TABLE TENNIS IN CLACTON-ON-SEA AND DISTRICT
A BRIEF HISTORY
A NEW SPORT
Table tennis is a comparatively new sport. The first record of
table tennis anywhere in the world was in the 1880s when the game was
known as “ping pong”.
It was not until after the First World War that table tennis
became popular as a sport. In 1926, the International Table Tennis
Association was formed and standard rules adopted worldwide. The
English Table Tennis Association was formed a year later in 1927.
THE BEGINNINGS IN CLACTON
The Clacton and District Table Tennis League was formed in 1938
with one Division. It ran for just two seasons, when the Second World
War caused the League to suspend its operations.
The League resumed in 1947. In the next year (1948) a Second
Division was added. Two years later (1950) a Third Division and a
Ladies Division were added. However, the Ladies Division proved a
short-lived experiment that lasted for only two seasons. Since 1952,
the League has operated on a “mixed” basis.
With the popularity of table tennis growing, a Fourth Division was
added in 1967, a Fifth Division in 1968 and, in 1969 (for one season
only), a Sixth Division. Since then, the League has had either three,
four or five Divisions.
THE KNOCK-OUT CUP
In 1958/59, the League introduced a Knock-Out Cup competition for
all League teams. To give teams a more even chance, whatever their
standard, the Knock-Out Cup has been played on a handicap basis.
Originally, teams elected to play in the Cup Competition. From the
late 1980s, all teams have been automatically entered.
The Clacton Youth Centre (CYC) Club holds the record number of
Knock-Out Cup wins - 9 in total. Windsor Club teams have won it 8
times and a Brotherhood Club team has won it on 7 occasions. In its
51-year existence, teams from 18 different Clubs have won the Cup.
The Knock-Out Cup Final was originally played on a neutral venue
but, since 1985, the Knock-Out Cup Final has found a permanent home at
the Brotherhood Hall.
THE CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIPS
As well as running Divisional Leagues for teams, the League has
organised a Closed Championships for individual League players. In the
early days, these were called the “Individual Championships”. In its
first two seasons, there were only two titles to be won - a Singles
and a Doubles event, both of which were open to men and women.
When competitive table tennis resumed after the War in 1947, a
separate Ladies Singles event was added. In 1948, the Mixed Doubles
event was added and, in 1950, the Ladies Doubles.
Thereafter, the Championships grew and more events have been added
- the Junior Singles (1953), the Junior Doubles (1957), the Veterans
Singles (1959), the Divisional Singles (1973), the Restricted Singles
(1991) and the Super-Veterans Singles (1998).
Over the years, the Championships have become one of the most
important events in Clacton’s sporting calendar. They have been held
in a number of different venues - the Brotherhood Hall, St James’ Old
Church Hall, Clacton Town Hall and Clacton Leisure Centre. Since 2001,
the Championships have been held at Colbayns School, Clacton-on-Sea.
THE CHAMPIONS
The League’s most prolific champion is Sheila Howe. Between 1956
and 1999, Sheila took a record 53 titles - the Ladies Singles (19
times), the Ladies Doubles (20) and the Mixed Doubles (14).
Ken Gladwell has recorded the most number of victories in the Mens
Singles (9 times between 1952 and 1965). In addition, he took titles
in the Mens Doubles (3), Mixed Doubles (3) and Veterans Singles (5),
his last title coming in the 1973/74 season.
The League’s most prolific male player has been David Binns who
has taken a total of 33 titles - Junior Singles (2), Mens Singles (4),
Mens Doubles (13), Mixed Doubles (12), Veterans Singles (1) and
Super-Veterans Singles (1).
David is the only player to have taken the “Grand Slam” - the
Junior Singles, Mens Singles, Mens Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Veterans
Singles and Super-Veterans Singles titles. He took his first Junior
Singles title in 1959/60 and completed the set by taking the
Super-Veterans Singles title in 2006/07.
Sheila Howe and David Binns continue to play in the League, whilst
Ken Gladwell retired in 2007. Sheila is currently the League’s
President, whilst Ken is a Vice-President.
