Honorary Match Secretary’s Report 2007

Match Results

DateFixtureVenueResult

June 2ndArmy LTCTidworth5-4 Win

June 10thRoyal Navy LTCPortsmouth4-0 Win

June 29thFitzwiliam LTCSt Georges6-2 Win

July 1stFitzwilliam LTCMoor Park6-2 Win

July 10thWinchester LTCWinchester1-3 Loss

July 12thThe Queen's ClubQueen's ClubAbandoned

July 25thInternational ClubSt Georges3-3 Draw

July 28thEaling LTCEaling5-4 Win

Aug 3rdThe All England LT & CCAELTC4-4 Draw

Aug 21-24thNorwegian VeteransRoehampton7-9 Loss

Sept 16thWest Hants LTCBournemouth3.5- 0.5 Win

Oct 6thPSOB LTCMoor Park1-3 Loss

Oct 13thDutch VeteransAmsterdam7-5 Win

Nov 13thLords & Commons LTCQueen's Club2-2 Draw

Dec 8thArmy LTCAldershot5-4 Win

Overall

15 matches scheduled

1 match abandoned

8 matches won

3 matches drawn

3 matches lost

With only 3 matches lost from 14 played, the 2007 season must rank as one of the best ever. Overall, we won 8, drew 3 and lost just 3. Congratulations to all the players and team captains for delivering such an impressive set of results.

In 2007, we entertained teams from Norway and Ireland and we travelled to Almere, just outside Amsterdam to play a team of Dutch veterans. In 2008 , we will take a team to Israel* for the first time and in 2009 we are hopeful that we can set up a match against a team of Turkish Veterans. Increasingly, more of our fixtures are against international teams who present much stronger opposition and at the same give members more opportunities to travel and play tennis abroad.

The season kicked off with four straight wins against the Army and the Royal Navy and then a double victory in the space of a few days, at St Georges and then Moor Park, against the touring Fitzwilliam Club ensured that the VLTC regained the Ivar Boden Trophy.

The match at St Georges saw Christine French make her debut for the VLTC, only the second time that a lady player has represented the Club. She came to the rescue when our team was one player short and quickly showed why she has such a high world ranking in ladies' veteran tennis. Combining well with Paul Denyer, the mixed doubles combination sailed through both their matches. In the bar afterwards, there was the suggestion from the Irish team that we had pulled in a 'ringer'.

After such a promising start to the season, a setback against Winchester LTC came as something of a shock as this fixture had not been lost for many years. Confidence was quickly restored, however, with a 3-3 draw against a strong International Club team who were hampered by a late injury to one of their players. This is always a difficult fixture and a draw was a decent result after last year's heavy defeat. Thanks to St Georges Hill for hosting the match and to Mike Dawe for organising the event.

Despite the heavy rain in July the match against Ealing LTC went ahead on the grass and the courts were in surprisingly good condition. It was a close match with victory by our 70+ 2nd pairing of Robert Levine and Gerry Clarke against the Ealing 1st pair proving crucial in terms of the 5-4 match score.

The match against the All England Club is one of the highlights of the season not only because we get the opportunity to play on Wimbledon's wonderful grass courts, but the opposition is always of a high standard. Having failed to register a victory in this fixture for at least 10 years, we fielded as strong a team as we could muster but we were somewhat dismayed when we saw the faces of the opposition in the changing rooms.

It was a wonderful, sunny evening and the grass courts at Aorangi were superb. Somehow the conditions seemed to inspire our players and we nearly pulled off a wonderful victory. The final match was decided by a tie- break which unfortunately went against us and in the end the All England Club just held on for a 3-3 draw.

One of our players that day was John Walsh who partnered Jeremy Trafford as one of our two over 45 pairings. Depsite a terrible journey from Devon to play in this fixture, John played magnificently that day and the Walsh/ Traffford combination were undoubtedly the stars of our side registering victories against two fine AELTC pairings. Sadly, this was to be John's last match for the VLTC as he died suddenly at the end of the year.

Later in August, we welcomed the Norwegian Veterans at Roehampton LTC. Previously, the match has been played at the All England Club but this was not possible this year because of the extenisve building works. Unfortunately this change of venue and the poor weather which meant that the matches had to be played indoors did not help our cause and although the scores were tied at 4-4 at the end of the first day the visitors raised their game to register their first victory on British soil. We are grateful to Match Manager Mark Barnett for organising the event and to the Roehampton Club for providing us with excellent facilities with which to entertain our visitors.

The return fixture in 2008 will be hosted in Bergen. Please contact Mark Barnett early if you wish to take part.

Rain also interefered with our match against West Hants in September but we had got away to a fast start and registered enough victories on the board to claim the match before play had to be abandoned. The Combined Services match also had to be abandoned, not because of rain but due to the fact the opposition were seemingly unable to field a team because of late withdrawals due to military commitments.

Last year the match against the Public School Old Boys had to be abandoned but this year we were able to get the fixture played even though the poor weather meant a switch to the artificial grass courts. Despite an average age difference of 30 years between the two teams, the VLTC players acquitting themselves admirably, showing lots of grit, good court craft and plenty of effective lobbing. The overall score of 3-1 to the Public School Old Boys did not do justice to the VLTC team who only lost the last two matches in a final set tie-break. Just a few more lobs and maybe the score could have been reversed.

In October, Henk Nijeboer took a team to Almere, near Amsterdam to face a Dutch team who were looking for revenge after being given a drubbing in the inaugural fixture at Woking last year. The hospitality was excellent and the matches were very competitive but at the same time played in a wonderful spirit. After two days of play, the VLTC of GB managed to win enough tie -breaks to sneak ahead as the winners 7-5.

In the final flourish to the season, we had a chaotic match against the Lords & Commons LTC. Despite being one man short, we managed to escape with a honourable draw 2-2 , primarily due to Match Manager Ivar Bowden's considerable powers of persuasion after one of their players became injured. Then in December, we played the Army for a second time, registering a 5-4 win for the second time.

The detailed results for most of the above matches can be found on the Club website at

Many thanks to all the match managers - John Harrop,Peter Friedman,Mike Dawe, Jeremy Woods, Mike Carroll, Mike Marsh, Mark Barnett, David Straker, Eddie Fox, Henk Nijeboer, Ivar Bowden and David Treadwell. Thanks also to Brian Hatton for arranging for the VLTC to be able to use Moor Park for our matches against Fitzwilliam LTC and the Public School Old Boys.

Niall Sweeney

24th December 2007

* In 2008, we will be taking taking a representative team in different age groups

( 50 & over, 55 & over, 60 & over, 65 & over, 70 & over, 75 & over) to play an international match in March against an Israeli Vets Team . There are still one or two places left for those who would like to combine competitive tennis with a week's trip to Israel at a lovely time of the year. Please contact Match Manager, John Barnett. His contact details are as follows:

Address: 18 Northumberland Road, New Barnet, EN5 1ED

Email:

Mobile telephone no: 07770 536356