Introduction to Our History:

Table tennis being played at the Cronulla RSL goes back over 75 years. Unfortunately, over that time a lot of records and history have been lost. However, in June 23 we were contacted by Bruce Roberts whose history with the club as both a multiple Club Champion and President goes back over 50 years. Bruce has taken the time to put together a history of our club, concentrating on the 60’s, 70’s and early eighties. The following ‘A Snapshot in Time’ document is invaluable information for our club and Bruce captures the essence of the fun, competition and friendships that the club provided for many members and visitors over several decades.

We thank Bruce immensely for what he has provided and it gives the current Committee the desire to respect and preserve the club’s history and to continue to provide a worthwhile, fun and friendly experience for all our members, into hopefully a very long future.  

 “A SNAPSHOT IN TIME”

1960’S TO 1980’S

 PREAMBLE

The Cronulla RSL Sub Branch, which was formed in 1942, leased a couple of rooms at the Cecil Hotel, South Cronulla. These were used mainly for sub branch activities, but eventually expanded to include more “social” activities, including dances and other social functions. A few poker machines were installed and the RSL “social club” was born.

A few years on, the sub-branch purchased land in Gerrale Street, the current club location, and commenced development and construction of the new club soon after. The Cronulla RSL Memorial Club was completed with the doors opening for business in June 1953.

Cronulla RSL Memorial Club “History” alludes to the fact that the first sporting “sub-clubs” were formed AFTER 1953 (ie.  Fishing, Swimming, Billiards and Snooker), however there is clear evidence  that some sub-club activity was present before then. Both the Swimming and Fishing clubs, for example, were active from around 1950 or earlier.

Again, Cronulla RSL “History” alludes to the fact that the table tennis “sub-club” and a few others (ie Darts, Indoor Bowls, Outdoor Bowls, Golf, Rugby League) were formed closer to 1960. Yet, the table tennis “Singles Club Champion” Trophy (ie the W T Franklin Trophy), has two names engraved on it “K Lawless” and “G Emerson” for the years 1947 and 1948 respectively??

Unfortunately, these two names and their timing appear to be a bit of an “enigma” as “regular activity” and evidence thereof for the table tennis club in any form don’t really emerge until 1961.

As a result, this document/paper will focus on the early ‘60’s as its starting point.

GAME NIGHT

Thursday night was the designated “game” night, and from at least 1961 till the late 80’s or early 90’s, the games were played on the dance floor in the main lounge of the club.

The club had 5 tables. 3 were used for Thursday night play, 1 was kept exclusively for the district competition nights, and one for ladies night.

Now when I say “table” I don’t mean two sides folded together, rolled out on wheels and set up in seconds. Each table had “6” parts to assemble (excluding the net). The “table top” was in two pieces. There were two long “timber support beams” which would lock into 2 “A” shaped timber footings/legs.  The weight of these tables was significant.

On a normal monthly night (ie not a trophy/championship event) each player would play 3 singles matches and one doubles match. Players would need to register by 7.45pm with games starting at 8.00pm. The night often went on till well after 11.00pm.

“Games” were played “first to 21 points” with an advantage of 2 points. All matches were played on handicap, including the “trophy” nights. The only events played without handicap were the club singles championship and club doubles championship.

There wasn’t any “grading” (ie A, B, C etc). Everyone played everyone else based on a random draw under the handicapping system.

Up until about 1980, there were no “plus” handicaps. The “least proficient” player would be on or around “0” and the rest of the players would be scaled up from there depending on their ability. Handicaps were adjusted monthly and would go up or down depending on results. If you won a trophy in any given month you would receive an automatic 10 point “penalty” on your handicap. This was done so that there was an equitable distribution of trophies as best as possible.

Given the large number of members and a vast range of skills, the best player in the club would often end up on a handicap over 100, meaning, should he draw the “least proficient” player he would be most likely giving him around 100+ start. It would make for a long game. Also, it wasn’t a very “entertaining” match for either player. As a result, “plus” handicaps were (eventually) introduced around 1980 which helped overcome this issue and “shorten” the night considerably.

The club “year” began on 1st April and concluded the following March 31.

The singles club championship was contested in July and the doubles club championship in November each year.

These naturally were the 2 most prestigious (and therefore sort after) events, followed by the “Yearly Point Score”, which was awarded to the player who registered the most wins throughout the entire year (ie 1st April to 31st March). The winner often regarded as the most “consistent” and most “successful” player in any given year.

The yearly point score “standings” would come under regular scrutiny closer to the end of the year by those in contention which added to the “prestige” and excitement of the contest. There were also prizes for 2nd and 3rd.

There were many other defined “trophy” nights, often named after the donor of the event. These were scattered throughout the year. Many, if not all of these are still contested today.

The matches were played in good spirit but were still very competitive. These being pre “RBT” times, quite a bit of “amber fluid” was consumed on the night. On many occasions a group of us would retire to one members home in South Cronulla after game night concluded, for a “coffee” and port. Time would often get away and arriving home in the “wee hours” was a regular occurrence. I have a “not so pleasant” memory of my dear wife calling out to me as I quietly came through the front door on one such night “Don’t bother putting the garbage bin out, he's gone!”

There was also strong rumours that Arthur Williams spent his lunch breaks at work on Fridays curled up asleep in the back of his HD holden in the work car park at Warwick Farm.

Alas, working on Friday was a real challenge for many of our members.

Ladies Night - On the last Thursday of every month wives, partners and girlfriends would be invited along and would play an “event” on handicap on a 4th table set up on the carpet at the back of the lounge. During this period, there were no female members of any sub club.

This wasn’t just a “hit and giggle” event. The competitiveness was equal to any of the men’s events. Not surprising to see the names “Penrose” (Rose) and “Williams” (Peggy) appearing on the winners list more often than not.

THE 60’s

Although I wasn’t a member of the table tennis club myself until 1971, I remember many  conversations with fellow members who were present in the 60’s, so I think I can reflect on this time with reasonable confidence and authority.

As there weren’t any “associate” members at this time, all members of the table tennis club (and all other sub-clubs) were return servicemen. Most, if not all, were WW2 vets, having served both in Australia and abroad. They were mostly in their 40’s and early 50’s.

Given the uncertainty of the “formation date” of the table tennis club, it wasn’t clear if there were any WW1 Members at this time (or in fact earlier), although conversations I had with some of the players who were members at this time suggest that there wasn’t any.

Having said that, the names Lawless (1947) and Emerson (1948) continue to come to mind. One thing we do know is that ’47 and ’48 were the first 2 years that the singles club championship was contested, as it states it on the trophy. Whether that is the first two years of the table tennis club as a whole we don’t know.Then there is the name/donor on the singles club championship trophy “W T Franklin”. Who was he? Was he a member of the table tennis club or just a member of the memorial club who generously donated the trophy? He may well have been an early “pioneer” of the table tennis club back in the 40’s at the Cecil Hotel? Sadly, we will never know for sure.

In doing a bit of research I came across a “William Thomas Franklin” who lived in Darook Park Road Cronulla. He passed away in 1968 aged 69. There is more than a fair chance he is our man.

A bit more research and we discovered the full names of our first two champions – Kevin Charles Lawless (’47) and George Oliver Emerson (’48). Kevin was 29 when he won the singles club championship. He passed away in 1960 aged just 42. George was 38 when he won the championship. He passed away in 1993 aged 83.

In the early 60’s, among the leaders of the table tennis club were names like Len Parry, Syd Grant, Ted Grainger, Ted Dellar, Leon Deards, Fred Quested, Bruce Green, George Stearn, Francis Fortune, Len Blyth just to name a few.

