More play than work for business house tennis
It was almost game, set and match for the Pukekura Park Tennis Club fifty years ago.
That was until the business house competition lifted player numbers and morale. The Monday night summer competition, which began in 1968, rescued the 107-yearold club from folding.
Veteran player Bruce Davidson has been a large part of the resurgence after interest in the game dropped away.
For some reason or another, people were not interested in playing the game, Davidson said.
‘‘There were too many other things to do which attracted people.’’
Now the weekly social competition exists on word of mouth and consistently attracts players from New Plymouth businesses year after year, he said.
‘‘Back in the late 60s we were only getting six players along on club days.
‘‘The club would have closed if we had not started business house.’’
It now has 350 members. Between October and March, 15 teams of three battle it out across the net during three 30 minute games to find the overall competition winner, and Winstone Trophy holders.
Davidson took over organising the competition after Graham Telfer stepped down and spent 35 years between 1975 and 2010 collating scores and preparing draws.
After a brief ‘retirement’ Davidson is back this year to do it again, as well as playing for his team Hookers Pacific.
‘‘I just love it, I really enjoy playing and I really enjoy getting together after the games are over.’’
The social side of business house tennis has been the mainstay of the competition for nearly half a century, he said.
Players skilled and agile on the court were transformed into equally nimble card players off the court.
‘‘It was not uncommon for card games to start in the clubroom when everyone had finished playing tennis.
‘‘The card games would go on all through the night and there are stories of guys never going home and being dropped off at work the next morning.’’
The competition might have been social but it attracted some skilled tennis players including some of the province’s leading sportsmen and women from other codes, he said.