Ron Dutton joins Edgeware

Press, 27 July 1989, Page 29

Ron Dutton joins Edgeware

By DIANNA LESLIE Ron Dutton, an Auckland player in the Air New Zealand national inter-club tennis league, will be flaunting new loyalties this season. The dynamic fireball has signed on the dotted line for Edgeware and is expected to give some added weight to the side which has regained the services of Alistair Hunt, Stephen Harley and Michael Smith. It also has Vernon Aubrey. "The men’s team is looking pretty solid,” said Michael Mooney, the team manager. Dutton beat Mooney, 6-2, and Shirley’s Peter Hampton, 6-4, last season. Mooney hopes that he will not play in the league this season, prefer-

ring to control the organisation for his club. "There is too much involved in managing a team although I will play if the team is short,” he said. Sponsorship with Honda Cars has spread the club’s budget to some outside talent and it is examining the prospect of a player from New Mexico for its No. 2 women’s spot. “We are 99 per cent sure that we have got her. She is ranked around 250 on the world rankings,” Mooney said. Mooney was alerted to her availability through Rachel Wilson, a Christchurch player who is attending university in New Mexico. Negotiations with a New

Zealand Federation Cup player are also in progress although the club has not ruled out the possibility of Australian players Louise Field or Liz Smyllie. “We have our options open and although we have contacts we have not approached them yet. If we took one of the Australian players our 1 quota of overseas players would be filled. We may yet consider another man instead,” Mooney said. Meanwhile, the Shirley club is having to face the prospect of no sponsorship and could well be looking to its own club resources to field a side in the league. Shirley presented its case to 30 national companies but could not secure any commit-

> ment and has trimmed its : requirements to a bare $lO,OOO. i “It will be much harder, i but we are a very seasoned and committed team,” said i Peter Hampton, one of the players. Businessmen within the club, Kevin Seque and Grant Kilday, will act as joint co- ; ordinators for the side so that Hampton can be released from commitments as the team manager. ’ The team is the same as : last year — Brett Hibbert, i Hampton, Mark Belcher, i Brendon Furness, Ruth Seaman, Sally Moorfield and Amanda Trail. At this stage no player will receive monetary compensation for playing.