100 years of chalk dust

Past Presidents at the 1989 Zululand Closed Championships: Louis van Zyl (president 1980-1983), Cyril Wilson (president 1975-76), Mari van Zyl (president 1986-87), Willie le Roux (president 1973-74), Peter Stead (president 1978), HO Lee (president 1950-60), RA Lagerwall (president 1967-70), G Rautenbach (president 1961-66) and Rusty Barnes (president 1984-85)

Contestants in the Zululand Open Championships mixed doubles final in 1960: Alf van der Vyver, J Boik, Nancy Pennefather and Brian Kramer

Past presidents include: Peter Cowie (1992), Anne Austin (1995-96), Dorothy Stanton (Match Secretary), John Bozas (1990-91) and Rudi Meyer (President 1988-89)

Current President - Snyman van Straaten, in action at this year’s Zululand Closed Championships

 

Earl Baillache

THE Zululand Lawn Tennis Association is celebrating its 100th anniversary at the Richards Bay Country Club on Saturday 21 October.
From 9am-noon, the Van Zyl Cup invitational event for doubles will open proceedings.
This event is a long-standing tradition as the van Zyl and Veater families have been sponsoring and organising the event for over a decade.
Competitive tennis will be played in a doubles round-robin format with excellent prizes being awarded to all participants.
The official section of the programme will be from 12-2pm with a centenary lunch for invited guests, which will include past presidents, executive committee members, former champions, players, sponsors and administrators.
This will include speeches and the unveiling of a special commemorative centenary trophy.
Old photographs and trophies will also be on display.
From 2-5.30pm, the courts will open for guests to enjoy a game of social tennis, followed by a light supper at 6pm.
 

History
The Zululand Lawn Tennis Association was formed in 1906 by a number of farmers who settled in the vicinity of the old Empangeni Sugar Mill.

These farmers joined forces to form an association to structure the sport.
The earliest clubs were eShowe, Ging, Melmoth, Riverview and Empangeni.
Over the years, the Association’s boundaries eventually stretched from Hluhluwe to Mandeni and from Richards Bay to Nkandla.

Melmoth
An important club with superior facilities at the turn of the century was the Melmoth Club.
Shortly after the the Anglo-Boer War, the small community built its first court in 1907.
A year later, a second court was built and the first pavilion constructed.
A third court was added in 1926, and a year later, the first brick pavilion was erected.
 

eShowe
The Zululand Open Championships was first held at the turn of the century in eShowe.
The exceptional facilities and warm hospitality of the Club attracted top players from all provinces for close to 80 years, including Federation Cup players from New Zealand, Finland and Canada.
Since the courts were in part on police grounds, the facility had to relocate to the scenic colonial setting at the Country Club by 1967.
 

Empangeni
The first Club was formed in 1906 and was situated next to the town hall.
During the late 1940s, Ledlie Hume obtained loans from the Zululand Lawn Tennis Association and Natal Lawn Tennis Association to construct a tennis pavilion and courts next to the Empangeni Country Club.
The new Club become the official base of the Association by the mid 1960s.

Ging
The Club was founded in 1909 when local storekeepers contacted the surrounding farmers to establish a tennis club.
The annual subscriptions were 10 shillings and six pence in 1912.
Two clay courts were officially opened on 13 June 1913 but unfortunately, when the lease ended in 1917, the committee had to open new courts in 1918.

uMfolozi
The first courts were built in 1912 among the sugar cane fields but by 1950, were relocated to the Riverview Country Club.
The Club changed its designation to uMfolozi Tennis Club in 1966, and celebrated its 75th anniversary with a mixed doubles inter-club event in 1989.

Heatonville
The Club was opened on 31 May 1931 with the construction of the pavilion amounted to 49 pounds, 13 shillings and nine pence.
The site for the present facility next to the Heatonville Farmers’ Hall was donated when a second court was added in 1932.
Two years later the club affiliated to the Zululand Lawn Tennis Association.

Other Clubs
Mtunzini Tennis Club was established in 1947 at the former farmers’ hall.
The Club was incorporated with the Mtunzini Country Club in 1966 and new courts were constructed next to the golf course.
Although Monzi Club Tennis Club only affiliated its members to the Association in 1972, it was founded in 1945.
Amatikulu and Nkwaleni joined the Association in June and November 1963, respectively.
Unfortunately, Nkandla Tennis Club withdrew from the Association in 1966 but membership was boosted again when Richards Bay Tennis Club affiliated with 90 members in 1972.
By 1975, Hluhluwe formed the northernmost border of the Association with the Veldenvlei Club joining in 1989.