Lawn Tennis

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 34, 29 November 1944, Page 5

Lawn Tennis

LOCAL ASSOCIATION'S NEW

STATUS

At a recent meeting of the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association a motion, proposed by the Manawatu Association and seconded by the Wairarapa Association, to give the Hutt Valley Sub-Assocaition direct affiliation, was strongly supported by delegates representing Tennis Associations throughout New Zealand.

This means that Hutt Valley is no longer responsible to the Wellington Association, but is entrusted with the management of its own district and is responsible only to the N.Z. L.T.A.

The case for the Hutt Valley was based on the fact that the Hutt Valley area is a compact one and geographically separate from Wellington, and that its population is aire.- d}' so large and its future prospe< i so great that it was in the ir.t' if s-ts of tennis to give the local authority full control.

Thus, all clubs in the Valley and Bays area, were, by the vote of delegates to the N.Z.L.T.A., assigned to the care and custody of the Hutt Valley Lawn Tennis Association. In this re.arrangement, the Wellington L.T.A. loses the Hutt Valley SubAssociation together with a couple of clubs which were previously affiliated to another Wellington SubAssociation, but which are resident in the Valley area.

It is interesting when passing this nv : ie;tcr,e in the history of tennis in the Valley, to glance back and to see just how rapidly the game has gained ground in that rapidly growing area. In 1923 an Association of several clubs was formed to run a series of inter-club matches. By 1925 this Hutt Valley Junior Lawn Tennis Associaton, as it was called, had six clubs in its ranks. In 1926 the Association grew to ten clubs, with a total membership of 385 players. In 1929 there were sixteen affiliated clubs scattered from Eastbourne to Upper Hutt and the'total membership 1 'was* (563. Ih 1930 after much discussion, it was decided "to affiliate with the Wellington Associaation, and consequently the old Junior Association disappeared, to reappear as the Hutt Valley Tennis Sub-Association. Growth continued to be rapid, until in 1939 the Sub-Associaton • controlled 21 clubs with 1124 members.

Owing to the war membership 4 U ** ing the last few years has declined just a little, but it is again on the up-grade, and* With "a present roll of approximately 1,000 members the H.V.L.T.A. has every prospect <jf being before long, numerically one of the strongest in New Zealand. The Association is at present' a live body, and is concentrating its on an attempt to secure I , sociation courts, which are essential before the Association can stage tournaments and give its players an opportunity of competing against the best players from other Associations.