I invite all GB Vets members to
raise a glass on December 19th when we celebrate
55 years since
our club was formed.
By chance recently, I was sorting some
old books and came across a number of early copies of
The Squash Rackets Association Handbook. I chose to
read the 1963-64 one because it I was interested to
compare the squash world today with that in 1963 when
our club was formed. The only paid member of the SRA
was Secretary John Horry who relied upon the huge
support of
volunteers, who shared a love of squash, to make
things happen. The SRA
Handbook had become the bible of British and
International Squash largely
financed by over 1600 members (including 260 Juniors),
36 counties and
hundreds of clubs together with all the armed
services, universities and overseas. It included
articles on the rules of squash, marking and building
of courts.
You can either wonder at the
advertisement for a Spalding wooden
squash racket (round head of course!) on sale for
£4.19.6 (with a present-day value of £101!) or note
with interest the start of the Annual Report:
“However much a game may be expanding,
there are always periods of stagnation when through
complacency or lack of incentive the game gets
into a rut.”
The writer went on to describe the
shock to British squash in 1962 when teams from
Australia and South Africa first came over. Australia
won 14 out of 15 matches while South Africa won 12 out
of 15. The Amateur Championship of that season was won
by Australian Ken Hiscoe.
Roy Wilson, who had won the Amateur
Championship in 1954 and 1956 and ran Surrey County
Squash who dominated the Inter-County tournaments,
wrote that the impact of these two visiting teams
resulted in “an explosion of
enthusiasm and the spreading of a wide net to catch
the best talent.”
It is well documented that during the
later 1960s and the 1970s our sport
expanded rapidly when squash became THE game to play
inspired by the
phenomenon of Jonah Barrington and attractive to
aspiring young people.
Building of courts by local councils and ambitious
investors produced clubs with up to twenty courts
compared with the traditional “members” clubs with
four courts. However, as early as the late 1980s,
clubs were beginning to convert squash courts for gym
or dance or close them altogether. Since then, our
sport in Britain has continued to decline despite
continued efforts by the likes of The Jesters,
Escorts, GB Veterans and, later, the England Masters.
It is evident that England Squash (the
modern version of the old SRA) is struggling to halt
the fundamental decline of our sport. With currently
17 members of staff (in itself a huge reduction on a
few years ago), it seems to concentrate on “Premium
Squash” with the PSA and the top, International
players. Although they organise excellent programs for
juniors, they seem to add less and less value to clubs
and intercounty initiatives.
I would like to turn the clock back.
Let’s energise the club players and the counties.
Let’s try and ensure that young players, who learn to
love squash at school or university continue to play
the game in their twenties, thirties and onward.
Over the last 55 years, the Great
Britain Veterans and England Masters have worked very
hard, with limited funds but huge energy, to recognise
the needs of the Over 35 squash players (both men and
women). Let’s continue to make a difference!
Tom Hendry
Chairman
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