There were definitely some characters amongst this lot. Bruce Green was a school teacher by trade but also a renowned magician and hypnotist, going by the stage name of “The Great Mafisto”. I have first hand knowledge of his skills as a hypnotist. When I was in 5th form at high school (1968) he had me running around the school hall cackling like a chook at a school concert night (along with a few other unsuspecting students)

Lenny Parry was also a good bloke to know as he was general manager of EMI records, and was always happy to pass around a few “samples” if prompted. Most of these guys were still members in the early 70’s but they essentially were “non playing” members by the mid ‘70’s.

It wasn’t long before names like Arthur Williams, John Penrose, Geoff Hennessy, Perc Hancock, Bob Chapman and others became integral parts of the club, and would continue to be so for a long time to come.

The singles club champion on the honour roll in 1961 was one “H (Herb) Manglesdorf”. The name “Manglesdorf” was “iconic” within the memorial club throughout the 60’s and 70’s, but not in Table Tennis.

Herb, and his brother “Les” were both multiple singles club champions in Billiards and Snooker. Both were state ranked players for many years.

It is quite possible, if not highly probable, that Herb Manglesdorf is the only “individual” club champion in two different sports/sub-clubs with the Cronulla RSL Memorial Club.

In the 60’s and most of the 70’s the memorial club was quite generous in its support of its members. For example, cheese and biscuits on all the bars was the norm all day every day. 

Also, 3-4 nights per week, the “dining room” would put on a supper on the lounge floor for all members free of charge, things like curried prawns and rice in winter, and cold meats and salads in summer.

In those days, the “dining room” was leased out by the club. One of the many trophies played for at the table tennis club then and still is today is the “Jack Anastas Trophy”. Jack was a member of the table tennis club but I doubt he ever picked up a bat. He ran the dining room for most of the 60’s and early/mid ‘70’s. He had an affinity with the table tennis club, mainly due to the fact that he was a close mate of John Penrose. Needless to say our presentation night dinners and competition night suppers were always a bit “extra special”.

In regard to the action on the tables in the 60’s, following Herb Manglesdorf in ’61 the rest of the decade, and half of the next belonged exclusively to two players, John Penrose and John Harvey.

They won 13 of the next 14 years club singles championships between them. John Penrose winning 8 and John Harvey 5.

Both “Johns” had very different playing styles. John Penrose, who was also affectionately known as “Tubby”, was a short, squat in stature man with lethal backhand and forehand drives and flicks. Because of his “low centre of gravity” he would dominate the middle of the table and was almost impossible to shift.  JP was all aggression and had an uncanny ability to “hit through” underspin, which made him extremely difficult to subdue.

On the other hand, John Harvey was a tall, thick set, powerful man, who, in table tennis terms you would define as a “spoiler”. JH could chop the head off the ball and also possessed an extremely challenging range of serves. JH would simply wear you down. He was the one man during this period that was JP’s equal. JH wasn’t a regular on Thursday nights mainly turning up close to the championships.  John was a civil engineer with Department of Main Roads (DMR) and also played in the city businessmen’s competition.

Despite the dominance of the two Johns, there were a number of other quality players who weren’t far behind. Players such as Arthur Williams, Syd Grant and Geoff Black were always in the mix but just couldn’t get past these two strong adversaries, time and time again. Ken Eldridge was another formidable opponent. Ken didn’t attend many Thursday nights but represented the table tennis club with distinction in the “A” grade district competition. He was also a regular semi-finalist in the singles club championship but always fell just short against the “two John’s”.

In addition to his dominance as a singles player, John Penrose was also a much sought after “doubles partner”. He won “10” doubles club championships in the 60’s and 70’s, five in each decade. In the 60’s he partnered up with Fred Quested in ’64 and ’66 to ’69.

In the 60’s through to the mid ‘70’s, all our members were “self - taught”. To the best of my knowledge, none of our members during this period received any specific “tuition” or “coaching” on the finer points of the modern game, particularly skills like heavy forehand and backhand top spin.

Probably around 30% - 40% of our members in the 60’s played with a “pen grip”, mostly using flat bats/paddles with little or no rubber to speak of. Others used “off the shelf” bats with a modest amount of rubber thickness, with one or two (eg John Harvey) who used to “build” their own bats with specialised rubber to impart as much spin as possible.

THE 70’s

My dad, Brian Roberts, was a returned serviceman (WW2) and a member of Cronulla RSL Club.

In 1969, the first intake of “Associate Members” was approved by the board. To be eligible you had to be a “son of a member”. I turned 18 in October 1969 and immediately joined the memorial club.

In early 1971, a good friend of mine, who was also a “son of a member”, encouraged me to come along and have a game of table tennis at the club. His dad was a member and secretary of the table tennis sub club, his dad’s name was “Geoff Hennessy”.

I went along with my friend one night for a look. I had never played a game of table tennis in my life to that point, although I was reasonably proficient at tennis.

After that first night I was hooked, and I joined the club the following week.

In the early 70’s, more “sons of members” joined the table tennis club. In addition, a number of “National Service Conscripts”, who were “called up” for duty during the Vietnam War, also became members, giving the club a wider spread demographically.

Ages now ranged from early twenties through to early 60’s, with membership numbers well over 40. Thursday night attendance was generally in the twenties, some nights as many as thirty.

The injection of many young players into the club seemed to lift the “energy and enthusiasm” of the older members and despite the age differences the comradery across all generations was strong and positive, as was the competition.

Also, the mid-seventies saw associate membership being offered to all and sundry, and all sub-clubs had an influx of new members as a result. Again, this presented opportunity for a “wider range” of skill and diversity to join us at the table.

The mid seventies also saw a “changing of the guard” in regard to dominance at the table. John H and John P  had a stranglehold on the top spots in the first half of ’75, but ’76 saw a shift in that momentum.

Winning the singles club championship for the first time in ’76 was an extremely proud moment for me personally, and I think a milestone moment for the table tennis club as a whole. But it wasn’t winning the “final” that year that had the greatest impact, it was the fact that I beat “John Penrose”, club legend, the number one ranked player and current champion, in the semi - finals.

This had a massive flow on effect for the club.

As previously stated, “the two John’s” dominated the table for 14 years from ’62-’75. However, In the 7 years between ’76 and ’82 we had no less than 5 different singles club champions :

1 – Bruce Roberts (’76, ’77 & ’81)

2 – John Penrose (’78) – Just when you think you had finally broken the nexus, he pops up again in ’78 and wins it again!!

3 – Roger Massie (79) – Roger (the Dodger) Massie joined the table tennis club in ’78. Roger was about 25 when he joined us. Roger had come up from Tasmania for work and he and I played men’s cricket together. In conversation he mentioned he played table tennis so I invited him along for a hit. I thought

he said he played IN Tasmania, what I missed was he actually played FOR Tasmania. Roger brought to the club the first evidence of a “coached” player, introducing heavy forehand and backhand top spin which many members found quite daunting. He certainly bolstered the ranks of dominant players. Sadly, Roger returned to Tasmania at the end of 1980. No doubt if he had stayed his name would have appeared on W T Franklin Trophy many more times I feel.

4 – Garry Russell (’80) - Garry came to the club in the same year as Roger the Dodger. We came up against Garry many times in the “A” Grade District Competition. Garry played for Heathcote United Services Club, and was a great player. Garry married in ’78 and bought a unit in Cronulla. As a result he joined our table tennis club which again lifted the overall standard of play considerably. Garry was 27 when he joined us.

5 – Rob Penrose (’82) – Rob , John’s younger son , was definitely a chip off the old block. Rob was already a member when I joined in ’71. He was a year older than me (21). Rob was fairly “sporadic” in his attendance. Working for Qantas he spent a lot of time away, and he often was absent when the singles championship was contested. Rob won the singles championship for the first time in ’71 aged just 21. This was at a time when the “two Johns” had a stranglehold on the title. Rob had a great all - round game. Like his dad, his forehand and back hand drives were lethal. But Rob also possessed a very strong “defensive” game which made him a very challenging adversary. By the mid seventies Rob was hardly seen at all and, like Roger the Dodger, had he been more regular I have no doubt his name would also have dominated the W T Franklin Trophy many more times, just like his dad. Coaxed by his mother “Rose” however, Rob always seemed to find time to come along and contest the doubles club championship in the early 70’s, partnering hid dad John. As a pair they were pretty much unbeatable. Rob and John won 5 doubles club championships on the trot between ’71 and ’75.

