Canterbury Lawn ( Tennis Association might] have a tiger by the tail ini the suspension imposed by ( its disciplinary committee on I a senior player, Graeme Liddell. for swearing during a competition match. The penalty has left many players flabbergasted, for the word complained of is close to becoming idiomatic — “shit.” Far worse oaths have withered the grass at Wilding Park in the past — but in many cases the. transgressors' have gone unpunished because nobody complained. It was Liddell’s mis-

’fortune that he was heard |by a senior official. ■ But having suspended a (player for uttering one of (the milder four-letter words, : the committee has set. a high . standard of behaviour which it might find hard to enforce. To be consistent, it must monitor competition ■ games with far greater diligence than in the past. At ■ present it is only sheer chance if a player is caught. . Liddell has attracted a lot of sympathy from fellow players. They know well . that many of them have of- . fended to a greater degree in . the past. — and got away with it. There have been some choice examples of petulance at the park. Last season one young man flung his racket (about the court with abanidon and forcefully expressed (his disgust. One player whacked a ball in annoyance and hit a child oh the leg. Another threw his racket and just, missed striking an old lady on the head. Yet another smashed his racket on a metal net-post. An incident which has passed into folklore concerned a player who tossed: his spectacles in the air and smashed them with bis racket. Several balls have been punched through the windows of the pavilion, and one player, on the brink of an upset loss, majestically dispatched two returns of service over the trees into Woodham Road. Many of these and other incidents have been accompanied by. swearing. The official eye was usually absent. The problem is that the use of obscenities has crept into common usage in New Zealand. Numerous players in many sports address their rivals in an apparently vile manner in grudging acceptance of defeat. No offence is intended, or taken. But it is

l| Still swearing, for all that, (and on paper it looks damming. !■( The situation was mirrored by a classic remark from the | chair at the annual meeting i of a Canterbury sports body] . (not tennis) about 10 years ago. It was a stormy gather- [ ing. and the president finally] exploded. “1 won’t have any bloody ■ swearing at this meeting,” he said. Administrators of tennis ■ have held that it would be i splitting hairs to grade - swearing into, say, the catei gories of naughty, bad and ’ shocking. But they might well .have to take a stance > on which terms they consid- ■ er unacceptable an court. i Ryan McCutcheon. captain] . of Liddell’s team. Sumner,] raised an interesting point: [ when he said he supposed a( • player could be booked lor’ • muttering "hell” during a] , match. In the dainty days of the Kathleen Nunneley era this would have constituted a heinous crime. But attitudes change, and it would be surprising if the camimitr.ee took exception to this utterance now. i And what would be the 1 committee's attitude to a remark similar to that passed

by an American, Scott Caranhan, in the Canterbury championships about four ’ years ago? “Oh God, why are you doing this to me?” ■ Carnahan cried out in mock i anguish, dropping his racket and casting his eyes upwards after serving several double faults. Spectators J who saw the incident thought it was funny. A dis« | ciplinary committee, however, could regard it as (blasphemy. 1 Tennis players are a vollatile breed, and in a sport in (which a net keeps getting in (the way it is not surprising I that some expressions of (annoyance will be evoked. The Liddell affair willli

take a further turn next ■ week when the management committee of the association ponders on a Sumner appeal against the suspension. The ; committee has an unenviable task. ; However, a senior player from another club has a | mischievous scheme which (he believes would clear the air. He said all piayers should synchronize their watches, and at an agreed : time they should throw : down their rackets and rear out an obscenity in mighty . unison. I “Then,” said the mischievous one, “we would all ; be suspended and we could . have a week-end off on the