THE LEAGUE’S OLDEST CLUBS
Brotherhood was one of the League’s original Clubs and is the only
Club to have existed during the whole of the League’s history. Their
home venue is the Brotherhood Hall in Clacton’s St Osyth Road.
Brotherhood were the champions in the League’s first two seasons.
Since then, a Brotherhood team has won the Division One title on a
further 18 occasions (including the past 11 seasons) - a record 20
times in all.
The League’s second oldest Club is Walton, formed shortly after
the Second World War, whose home has been the Red Triangle premises in
Walton.
YOUTH CLUBS AND SCHOOLS
In the early years, teams from youth associations and youth clubs
were one of the main sources of League teams.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Clacton Youth Centre (CYC) Club,
based at the old St Osyth Road School, Clacton, was the League’s most
successful Club. Teams from CYC won the Division One title on 10
occasions. The Club, which later moved to Green Lodge, Old Road,
Clacton (and re-named Green Lodge) ceased to exist in 1994.
Over the years, League teams have also included Walton YM, Frinton
CYC, Brightlingsea YMCA, as well as schools and colleges - St Osyth
College, CCHS, Colbayns, Chafford and Priory Meadow
WORK-PLACE TABLE TENNIS
An even more important source of League table tennis players has
been the work-place.
The history of the League has seen numerous teams based on the
work-place, such as GPO, Electric, Gas, Barclays Bank, Taxes, NFA (DSS),
Eastern National, Police, NHS, NALGO, Halifax, and Telecoms. Most of
the teams actually played at their work-place.
As a result, League table tennis has been played in several
unusual places – including the banking hall of Barclays Bank and the
cells of the old Clacton police station!
The League’s most successful work-place Club was Nico, based in
Oxford Road, Clacton. Their “A” side won the Division One title 5
times in a row in the mid-1970s. During that period, they twice won
the Knock-Out Cup.
But with the gradual pressure on businesses for space, work-place
table tennis venues have been squeezed out. Sadly, the League now has
no work-based table tennis clubs.
CHURCHES AND CHURCH HALLS
Many table tennis Clubs have used church halls as their playing
venues. For example, over the years the Jaywick Club has made use of
several of the church halls in the Jaywick area - the Methodist
Church, St Christophers and the Roman Catholic Church.
Of the six clubs currently in the League, three play in church
halls in Clacton - Brotherhood (Brotherhood Hall, St Osyth Road),
Windsor (St James Church Hall, Tower Road) and Nomads (Christ Church
URC Church Hall, Carnarvon Road).
The League has also had several Clubs which not only played in
church halls but which were “church-based”. These included St Pauls
(who played in the old church hall in Clacton High Street), the
Salvation Army and Frinton Catholic Church.
TABLE TENNIS OUTSIDE THE TOWN
The Clacton and District Table Tennis League’s rules state that
“affiliation to the League shall be open to Clubs whose headquarters
lie within 10 miles of the Town Hall, Clacton-on-Sea”. However, there
is also provision that this rule can be waived in exceptional
circumstances.
Whilst the majority of teams who have competed in the League have
come from Clacton, several have come from outside the town.
Over the years, there have been teams representing Wivenhoe,
Brightlingsea, Alresford, Great Holland, Harwich, St Osyth, Point
Clear and Mistley. Occasionally, Colchester-based teams like Tech
College Staff and Pegasus, have played table tennis in the Clacton
League. The League currently has teams based in Walton and Lawford.
Since 1980, a Walton team has won the Division One title on 8
occasions, whilst a Great Holland side has won it 6 times.
TEAM NAMES
Table tennis teams are traditionally formed from Clubs. Some Clubs
have just one team whereas others have several. Traditionally, both
nationally and locally, teams are named “A”, “B”, “C” etc. according
to the standard of the team.
The Clacton Youth Centre Club was a notable exception to this.
Their teams of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s had more romantic names -
the Romans, Spartans, Grecians, Iceni, Vikings, Unpredictables and
Optimists.
In 1990, the Windsor Club changed their team-names to birds of
prey - the Eagles, Falcons, Condors and Kestrels - whilst from 2000,
the Nomads Club named its teams after “big cats” - the Tigers,
Jaguars, Pumas and Leopards.