With this group of players and many others leading the charge, Toward the end of the ‘70’s the standard of play was as strong as it has ever been. Any one of a handful of players could have won the singles club championship on any given day, which was fantastic for the club. Just getting to a semi-final of the club singles championship was a great achievement, let alone making the final or in fact winning the title.

This also made for a far more competitive doubles club championship. Whilst the Penrose “Father & Son” combo dominated the first half of the 70’s, the latter half of the decade saw 3 different combos have success. It was great to see Arthur Williams team up with his son Peter and take out the doubles title in ’78. Arthur won his first doubles title 15 years earlier in ‘63.

Again, there were many “characters” amongst our members in this decade as well, many carrying over from the 60’s.

One who stands out for me was our resident Irish man “Bill (Billy) Malone”. Billy would have been the oldest (active) member of the club in this period, and was in his ‘60’s when I joined in ’71.

Billy spoke fairly softly in his deep “Irish Brogue” and was almost impossible to understand, and would always finish a sentence with a raucous laugh which would only add to the confusion.

I  had the “pleasure” of playing Billy many times, and as he was one of our low handicappers, it would turn out to be quite a marathon. Billy would mumble to himself right through the match and would let out a belly laugh if he happened to “jag” a net cord or edge, which he often did.

Billy was still going strong when I left the club in ’83, and I was delighted  to see that he actually won 3 double club championships, in ’84. ’86, and ’90. He partnered (who else) Arthur Williams in the first two, and must have been very nearly 80 years old when he won in ’90. Fantastic.

THE 80’s

Coming off a highly successful decade in the 70’s, the 80’s became an extremely challenging period for the club.

By ’83, for many reasons, there had been a significant exodus of members. That strong contingent of dominant players that emerged in the second half of the 70’s had disappeared.

By the end of ’83 there was not one former or current singles club champion still at the club. Coupled with this, a large “vacuum” in regard to “Administration” of the club had also emerged.

So why was this so?

Many of the younger brigade who joined the club in the early 70’s, were now married with young families and often with demanding careers. Some also moved out of the area as their families grew. Something had to give.

In addition, quite a few of the “older” members who had been a big part of the club through the ‘60’s and ‘70’s remained passive members but didn’t feel able to participate in club activities directly.

It is fair to say that the overall “standard” of play had diminished considerably and a re-building period was essential for the future of the club.

The club was extremely fortunate to have one “Arthur Williams” who almost single handedly kept the club moving forward.

As I wasn’t part of the club past ’83 myself, I can’t really comment on the balance of the decade and will leave that to others to narrate in time, hopefully.

Having said that, I was delighted to see on the honour roll that Arthur Williams finally broke through in 1984, winning the first of 5 consecutive singles club championships, 24 years after he joined the club.

THE COMMITTEE

Like most clubs, a handful of the same people generally put up their hands to help run the club. The table tennis club was no exception.

The committee consisted of:

President

Vice President

Treasurer

Secretary

Captain

Publicity Officer

Ordinary Committee members (no limit)

It is difficult to be precise about who did what, particularly in the 60’s, but here is a very indicative list:

President

Fred Quested was the President for the period ’61 to ’64.

Ted Grainger was the President in ‘65.

Arthur Williams took over this roll in ’66 and held the position continuously until 1976

Bruce Roberts was president for from ’77 to ‘80

Arthur Williams was President from ‘81 to ‘83.

Treasurer

Ted Grainger was Treasurer for the period ’61 to ‘65

John Penrose took over this roll in ’66 and held the position continuously until 1978

Mal Hall was treasurer for 5 years from ’79 to ‘83

Secretary

Syd Grant was Secretary for the period ’61 to ‘65

Geoff Hennessy took over in ’66 and held the position until at least ’83.

Captain

Francis Fortune was Captain for the period ’61 to ‘65

Bob Chapman took over in ’66 and held the position until ‘74

Bruce Roberts was Captain in ’75 and ‘76

Arthur Williams was Captain in ‘77 and ‘78

Graham (Pommy) Eyre was Captain from ’79 to at least ‘83

Publicity Officer

I understand that ‘Geoff Black” held this position from the early 60’s through to the early 80’s, as his contribution to the administration of the club. Geoff was a quiet, unassuming man, never attended a committee meeting in all that time but always had a “report” for the club magazine without fail.

Committee Members

In addition to our “office bearers”, there were many “behind the scenes” members who gave up their time to help the cause of keeping the club moving forward.

In addition to others that have already been acknowledged, names like Perc Hancock, Phil Peyton, Mark Bishop, Paul O’Neill, Terry Blaikie and others I am sure I have missed or forgotten.

On the first Monday night of every month the committee would meet. Meetings were held at a different committee member’s home each month. Apart from business at hand, this was (yet another)

social event and a good excuse for a few beers with your mates. Everyone would turn up with the standard “foam esky” with a 6 pack inside and the host was responsible for supplying a bottle of club port to have with supper (begrudgingly provided by the wife of the host)

DISTRICT COMPETITION

The Cronulla RSL competed in the St George and Sutherland Shire Table Tennis Competition on a regular basis during this period.

Teams were normally entered in A, B & C grades. The standard was very high. Our club had success in the minor grades on a number of occasions but never won an A grade championship during this period, despite going close a few times in the late 70’s.

Competition nights at our club were held in the “Annex”, an area at the rear of the lounge area. Most sub-club presentation nights were also held here.

Sometime In the early 80’s comp night moved downstairs into the sports bar area, where the indoor bowls mats would be rolled up and a table was set up in that area.

A number of “clubs” in the Sutherland/St George area participated in the district competitions, including St George Leagues, Cronulla Leagues, Miranda Builders and Business Men’s Club, Heathcote Returned Services Club, Kogarah RSL.

But there were many “teams” whose venues were far less elaborate than at a licenced club. Scout/Community Halls, Rumpus Rooms, Garages etc were quite common.

I recall on one occasion Arthur Williams, myself and Perc Hancock were playing a “B” grade match at someone’s home at Cronulla. They had a table set up in their lounge/rumpus room. At one end of the table, about 6 feet away was a huge glass window and at the other end was a wall about the same distance away. Now both Arthur and myself liked to stand back quite a bit from the table while playing. We both looked at each other and we asked our “opponents” if they had insurance cover, not just for the glass but also for Arthur and myself.

They agreed that Arthur and I could play all our games at the other end of the table.

Another “challenging” venue belonged to a team respectfully referred to as “the 3 old ladies”. They had a table set up in their garage at Bardwell Park. There was literally only about two feet of room at both ends. This was considered very “strategic” by the ladies as all three stood glued to the middle of the table, using wooden paddles with pen grip.

One of these lovely ladies was the world renown “Dorothy (Dot) De Low”, who was still playing competitive table tennis right up to the time of her passing at age “103”. Dot played in many international events in her 80’s and 90’s. What an amazing woman.

Fortunately, bat standards came under close scrutiny and regulation in the mid 70’s. There were many “hybrid” bats being developed which were way outside the norm. Firstly, wooden bats/paddles were banned around this time from all competition play. There was also a type of bat that would pop up from time to time in competition. In essence, it would have what was defined as “reverse nipple”. This meant that the “nipples” on one side of the bat were not straight up but were slanted toward the handle. On the other side of the bat the “nipples” were slanted in the opposite direction, ie the top of

the bat. This had the effect of imparting two completely different types of “spin” on the ball whilst the player  appeared to play the same shot. The player would also spin the bat in his hand during each point so his opponent did not know what to expect. Fortunately, these bats were also banned.

