|
The Southend & District LTA is sponsored by
Dennis Rayner Tennis 01702 474010
The Southend & District LTA Today: updated 22/04/2010
The Southend & District LTA is currently at its strongest for quite some time. It’s constitution is made up of a Men’s Premier League, Ladies Premier League, Mixed Doubles and Veterans Mixed Doubles Leagues and an age divided Junior League structure ranging from Mini Tennis Green (U10) to U16’s, separated by boys and girls.
The Men’s Premier League is made up of two conferences; the J Innocent Conference and the P Pike Conference, which operate on an American format. The winner of each conference plays each other in the League Final for the Championship. The Ladies Premier League is a single division whereby the winner is the Champion for the year. Both the Men’s and Ladies Leagues feature Singles and Doubles matches.
Both of the Mixed Divisions are new leagues for the association and are growing in popularity each year. In the Mixed Doubles Premier Division the top 2 clubs play in a championship final to decide the winners for the year.
The Junior Leagues were formed in 2009 and have already grown by almost double for 2010. They are LTA Sanctioned at Grade 6, with a Grade 5 category for the finals. Girls and Boys are separated except in Mini Tennis Green. The Leagues are played in age groups which are in 2 year gaps, U10, U12, U14 and U16. All teams are made up of 3 players and they all play singles matches with the new “Champions” tie breaker being used to replace the 3rd set. The Mini Tennis league features boy’s and girls combined, and a club can enter as many players as it wishes for the season. After 5 or 6 league rounds the top scoring entrants go to round 7, which is a knock out phase to get a grand final and eventual winner.
The Girls Leagues are a Dual Championships, where the entries represent themselves and their club. Clubs can enter as many girls as they wish. After 5 or 6 league rounds the top scoring girls from each age group go to a 7th round and eliminate each other to get a championship final. Two trophies are awarded to the winning girl from each age group. One is for the Club she represents and the other she keeps for herself as Champion.
The leagues and tournaments have been steadily increasing in numbers over the last few years and the current committee has been working hard to see that the Southend & District competitions has a firm place in its member clubs summer calendar.
But it wasn’t always like this…….
A Brief History of the Southend & District LTA
The History behind the Southend & District LTA is complicated at best as records were not kept back in the 1920's, probably because no one thought that anyone would be interested in the events at a later date. However what is know is that the Leagues were originally formed in 1920 and labelled as the Southend & District Lawn Tennis Leagues. Matches would be played between all the clubs on a home and away basis, with 3 doubles pairs per team. Each pair in a team would play all of the opposing pairs in one afternoon, making a total of 9 rubbers per match. The club that won the most rubbers would get 1 league point.
In terms of the winners of the championships, it is difficult to accurately place them all as some of the clubs have changed their names, or no longer exist. There is also another unusual quirck that makes it difficult to track the pasty winners, and that is how the leagues themselves operated. From what I can tell, the divisions were not necessarily a relegation and promotion type league. Instead Division 1 was formally known as the Senior League and Division 2 was referred to as the Junior Division. In otherwords, clubs that registered were placed in either of the divisions upon their application. The officers of the association did not differentiate between clubs that were in both leagues eaither. Thorpe Bay could be in both the junior and senior league and in both istances they would be called Thorpe Bay, not Thorpe Bay I and Thorpe Bay II
What can be recorded is the following -
Thurrock LTC were called Grays, and you can see them on the trophy as winners on numerous occasions.
Ridgeway is now Westcliff Hard Courts LTC
Benfleet & District LTC was actually two clubs, Benfleet and Canvey Islands, playing as one team
League division constitution was based on numbers of entries each year. Divisions were usually 5 teams, with a clubs second team being placed in the junior division.
The League Trophies were presented to the association by the Westcliff Theatrical Dramaticus Society in 1920. With the exception of the mens junior league, which started in 1922, the records between 1921 and 1929 have been lost. Also there are some years since the post world era that have been lost and as such there a a few gaps in the winners for this reason.
In 1964 Thorpe Bay and Westcliff Hard were joint winners of the Ladies League Division 1
The Southend & District LTA Championships were first held in 1920 and the Men’s League was won by Westcliff Lawn Tennis Club. The trophy was presented to the association by the Westcliff Theatrical Dramaticus Society. However, what happened between then and 1929 is not known and so far as the League Championship is concerned, it began its history in 1930. The League’s were suspended during the war years and did not resume until 1947, and since then they have run un-interrupted to this day. Its biggest battles have occurred between Westcliff Hard LTC (Formerly The Ridgeway) and Thorpe Bay LTC, and between 1963 and 1983 these two clubs would be the only winners of the Men’s League Division 1. The Annual Tournaments have also been a success, running from 1945 and has been won by David Lloyd on numerous occasions.
The Ladies League started in 1920, and as with the mens league, records between then and 1930 are missing and unlikely to be found. Cavendish LTC were the first winners to be recorded in 1930, with Thorpe Bay and The Rdgeway winning it 3 times each, before Southchurch LTC won it in 1937. The Leagues were then suspended due to the outbreak of war and there would be no further championships until 1947. Thorpe Bay and Westcliff Hard would now win it on a near year by year basis until 1956. For the next 20 years Westcliff Hard would win it exclusively except for 1964, where it was shared with Thorpe Bay, and 1966 when Thorpe Bay would win it. Westcliff Hard's dominance of the Champions would only be put on temporary hold when Thorpe Bay managed back to back wins in 1976 and 1977. Hockley would then win it in 1978, which to date is still their only time of winning the ladies Championship.
Westcliff Hard and Thorpe Bay would then return to year by year exchanges of the championships, until 1990 when Westcliff LTC became Champions for the next 3 years. Since then Thorpe Bay, Westcliff Hard and Westcliff LTC have been the prime contenders for the Ladies Championships, with Westcliff Hard winning the final Ladies Division 1 in 2008. Westcliff LTC won the New Ladies Premier League in 2009
The Southend & District LTA is now only a small organisation, but what it lacks in size is made up for in quality. There are no player entry restrictions and as such the leagues and tournaments feature many County and National League standard players. Indeed there are very few league associations across the country that can boast former Davis Cup players in its competitions. Our defending Men’s Champions is currently No2 in the county and ranked 45th nationally and our Ladies Champion won the 2007 Redbridge Summer Series.
In 2009 the League underwent a re-branding and now has a Men’s and Ladies Premier League, a Senior Mixed Doubles League, Veterans Mixed Doubles League as well as a Junior Singles League that is LTA Sanctioned (Boys and Girls U16, U14, U12 and a combined U10 league). The Tournaments are still operating both in the Summer and Winter Season and continues to be very popular with some very strong entries each year.
Did You Know!
PRIOR TO THE 1990's:
:Clubs in the Southend & District Senior Leagues were dividied into divisions based entirely on how many entered in that year.
:All League matches prior to the 1990's were based over 9 rubbers and all doubles. There were 3 pairs per team and they would all play the other teams pairs for a best of 3 sets match. This means a pair in a team could play up to 9 sets per match.
:All League matches were to be played on a Sunday afternoon starting at 4PM. The home club had to provide enough new balls to last 9 sets and an umpire for each court.
:At the end of a match, the team that won at least 5 rubbers was given 1 league point. Thats a lot of hard work just to get 1 point on the league table!
    
| 