THE ESSEX OPEN TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS AT BUTLINS : 1960
On 10th and 11th September 1960, the Essex County Table Tennis
Association held its Open Table Tennis Tournament at the Embassy Hall
in Clacton’s Butlin’s Holiday Camp.
Among the competitors were Johnny Leach, the World Mens Singles
champion in 1949 and 1951, and Diane Rowe, one of the famous Rowe
twins who took the World Ladies Doubles title in 1954. Diane, in her
own right, was four times English National Ladies Singles champion.
Also among the entrants was a young Chester Barnes, later to win the
National Singles title five times.
JUBILEE ANNIVERSARIES
In 1988, the League celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Among the
celebrations, the League held a Jubilee Dinner, for players past and
present, at Highfields, Clacton on 22nd April 1988. Guest of Honour
was John Prean, Chairman of the English Table Tennis Association.
When the League celebrated its Diamond Jubilee ten years later,
the Jubilee Dinner was held at Giorgio’s in Holland on Sea on 15th May
1998. On that occasion, the Guest of Honour was Doreen Stannard, the
only woman to have been made a Life Member of the English Table Tennis
Association.
At the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, a special presentation was
made to Brian and Shirley Rowlen for their services to the League.
Shirley had, among other things, been the League’s Secretary for over
20 years, whilst Brian had been involved in running the League since
the early 1950s, most notably as Press and Records Secretary, and
latterly as Chairman, a post he still holds.
And to celebrate 70 years, the League organised a 70th Anniversary
Dinner on 10th May 2008 at Giorgio’s in Holland-on-Sea with Doreen
Stannard again the Guest of Honour.
NATIONAL TOP 12 TABLE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : 1988/9 & 1989/90
The 1988/89 Stiga National Top 12 Table Tennis Championships - one
of the most prestigious national tournaments organised by the English
Table Tennis Association - were held in Clacton. It was the first
major national sporting tournament to take place at the newly-opened
Clacton Leisure Centre. The date was 2nd January 1989.
All of England’s top table tennis players took part. Alan Cooke
won the Mens Title and Fiona Elliot took the Ladies Title. Local
players, Tony Hooper and Pete White, were Tournament Organiser and
Assistant Tournament Organiser respectively.
This proved so successful that the 1989/90 Tournament was also
held at Clacton. Alan Cooke again took the title, this time beating
the legendary Desmond Douglas, whilst Andrea Holt took the Ladies
Title.
Umpires for the Tournament included local officials Brian Rowlen
and Graham Parkes, both qualified International Umpires.
THE PRESENT
In the 2008/2009 season, the League has 36 teams from 6 Clubs
playing in three Divisions. Over 140 players play in the League
regularly, their ages ranging from twelve to eighty. The League season
runs from September each year to the following April.
Times may have changed but the League’s objectives are as they as
they have been for most of its history:
- to promote the organisation of competitive table tennis within
the area of Clacton-on-Sea;
- to provide opportunities for members to participate in
tournaments and competitions within the County and at national level;
and
- to encourage young players to participate in the sport and
improve their standard of play.
The Clubs who played in the League in the 2008/09 season (with the
number of individual teams noted in brackets) are : Brotherhood (11);
Lawford (1); Nomads (8);
Red Triangle (1); Walton (3); and Windsor (12)
As well as the League Championship, the Knock-Out Cup and the
Closed Championships (played over a week-end at the end of the
season), the League also organises three minor Tournaments - the
Handicapped Singles, the Senior Combination Tournament and the Junior
Combination Tournament. These minor Tournaments are held on three
separate Saturdays during the season.
The League also takes part in the Essex Inter-League, playing
against other representative League sides in Essex. The League
currently runs one Mens team, two Junior teams, two Veterans teams and
two Super-Veterans team.
Regular coaching for junior players (under 17 years of age) takes
place every Monday evening during school term time at Colbayns School,
Clacton.
TABLE TENNIS – A SPORT FOR ALL!
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Clacton
and District Table Tennis League