For some strange reason our club used “Barna” table tennis balls whilst the rest of the “world” used “Nittaku”. There were quite a few “heated” discussions on comp night when visiting clubs insisted on using their balls. The club finally switched to “Nittaku” balls in the mid 70’s.

There were many very talented players in the district competition. Names like Geoff Nesbitt, Neville Russell, Dave Beaumont, Ray Smith and an emerging talent who was only 14 in the mid 70’s, his name was Wayne Heginbotham.

Dave Beaumont was one of the infamous Beaumont family who played with Kogarah RSL Table Tennis Club. The whole family participated, Dad Bob, Mum Thelma, Sister Michelle, and a few more cousins and uncles.

Dave was a great player but was very much averse to losing a match. If you had the better of David in a match he would try and disrupt your concentration by going to the bathroom half way through a game, or, as he did on one occasion when I was playing him, he stopped play mid point and complained that someone had tampered with his bat, so he sat down and proceeded to “re rubber” his bat there and then.

The district association would also run tournaments from time to time which our club participated in with some success.

MONRO TROPHY

Each year the various “sub clubs” would compete against each other for the coveted “Monro Trophy” Each sub club would host an event in their particular sport and all sub clubs would compete. Points were awarded – 3 for first place in each event, 2 for second in each event and 1 for third in each event.

There were 10 sub clubs and therefore 10 events each year. The team with the most overall points would win the Munro Trophy for that year. The events were scattered over the whole year.

The competition was indeed fierce with large crowds gathering at the various events to cheer on their champions.

The sub clubs were:

Table Tennis

Billiards & Snooker

Golf

Indoor Bowls

Outdoor Bowls

Swimming

Fishing

Rugby League (Quoits)

Darts

Toastmasters

During this period, the table tennis club used to dominate the Monro Trophy winning the overall title many times and far more than any other sub-club.

We were very fortunate to have a lot of “talent” in many other sports within our membership. John Harvey and another member John Wilson were both scratch golfers so we triumphed at that event many times. We also, amongst the younger members, had some very good “A” grade snooker players, and excellent swimmers.

We were also regular winners in the “toastmasters” event, with skilled public speakers like Bruce Green, Alan Bourne, Paul O’Neill and Phil Peyton leading the charge.

Also during this period, the table tennis club was the only sub club who was undefeated in its own event.

OUR CLUB

Despite the wide gap in ages, the table tennis club was a very social group, many members forging long and close friendships with fellow members.

There were often many social events held outside of playing table tennis. A golf day was held on the last Sunday each month and was very well attended by members, wives, partners and girlfriends, culminating with a BBQ back at someone’s home.

Thursday nights were very competitive but also very social.

There were also many other social gatherings, dinners, weekends, trips away enjoyed by many of the members.

The social integration between our members I think was the catalyst that made our club so successful during this period.

Our club management were also very “strategic”. They would always offer “honorary membership” to whoever was secretary-manager of the memorial club at the time. Through the ‘60’s and early’70’s that was “George Moore” who lived next door to the club. His successor “Bob McKinlay” came on board as well, which meant the table tennis club were always “well looked after”.

In addition, John Penrose was a senior ATO executive, and nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of the “tax man”

When I left the club toward the end of ’83, there were no “female” members of the table tennis club, even though associate membership had been opened up for women by the memorial club sometime around the mid to late ‘70’s. I also recall that women who served during WW2 were pushing for “full membership” of both the sub-branch and memorial club which was ultimately granted.

Just like it was for “sons of members” those early days of membership of the memorial club were challenging for the women, trying to fit in to this “male dominated environment””

I will never forget a particular day when I was playing snooker in the downstairs games room. Here you had 5-6 snooker tables all full, lots of smoke, drink and plenty of rowdy chatter. A real “men’s domain”. If you want to play a game and the tables are full you have to put your initials and badge number on a blackboard on the wall and wait your turn.

On this day, a woman walked into the snooker room and commenced to write her initials and badge number on the board. You could have heard a pin drop as the whole room stood still. When finished she turned around and walked back into the bar area. The noise returned and the snooker games continued. A new era was born.

Again, I don’t know when and who was the first female member of the table tennis club, but I suspect it was quite some time after I left the club.

However, looking at the table tennis club website today it is fantastic to see the strong female presence and participation in the club at all levels.

If “Rose” and “Peggy” were alive today, they would be extremely proud and pleased.

Finance/Administration/Communication

All the sub-clubs had little or no financial support from the memorial club, except for some initial funding for set up and equipment.

So essentially, the sub-clubs were left to their own devices to run and grow their club.

Each Thursday night the treasurer would put together and bring along “raffle prizes”, consisting of boxes of fruit and meat platters. The profits from these raffles would primarily fund our presentation night meal and prizes as well as other running costs for the club, including new equipment.

Annual membership fees would help defray these costs also, and some of our “passive” members would sometimes make generous donations to help the cause, which was much appreciated.

If you were really financially strapped, and needed new equipment, in our case, like a new table, you could make a formal application for funds to the memorial club secretary-manager, who would submit it to the memorial club president/board for consideration and ruling.

Success rate on these was generally fairly low unfortunately and the process quite arduous.

Of course, there were no personal computers, mobile phones etc in this period. There was no internet, and therefore no such thing as “emails” or “social media” outlets like “Facebook”. Nor were there “websites” or “Blogs”

There wasn’t programs like “word” or “excel” or other types of software applications to “automate” the administration, promotional and communication process. In essence, everything was manual.

What we had back then was the “Red Journals”.

Foolscap, hard cover red journals, consisting of 100 lined and numbered pages. These facilitated all financial, administrative, and operational functions of our sub-club “activity”.

The secretary had about 4-5, one for the committee meeting minutes, one for AGM’s and special meetings, one as a register of members, one to record formal correspondence in and out, and one for all internal and external contact details.

The treasurer had a few – one for the monthly financials, one for the annual accounts and audit, and one to record and control membership fees.

The captain also had a couple – one for the Thursday night draw, and another for recording the handicaps progressively for all members, as well as recording the basis of the “handicapping system”.

The standing “rule” to protect the integrity and preservation of all these relevant documents and records both past and present was:

“When an “officer” of the committee retired or completed his term, he would hand over to the incumbent officer all “journals” in his possession relevant to the position he held, including those he inherited from his predecessor”

It was the responsibility of each officer to keep these “journals” in a safe place until the day came to pass them on.

I remember clearly when John Penrose “handed over” the treasurer role to Mal Hall in ’79. Being mindful that John had been treasurer for 14 years. Now Mal and John lived quite close together and Mal rang John and said he was going to walk around and pick up the “books”. John burst out laughing and said “have you got a truck?”

The same would have applied to Geoff Hennessy who held the position of secretary for at least 18 years that I am aware of. Geoff would fill two minute books a year at least, along with the other journals he used and maintained. I pity whoever took over from Geoff.

I have no idea at what point in time the “journals” were discontinued. But the quantum of journals at that point must have been unbelievable.

I can only imagine the stories that they would tell today, but alas I suspect they ended up in “land fill” quite some time ago.

WHO WAS THE BEST PLAYER?

The question as to who was the best player during this period has been asked often.

Having won 9 singles and 10 doubles club championships over a 17 year period, JOHN PENROSE was the standout.

Were there players who “at their prime” could have beaten John “at his prime”? The answer is most likely “yes”, but not as often as he beat them.

A significant event which had a profound and lasting effect on our table tennis club was the sudden death of John Penrose shortly after Christmas in 1981. John was only in his early 60’s at the time and still an integral part of our club.

John was a legend, and was much loved by all at the club, as was his lovely wife Rose. His contribution to our table tennis club was significant in so many, many ways.

 A true gentleman, champion bloke, and dear friend.

WHO ELSE MADE A DIFFERENCE?

