LAWN TENNIS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 162, 5 April 1938, Page 6

LAWN TENNIS

Wellington Association And Hutt Valley Game SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE

(By

Foueh and. )

So long as tho present cleavage into two practically equal parties continues among the members of tho Wellington Lawn Tennis Association’s management committee there can never be that wholehearted working in the interests of the game itself that the tennis players of Wellington have every right to expect of their rulers. From every point of view the trouble which occurred at last Friday’s meeting is deeply to be regretted. Opportunities for a display of generosity and magnanimity and forbearance that might have healed wide breaches, yet leaving room . for respecting differences of opinion, were allowed In go by. Magnanimity had been displayed on a previous occasion by the section of the committee conveniently, if not very accurately, described as “leftwingers,” when one of its members moved, and another seconded, a motion asking Mr. J. L. Mac Duff to reconsider his decision to resign. That advance surely left the way open for a sinking of past personal feelings, and a reconstruction of administrative matters on a basis sufficiently definite to obviate any chance of similar misunderstandings for the future.

Friday’s debate and decisions on the unfortunate happenings in connection with Wellington's match against the Hutt Valley seem to preclude that possibility.

The manager of the Wellington team considered it his duty to criticise strongly the part played (or not played) by a fellow-member of the committee who had been first; appointed to the position but was called out of Wellington a day or two before the match. The point in dispute was that the players had not been notified of the time they were required to play by the manager first appointed and so arrived some time after the Hutt Valley team was on the ground. He, in his turn, gave it as his opinion that it was not a manager's duty to have to get in touch with the selected players, but that his duties began on the ground or at the place of assembly. Manager’s Functions.

That, it is generally accepted among sports bodies, is a correct interpretation of a manager's functions, although it has been a practice with the Wellington Lawn Tennis Association to leave it to the manager to get in touch with his team and to notify members of what he requires of them.

Had matters rested at a statement of managerial duties all would have been well. Unfortunately the original manager proceeded to regard the criticism in the report as an attempt to “cloak” the “neglect and inefficiency of the selection committee.”

Such an attack cannot be justified, for it should be no part of the duty of a selection committee to notify players of selection. Its duty ceases when it notifies its selection tb the management committee and it should really be the decision of the committee as a whole to instruct the secretary to notify the players of their selection and the time and place of assembly. The original manager moved an amendment, v to a motion to adopt the report, for the. deletion of the words to which he took exception. He did not vote himS£lf and' the amendment, I was informed next day, was officially recorded as being lost by six votes to live. But he voted against the motion to adopt the report and as the voting was the chairman gave his casting vote for the motion, which was therefore carried.

Several members have said that but for the attack made on the selection committee they would have voted for the deletion. It would have been a fine gesture on their part, in view of the original manager’s statement of his conception of a manager’s duties, to have voted for deletion, and then tried, in the more amicable frame of mind that such a vote must have engendered, to reach a reasonable agreement on the remarks concerning the selection committee. As it is, nobody is really happy about the whole business.

The committee as a whole agreed to accept responsibility for the unfortunate jjeatment meted out to the Hutt Valley team through the late arrival of the Wellingon players, giving an assurance that such discourtesy was unintentional, and a ""motion to this effect was sent to the Hutt Valley sub-association. That was the only right course to take. There was a little difficulty in arriving at an appropriate wording of the motion to send to the Hutt Valley sub-association, anTl a suggestion that the discourtesy “arose'through circumstances not under the association’s control” did u.qt remain part of the motion, as reported last week. The wording of the motion is: “This association expresses regret for the apparent discourtesy shown to the Hutt Valley sub-association in its recent match and assures the Hutt Valley sub-association that such discourtesy was not intentional.” For tlie Future.

Many of the difficulties and misunderstandings outlined above, and others, may very well be things of the past if ■■certain notices of motion framed by Mr. L. Wise are adopted by the management committee at its next meeting. To carry them out may throw some extra work on the shoulders of the secretary and the treasurer, but there is little doubt -that they would welcome any reasonable suggestion that will make for a more harmonious working among members and will keep each member thoroughly apprised of all matters that each is entitled to know. Some of the motions are designed merely to give effect to the generally accepted practice which, just because it is generally accepted, may not always be carried out to the letter, even though the spirit may be retained. Of particular value is the motion dealing with the desire for a clear definition of the duties of sub-committees. It is to be hoped that when the time comes for these motions to be considered the members will settle down in a spirit of real co-operation for the purpose of discussing the suggestions on their merits ; that they will deal with them not on the basis of whether carrying them out would entail more work for the secretary and the treasurer but on the basis of helping forward the cause of tennis in ■Wellington. That is the only fair and honest test. Besides helping forward tennis in Wellington the motions should prove an acceptable guide to the chairman, the secretary and the treasurer. Brougham Hill Club.

The singles championships of. the Brougham Hill club have resulted in an unusual positiou. The men’s champion, N. Patchett, is a left-hander, and the women’s champion, Miss Joyce Nicholls, is also a left-hander. Both players, too, were coached by Mr. T. S. Williams. Both are as at honie in the forecourt as on the baseline.