You always run the risk of forgetting someone when you are asked this question. There are many members whose names appear in this paper who worked tirelessly for our club over such a long period.

However, there are a few members who, I believe, in addition to John, deserve a special mention during this period:

Geoff Hennessy

A great club man who was our secretary for many years. Geoff was a “calming influence” and had an ability to “defuse” debate and get things done. He was also a real good bloke.

Geoff Black

Commonly referred to as “nature’s gentleman”, Geoff was our publicity officer “forever”. Geoff had a great sense of humour and was always a strong influence around the club.

Ted Grainger

Ted was our treasurer in the early 60’s and later on became our “honorary auditor” for many years, and would always “MC” our presentation nights.  Ted also assumed the role of club “referee and umpire” and always umpired the club singles and doubles championship final each year. No arguing with “Lord Ted”. Another great club man.

ARTHUR FRANCIS WILLIAMS

It is only fitting that I leave the last piece of “history” during this period as a dedication to a man who was the heart and soul of our club during this period and would continue to be so for many years beyond– Arthur Francis Williams.

Arthur was the rock that the club was built on.

Arthur was a “large as life’” character who only knew one way to do things – flat out!

Over more than 30 years, Arthur played a leading roll in one form or another to help grow and sustain the club he loved so dearly.

If you had never met Arthur, he was a “wiry” tallish man with a booming voice, a thin face and long nose.  Probably his greatest “claim to fame” was that wonderful crop of hair. He would always have it slicked back and flattened so not even the most vigorous of games would pry it loose. There was a standing order amongst members that if you could disturb just one hair on Arthur’s head during a match you would get a free schooner. No one ever collected.

Arthur was also a very good tennis player, and he applied the same “style” of play to his table tennis game.

 Arthur had no backhand and no desire to use one, unless absolutely forced to do so. He would stand well back from the table and “run around” on to his forehand on every point. As a result, Arthur would cover many miles in the course of a game, moving way back and forward and also “extremely” wide on both sides. All this would happen at break neck speed to avoid having to play a back hand shot.

Essentially, this rendered Arthur as an extreme “health hazard”, and in today’s WHS terminology, “high risk”.

To put it into perspective, there was no netting or barricade either between each of the 3 tables, nor at either end or on the outsides.

If you were unfortunate enough to play a game on the table next to Arthur at the same time it was almost a “dead cert” that at some point in the game (and often more than once), Arthur would come crashing into you, with both of you more often that not ending up sprawled on the floor.

Or if he went to the outside, he would often end up crashing into one of the tables of some of our poor unsuspecting members, who were likely just relaxing enjoying a chat and a beer. I even recall on one occasion Arthur ending up behind the curtain on the stage at the top of the dance floor during a game.

 In that period of time, the club still had waiters and waitresses, who would move around the floor taking drink orders. Almost every week Arthur would demolish a full tray of drinks (and the staff member carrying them), wearing most of it on himself.  It got to a point where Arthur would bring a spare shirt and towel with him on Thursday nights just in case. Arthur also gave our first-aid kit a regular work out.

I think Arthur may have been the major reason why the table tennis club was eventually moved downstairs into the sports bar, and were made to erect nets around the tables.

I am not sure when Arthur finally called it a day as part of the table tennis club, I am sure though that he would have “kept in touch” with the club even if he was unable to participate. I note he won his last doubles club championship in 1996, aged 75.

I was saddened to hear that Arthur passed away in 2012, aged 91. His lovely wife Peg passed away just one month later.

It is highly likely that Arthur was the last of our clubs “pioneers” from the ‘60’s to pass away.

CONCLUSION

I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to make this small contribution to the history of the Cronulla Table Tennis Club, a club that holds a special place in my heart.

To be able to share stories about the many wonderful people associated with the club during this period is both an absolute pleasure and a privilege.

Hopefully this piece of history will stand to preserve their memory in perpetuity.

I am delighted to see the club is still thriving to this day in its new home at Kurnell. Congratulations and thank you to all who continue to make this happen.

I hope this paper puts a small smile on your face and gives you some insight into what went on in “your club” way back then.

Below are some photos from “our era”.

BRUCE ROBERTS – JULY 2023

Some of the “gang” from the table tennis club enjoying an Easter weekend in a chalet at Thredbo, courtesy of John Penrose, who had an interest in the complex. We went there many times in the 70’s, this one was 1977.

The man himself, Arthur Williams is standing over the table in the cream/grey jumper, with wife Peg seated next to him. Bob Chapman with the grey/silver hair, is seated on the other side of the table next to Heather, his sister- in- law.

Seated in the foreground, gazing out the window is Rose Penrose.

Other members of the group are scattered around the room, whilst a small contingent would be on “kitchen duty” getting our dinner ready, under the strict supervision of John himself.

(Apologies for the poor quality photo which I took)

Another Snapshot in Time 1983 -2025

Bruce Robert’s excellent history document above, covered the period of our club from 1947 to 1983 and this follow-on document completes the history for the full period up to the present time. I have divided the 42 years from 1983 to 2025 up into 3 distinct periods, for reasons described under each sub-period’s heading.

Our website provides a lot of information on the playing aspects of the club in terms of member’s names, results, awards, statistics and activities and this document attempts to supplement those facts and figures by putting a ‘human face’ on the member’s names and to adequately describe the fun, interaction and friendships that have developed within our club over many years. It also hopefully pays due homage to those members who have volunteered their time and efforts over many years to steer our club through some lean times into our currently healthy era.

1983 - 1997

This 14-year period has been selected as an interval because it covers the time in between the end of Bruce Robert’s documented history and the period from 1997 onwards.

 Unfortunately, unlike the period from 1997 onwards, this 14-year intermediate period is not well covered by historical documents, photos or anecdotal history and we have not been successful to date in contacting ex-players who can fill in the many gaps in this history. We do not know who the exact office bearers were for this period nor the details on the attendances and playing statistics, nor any information on our club’s participation in the inter-district competitions.

We do know that Arthur Williams, our club’s legend from the earlier period, and Jim Heath, both Life Members of the club, were the administrative mainstays for most of this time and we do have the results of all the annual events that were run during this period.

We understand that for most of this period the matches were played on Thursday nights on two tables downstairs in the sports lounge area where the game’s location stayed until the very start of 2018. The dominant players over this period included Arthur Williams and Norm Bray who each won five clubs single’s championships, while Geoff Ryan won two championships and Mark Wood won one. Besides these four players, other players who won more than two annual events during this period include C. Hilleard, R Mc Claren, Jim Heath, Bill Malone, F. Bedo, B. Bungard, G. Apro, G. Poulton, Greg Melrose, J. Layman and E. Hillzinger. 

We also understand that this period saw the first female members join the club and there were other cultural shifts such as the impact of police breathalysers on social drinking habits, and the decline in the popularity of licensed club-based sports.

 We would like to fill in as many gaps in the history of the club for this period as we can and maybe find records or photos. So, we would like to hear from anyone who might know some of the history, or who might know of someone else who does know, of the Cronulla RSL Table Tennis Club between 1983 and 1997.

1997 - 2017

Introduction

This period is well covered in terms of historical information due to the contributions of three long-term committee members, who all subsequently became Life Members, and who are still valued club members to this day. I will expand on the contributions to our club of Kevin Davis, Rodney Forrester and Janet Kent towards the end of this document.

During the 1997–2017 period, matches continued to be played on Thursday nights on two tables in the downstairs sports lounge area.

Cronulla RSL Sports Lounge - Two Table Set-up

Details on the various aspects of our club during this period are as follows:

Committee Members 1997-2017

Like all clubs, our success depends on the quality and dedication of our committee members, and during this time we were lucky to have had dedicated organisers who applied themselves over a long period of time. The names of all these office bearers are shown on our website’s Honour Roll page and is titled ‘Office Bearers from 1998 and Life Members’. As mentioned above, Kevin, Rodney, and Janet dominated this period in terms of directing the course of the club on the committee, but not before Arthur Williams, Jim Heath, Greg Melrose, Geoff Ryan and Mark Noonan steered the club into the 21st Century.                                                   

Unlike in the earlier period, the ‘red books’ were gradually replaced by electronic records and previous formal meetings were replaced by more informal discussions on Thursday nights.

Affiliated Organisation’s Committee 1997-2017

In Bruce Robert’s history document, he talks about the strong interaction between the various sporting sub-clubs. These included, of course table tennis, outdoor and indoor bowls, swimming, snooker, golf, darts, fishing, memorabilia, motoring club, quoits, toastmasters, over 55’s and others, numbering up to sixteen different sub-clubs which came under the sponsorship of the parent club – the Cronulla RSL Memorial Club. For 15 years Kevin Davis was our delegate on the Affiliated Organisation’s Committee (AOC) which was very active and was charged with the responsibility of managing the sub-clubs via monthly meetings and each year distributed to the sub clubs approximately $1,200 each from the Cronulla RSL.  

However, after many of the sub-clubs dissolved, the AOC was disbanded in March 2017. The dissolving of sporting sub-clubs within many Sydney licensed parent clubs over the past 30 years has been endemic, and the fact that our table tennis club is not only still in existence today but is currently thriving to unprecedented levels is further testament to the RSL and to those office bearers who steered us through some challenging times.

The Internet and Technology 1997-2017   

For a long time, all our records were all hand written and kept in many of the famous ‘red books’. These were effective, but many of them disappeared over time, and with that a lot of our history, particularly before about 2002. During the 1997 – 2017 period the red books started to be replaced by computer files and excel spreadsheets, and this transformation was presided over mostly by Kevin Davis via his multiple committee roles. In 2012 Kevin created our own web site, but in 2013 the site was hacked and all our content was lost. In 2014, Kevin signed us up to ‘Squarespace’ which provides a secure website for our club and to this day this has been very successful and very versatile for our needs.

Socialising and Friendships 1997-2017

We have always been a very social club, as evidenced by Bruce Robert’s accounts of the club’s activities from 1961 up until the early 80’s and this continued right up until the end of 2017. However, the drinking culture in this 1997 – 2017 period was certainly very ‘watered-down’ from that of the earlier 1961 – 83 period. There were also no regular meetings at committee members’ homes anymore. There were some away-from-the-club social activities, such as BBQs at member’s places, but not to the extent that was described by Bruce for the earlier period.

Most of the socialising was done at the RSL club on a Thursday night and this had always been one of the main benefits of playing at a licensed venue. The sports lounge area allowed our members to have a drink or two and members were able to drive home safely. Not only did members have access to the great facilities at the club but the sport’s lounge area allowed for the general interaction with the other patrons in the club. From about 2004 smoking was no longer allowed in the sports lounge so this generally improved the conditions for our players.

In the mid 90’s Pam Melrose and Tina Costanzo ran the weekly raffle and the prize was a frozen chook. Later, the raffle changed to money, with 2/3 going to the club 1/3 for the raffle prize. In later years it was Kevin and Janet who took over the important role of running the raffle.

The main function of the year was always our presentation night which was usually conducted around May of each year and it used to be held mostly in the old Sir Francis Drake room. Every sub-club used to invite two representatives from other sub-clubs to their presentation/major function nights, and this was usually the president of each sub-club and their partner. The president of both the RSL and the Sub-Branch and their partners were also invited, so there could be between about 40 to 50 attendees at our presentation night, most of whom, were not actual table tennis players. This also meant that it was a fairly full social calendar for our committee members who were also invited to the other sub-club presentations/functions and who used to take turns in attending those.

Another important night was our AGM and, the presidents of both the RSL and the Sub-Branch attended. There were usually food and drinks associated with the night, mostly organised by Kevin and his wife Carolyn.

During the year there would be other occasions where food and drinks were provided, again usually organised by Kevin, with help from Carolyn and Janet. Carolyn did not play table tennis but she was a regular attendee as a helper at functions and events and was a keen photographer and video-taker for us. She was also responsible for introducing Janet to our club.

Over the 1997-2017 period many friendships were formed, no doubt the result of many fun times together playing a game they all loved and some of these friendships have lasted several decades.

Our Handicapping System and Some Rule Changes 1997-2017

Our club has always embraced the handicapping format, and this format used to be very popular around many of the playing venues in the 1960s, 70’s and 80’s. The handicapping format celebrates the participation of players of all standards, provides many close games and gives all our members a chance to win matches, prizes and awards. Between 1997 and 2017 we were, even then, one of the few clubs that still regularly played handicapped competitions. The decline in the popularity of handicapped competitions may have been because there was a lot of effort required in maintaining and updating the results and records, and some good players didn’t like playing weaker players or only winning 50% of the time. Also, ‘burglars’ had to be controlled and other formats were easier to run. But our club always found ways around these problems.

Over the years our handicapping system has evolved, from what Bruce Roberts has previously described in his history document, to where it is today. In the 1997-2001 period the handicapping system was a one-game match to 21 with players playing off their designated handicap, which was set by formula at the start of the year, with discretionary adjustments as the year progressed. The system meant that if a minus-27 player was playing a minus-10 player, then matches would last a long time but if two weaker players played each other, say off plus 10 and plus 15 (which was the highest handicap), then matches could be quite short. In terms of events won it can also be easily seen from our records that the system favoured the better players.

In 2001, the international rules changed, so that games were played to 11 rather than 21 points. We are not sure exactly when we also moved to the 11-point game, but in 2004 our Club Captain Rodney, came up with a new handicapping system which was based on the best of three 11-point games, and involved regular formula-based adjustments and this system continued to the end of this 1997-2017 period. It is interesting to compare a typical handicap list then to now. In this period the lists show our better players were usually between minus 18 and minus 12 and a quarter of our members would be off negative handicaps. Compared to today’s handicaps this is a much bigger points’-spread between our better players and our weakest players, and there are several reasons as to why this is so. A Table showing the comparison over time, of our handicaps lists is included further below in the 2018 – 2025 section under ‘Handicap Comparisons’  

The only matches that were played off scratch were our annual Club Championship matches, and these included the WT Franklin Trophy - Club Singles Championship which was played in 1947 and 1948, and then from 1961 onwards. In 2001 the Jim Heath B Grade Singles Trophy and the Arthur Williams C Grade Singles Trophy were introduced and the Ladies Singles Championship came into effect in 2006. The club’s Doubles’ Championship is also played off scratch and it began in 1963.

Other than the shift to games up to 11 in 2001, other rule changes over the 1997-2017 period included the ball size changing from 38mm to 40mm in 2000, and in about 2015 we started playing with plastic ‘poly’ balls rather than the previous celluloid balls.   

Lady Members 1997–2017

We are not yet aware of what lady members there may have been during the 1983-96 period, and who the first lady member might have been. However, we have a lot more details on the lady members for the 1997-2017 period. Tina Costanzo and Pam Melrose were the first we know of in this era and Tina’s name is the first ladies’ name to appear on our Honour Roll, being part of the team that won the Jim Colwell Team’s event in 1999.

We also think Pauline Mifsud and Karin Glossat were playing around about that time and in 2003 Karin was our first lady committee member, becoming our treasurer that year. Karin was a very good player and probably the best female player our club has seen up until very recently. In 2004 Pauline Mifsud turned up on more Thursday nights than anyone else and finished 3rd in the John Penrose Yearly Point Score competition. She was also the first lady to win an annual individual event when she won the Kiwi trophy in 2004.

From 2004-05 to the end of 2017, we have more reliable attendance figures and the standout in the ladies’ category is Janet Kent with 323 attendances from late 2004. Tina attended 145 nights from 2004-05 but with her previous attendances going back to the mid-90’s it is likely she would be much closer to Janet’s total. A great trooper over 10 years was ‘Ronnie’ Stephenson who turned up 203 times. Gwen Clark on 99, Linda Kearns on 78 and Christaine Power on 62 were all very prominent over quite a few years.

In 2006 our club captain Rodney Forrester donated a trophy for the ladies and the competition was held eight times up to 2017. There were several lady players who were playing off plus 6 or plus 7 handicaps so it was well contested. Janet proved herself the dominant player during this period winning the first four titles, and 5 overall, and her handicap got as low as plus 5. Other lady winners were Tina, Christaine and Wendy Bishop. Unfortunately, during the remainder of the period there were four years where there were insufficient available lady members for the event to be run.

Member Attendances 1997-2017

Other than for Kevin and Rodney, we only have accurate attendance information from the 2004-05 year on, (Rodney’s go back to 1997 and Kevin’s go back to 1999). There was only one playing session a week and most members turned up between 20 and 30 times a year so to get into the hundreds of attendances a member needed to attend for many years. The number of attendances and the names of the players who turned up more than 100 times during this period, or have subsequently reached 100 attendances, with the year they first joined, include the following:

651 Kevin Davis 1999/00 – played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 900 attendances.  

601 Rodney Forrester 1997/98 – played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 800 attendances.  

370 Guy Costanzo 2008/09 – played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 700 attendances.

323 Janet Kent 2005/06 - played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 400 attendances.  

316 Gavin Sutherland 2005/06 - played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 334 attendances.

312 Slavko Duric 2008/09 - played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 422 attendances.

305 Neil Oakey 2007/08

214 + Barry Ward – started before 2004-05 so more attendances than this.

203 Ronnie Stevenson 2005/06

202 + Vince Borg – started before 2004-05 so more attendances than this.

191 Vic James 2012/13

182 Mike Ford 2013/14 - played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 300 attendances.

145 + Tina Costanzo – started before 2004-05 so more attendances than this.

140 Robert Chaung 2012/13 – played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 174 attendances.

124 George Bandouvakis 2013/14 - played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 155 attendances.

123 Lou D’Alpuget 2012/13

117 Dennis Hawke 2015/16 - played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 300 attendances.

115 Ivan Acevski 2016/17

111 Stephen Jesson 2006/07

102 Bevan Henderson 2011/12 – played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 147 attendances.

  86 Sergey Kurchatov 2014/15 - played into the 2018-25 period and has so far achieved > 300 attendances.

  39 Ian Ireland 2016/17 - played into the 2018-25 period and achieved 121 attendances.

We do not know the exact number of attendances of the following members for the 1997–2004 period but we do know they had significant attendances and influence over that time:

Arthur Williams - Jim Heath – Geoff Ryan - Mark Noonan - Gary Apro - Norm Bray - Greg Melrose

More than 100 attendances =

St George/Sutherland Team’s Competition 1995-2015

Our club usually entered 1 or 2 teams in the inter-district competition run by the St George and Sutherland Table Tennis Association over the 1995-2015 period and the club had great success, winning the teams competition in various grades many times, and was always in contention at finals time.

 In the 1970’s and 1980’s many table tennis teams were sponsored by licensed clubs and many of these were in the Sutherland Shire. These included Cronulla Sutherland Leagues club, Cronulla Workers, Gymea Tradies, Miranda Businessman’s club, Miranda RSL, Sutherland United Services club, Caringbah Businessman’s club, Engadine Ex-Services club, Heathcote Ex-Services club, and of course our club, but by the late 90’s there were only a few licensed clubs still sponsoring table tennis teams. Between 2004 and 2009 there were only three licensed club teams in the SSTTA pennant’s competitions and these were St George Leagues club, Kogarah RSL and Cronulla RSL, so during this time we were essentially flying the flag for the Sutherland Shire licensed clubs.

From 1995–2002, the inter-district competition was a handicap competition. Players who played for the club during this time included Mark Noonan, Greg Melrose, Rodney Forrester, Geoff Ryan, Mark Klees, and Norm Bray. In the handicap competitions, there was usually 3 events per year, and our club won, on average, one of those comp’s each year.

In 2007 the home and away format was changed, and, as it remains today, all matches were played at the Hurstville Aquatic & Leisure Centre.

From 2003 onwards, the inter-district competitions changed to scratch-graded events. The club entered 1 or 2 teams in A, B, C or D grades and the club was very successful, winning or being runner-up in the graded competitions many times as shown below:

2003 – A Grade - Summer - Winners – Rodney Forrester & Leigh Barry

2004 – A Grade – Winter – Runners-up – Rodney Forrester & Greg Melrose

2005 – A Grade – Summer – Winners - Rodney Forrester, Greg Melrose, Leigh Barry

2005 – B Grade - Summer - Winners - Mark Noonan and Leigh Barry.

2006 – B Grade - Winter – Runners-up - Greg Melrose, Mark Noonan

2007 – A Grade - Summer – Runners-up - Rodney Forrester, Charlie Xu, Leigh Barry

2007 – B Grade - Summer - Runners-up - Greg Melrose, Mark Noonan

2007 -   C Grade - Winter - Runners-up - Gavin Sutherland, Stephen Jesson

2008 – A Grade - Summer – Runners-up - Rodney Forrester, Ajit Singh, Charlie Xu

2008 – B Grade - Summer - Runners-up - Greg Melrose, Mark Noonan

2008 - C Grade - Summer - Runners-up - Maurice Chandler, Murray Chandler

2008 - C Grade - Winter - Winners - Maurice Chandler, Murray Chandler

2009 – A Grade – Summer - Winners - Rodney Forrester, Bird Chan, Charlie Xu

2009 – A Grade - Winter – Runners-up - Rodney Forrester, Bird Chan, Charlie Xu

2009 – C Grade - Winter - Winners - Stephen Jesson, Andre Croteau

2010 – A Grade - Winter – Winners – Rodney Forrester, Erny Tsao

2010 – D Grade – Whole Year - Winners for 2010 Kevin Davis, Michael McCarthy, Slavko Duric

2012 – A2 Grade - Summer - Winners - Mark Noonan, Clinton Wood, Tim Johnson

2014 – A3 Grade – Summer – Winners - Ian Berry, Khaled Azer, Mark Noonan

2014 – A3 Grade - Winter – Runner-up - Ian Berry, Khaled Azer

As can be seen, during this time our club performed with distinction and Cronulla RSL and the St George Leagues club were the dominant two club teams during this period.

Unfortunately, this was near the end for table tennis teams being sponsored by licensed clubs and maybe that has been a good thing for the development of the sport, but it was a huge cultural shift. However, it is worth saying that unlike nearly all of the Sutherland Shire licensed clubs, table tennis is still being played, and is flourishing under the Cronulla RSL banner.

Our Top Male Players 1997 – 2017

It is always difficult trying to rank players in terms of their playing abilities over time, especially when there are varying playing styles and particularly when they have not actually played against each other. Also, some of the better players come and go very quickly while others prove themselves to be club stalwarts over a reasonable length of time. However, the undisputed dominant player over the period from 1997-2017 was Rodney Forrester and his very summarised playing bio is:

Rodney Forrester – joined in 1997, and became captain in 2004. An attacking player, his predominant play was 3rd ball forehand attack. He used a variety of serves, then hit his forehand loop which was the killer shot. A very unusual style, held the bat ‘shake hand’, his forehand loop had a lot of spin and was angled to either backhand or forehand. It was difficult to keep away from his forehand. During this 21-year period he won the WT Frankin trophy for the club’s singles’ champion on an incredible seventeen occasions and the doubles championship on eight occasions. Rodney was a regular player in the inter-district comp’s and captained four Cronulla RSL teams that won the A grade competition and four that were runners-up. Rodney also proved himself the best player in the St George/Sutherland area by winning the individual A grade Closed Championship for the St George - Sutherland area on seven occasions from about 1984 onwards, including most recently in 2006 & 2007. An expanded bio on Rodney is at ‘Our Prime Movers’ in the 2018-2025 section below.

Rodney was our club captain for 14 years from 2004, and so, I have drawn on his intimate knowledge to describe nine other leading players in the club during the 1997–2017 period.

Charlie Xu – 2006 – 2015 Charlie joined the club in 2006, winning the WT Franklin Trophy in his first year, defeating Rodney Forrester in the final. An attacking player, Charlie had some very ‘spinny’ serves and loved to hit an attacking backhand as the 3rd ball attack. He could hit a slow spinning forehand loop. Players tried to catch him out on the backhand side. He lost to Rodney in the 2007 final but won back the WT Franklin Trophy again in 2008 & 2009. Charlie’s handicap start was usually close to, or even better than Rodney’s, so the jury would rate Charlie as being just behind Rodney as our best player over the period that Charlie played.

Leigh Barry – Leigh was an all-court player, but predominantly from 2 to 3 metres back, from where he could hit attacking shots. Leigh was runner-up to Rodney Forrester in the WT Franklin trophy in 2003 & 2004. Leigh played inter-district competition with Rodney and his best performance came in 2003 in the A grade grand final. Leigh won both his singles matches, and played the deciding match of the night, doubles with Rodney, with them winning the final set, and the competition, with Leigh the standout on the night. Twenty years on, Leigh is still playing in Adelaide now, and his TTA rating is 1381 so that shows how good he once must have been.

Tim Johnson – Tim was runner-up to Rodney in the WT Frankin trophy event in 2011 & 2012. An attacking player who had some ‘spinny’ serves, he loved to play the 3rd ball hit predominantly with forehand topspin. He was also prepared to rally long if required. The great news is, that after a long break, Tim has now re=joined our club and is back playing with us in 2025.

Greg Melrose – Greg had a unique fast top spin serve which you needed to block to deaden the spin. If you weren’t ready for the topspin, the return would pop up, and Greg would smash the next shot. Otherwise, Greg was predominantly a defensive player who played from 2 to 3 metres back from the table but was prepared to come up and finish the point if the opportunity was there.

Norm Bray – Norm loved to serve fast to your backhand, and if you returned to his backhand side, he would hit the backhand flat and fast. This was dynamite and his killer shot. The idea was to return to his forehand side and upset Norm’s rhythm, and if you could, he would get very frustrated. Norm had been the WT Franklin trophy winner five times between 1990 and 1995 but Norm knew he was lucky to win again in 1999 following Mark Noonan’s upset win over Rodney in the semi-final.

George Bandouvakis – George hit the ball flat, and his specialty was to serve short to you, and get you out of position. He could hit from either forehand or backhand.

Sergey Kurchatov - Sergey has a backhand serve from very low, who loves to hit attacking backhand shots and then smash with his forehand. It is all attack with Sergey so he fun to play.

Geoff Ryan – Geoff was the club captain from 1998 to 2003 and he could recite all the club’s statistics at any time. Nicknamed ‘snake’, Geoff loved to go into lockdown mode and was prepared to have a 50-shot rally if that was required to win the point. He had a reliable backhand chop, and could do a slow forehand loop. Before this period, he had won the WT Franklin trophy in both 1993 and 1996.

Mark Noonan – Mark was a backhand-dominant player, and he loved to serve short to you, get the return on his backhand, then hammer it home. Mark played with little spin, loved to hit flat. Mark’s claim to fame was to defeat Rodney in the semi-final for the 1999 club championship, his only defeat of Rodney. The match was 21/19 in the 3rd and deciding set. Unfortunately for Mark, he lost the final to Norm Bray. Mark used to work up the initial draws and was a pretty smart person. He was a High School Principal and a one-time head maths teacher. Unfortunately, he died young from a debilitating disease. He was a great person. 

Other Good Players – 1997-2017

Other than the players noted above we have had many good players, all of whom at some time dropped into negative-handicap territory and technically into our ‘A Grade’ category. Some of these are noted in the historic handicap lists shown towards the end of this document (from 2009 only), but there are several other negative handicap players from before 2009 including of course, Arthur Williams.

Player Snippets – 1997-2017

🏓 Gavin Sutherland’s claim to fame was his serve. He would throw the ball up very high, the opposition would wait for it to come down, then he would serve it very fast and catch the opposition out.

🏓 Slavko Duric held the record for the most faults served in the club, so much so, that if a player now does a fault, it is called a “SLAV”!

Great Improvers – 1997-2017

One of the advantages of a handicapped competition like ours is that the general handicap given to our players acts as a rating system and we know fairly accurately where everyone sits in the playing pecking order. One of the pleasures of being a captain or a committee member, is seeing players come along, and over time, enormously improve their playing abilities, and with it, their enjoyment of the game. During the 1997-2017 period we had some standout improvers, as follows.

Bevan Henderson – he turned up in 2011/12 and was playing off plus 7. By late 2014 Bevan was a club ‘A – Grader’ on a minus 1 handicap.

Vic James – he started in 2012/13 and in 2014 was still a plus 9-player, but by early 2017 he was way down to a plus 4-handicap. 

Dennis Hawke – first turned up in 2015/16 and had trouble getting the ball over the net and he was definitely a plus 9-player, but by mid-2018 he was down to plus 4 after he won the Kiwi and Jack Anastas trophies. Dennis still plays off plus 6.

Mike Ford - Mike was on plus 5 in 2014 but by 2017 he became a scratch player, and still is today.   

Other Snippets – 1997-2017

🏓  Because play was on just the two tables there could be a fair amount of time between matches, and in-between games in the mid to late 90’s there were games of cards and chess played and some men even learnt to knit. One young lady took the opportunity to paint her porcelain dolls!

🏓 Greg Melrose recalls that Mark Noonan would play in green and orange high cut revealing shorts. Mark's children, would pay out on him every time he left for table tennis.

🏓 For many years both Kevin and Janet took turns in driving from Kurnell to the RSL and back to Kurnell. Because they arrived and departed together new members thought they were a couple. Rumour has it that Kevin’s wife Carolyn said that during this period Kevin used to go out with Janet more often than with her!!

Handicap Comparisons - 2009-2025

Below is a table consisting of some handicap lists spanning from 2009 to 2025 showing a comparison between the handicaps/ratings. The first thing to mention is that handicaps are based on the relative playing standard, formats and circumstances prevailing at the time and are not absolute ratings so they cannot be used for accurate comparisons with other lists which were compiled at other times. However, the various lists are interesting for what they reveal and as can be seen the average and median handicaps for the periods shown have been fairly consistent.

Summary of the 1997-2017 Period

The 1997–2017 period can be remembered for many reasons.

- it saw the handover of the leading-of-the-club responsibilities to various committee members, but predominantly to Kevin, Rodney, and Janet.

- it saw our club become a dominant player in the inter-district pennant competition.

- it saw the increase in the number of lady members, and it saw their names appear on our trophies, and as committee members, and as contesting their own ladies’ trophy.

- it saw the club continue to play for trophies named after previous club legends and supporters, and it saw the club continue to respect the history and traditions of the club.

- it also saw a continuation of the social priorities of the table tennis club, particularly those afforded by the excellent facilities at the licensed parent club.

If it wasn’t for the planned renovations to the RSL premises that were announced in late 2017, our table tennis club would no doubt still be playing there, and probably happily so. A lot of members have had a lot of good memories of playing and socialising at the RSL’s premises. However, as will be seen from the following sections below, the subsequent move away from the parent club’s premises has allowed our club to evolve into a larger table tennis club that can appeal to a more diverse membership and provide a much higher standard of playing conditions, while still maintaining the priorities of being a very friendly and sociable club.       

Thanks for the Assistance from the Following People

To be Continued