DON'T give me any old oil about footy players being exhausted after
having shuffled about a pitch twice in a week.
I saw, as millions did, the hapless Jana Novotna lose in the women's
singles at Wimbledon, and lose again on the same day in the doubles.
That was damn near eight hours on court on one day.
And tennis clubs are practically aff their heids with decency. Which
is why I took it into mine to jouk round a few tennis clubs and find out
what goes on post-Wimbledon at such places.
Nothing would do but a visit to a very part of my youth, the august
Newlands Tennis Club, just on the edge of one of the most splendid
though doucest suburbs of Glasgow city, Newlands itself, and the other
edge being the quietest and most desirable housing scheme in Europe,
Merrylee.
I once thought of this club as the other side of the tracks. It is not
so now.
Undeniably it is expensive to be a member, but not that much. Subs for
seniors are #140 a year, for juniors #65. The intermediate members,
players aged between 18 and 22, pay #92.
The bar convener, Alan Turnbull, admits the last group are a difficult
area in that the intermediates are likely to be students and the most
financially vulnerable of all, but there is sponsorship and a fair bit
of fund-raising.
Cash over the bar helps a bit, but, like most tennis clubs, the
reliance is on subs. There is no profit in this business if you don't
count the smashing game itself.
Newlands' last annual report showed assets of #180,000, but
resurfacing of the seven all-weather courts -- Savannah surfaces, that
is to say artificial grass and sand -- cost 120 grand four years back,
and resurfacing will come back as an expenditure again and again.
Needless to say this prime site in a prime area is worth millions of
pounds. The remarkable Maxwell family left the ground to Newlands and
legally bound it to be what it is, a leisure area.
The Newlands pro, Roy Grant, a Fifeshire chap who has travelled in
many lands and been at the club for two years, charges a modest 12 quid
per individual coaching session, but generally advises parents to send
their weans on squad coaching sessions -- 12 children at #2 an hour
apiece makes him a little more, but it seems to me damned cheap at the
price.
He told me he loves his job but not as much as the kids clearly love
him. I watched him at work on Saturday, (he does seven days a week at 10
and more hours a day) and his patter is designed to make young weans
want to be champions. Georgina, playing only a year, is advised not to
worry about this ageing hack watching: ''There'll be thousands when
you're playing your first Wimbledon.''
Partickhill is across the Clyde in Hyndland, and has a mere three
blaise courts, for it is primarily a bowling club. Subs are #25 per
annum for seniors and #15 for juniors.
It is a modest little place with a lovely little clubhouse and the
prospect is grand. Lesley and Dougie I meet in the shade of the bar.
Both tell me how friendly the club is, but they need new members.
There are only 55 seniors, where Newlands has more than 800. But is is
a nice little club, and if there is undeniable rivalry among all the
clubs in Scotland, there is a lot of fraternity too.
As at Sunday's vets' (over 55s) tournament betwixt Newlands and
Berkshire as part of the run-up to the finals in Telford. Janette
Coulter from traditional enemies of the south-side Glasgow Club,
Whitecraigs, was there to overlook things.
But she told me her rivals Newlands were also big in squash, and
indeed they are.
Newlands has its squash team in Rotterdam in September in the
international club championship, representing, if you like, Scotland.
With three squash courts at the moment they have been able to grasp
nearly #150,000 through the auspices of the Sports Council, and are
rebuilding four courts with spectator facilities.
Sponsorship in both tennis and squash is not high -- though all credit
to Everest Double Glazing for its help over the years. Yet money is
tight. Said professional Roy Grant: ''The Lawn Tennis Association is
indeed elitist. That fact is stopping a real elite emerging.''
I wish there were more Roy Grants about Wimbledon during the mad
fortnight. And more youngsters like Stuart and Jane and Gillian who
blithely informed me that they play every day during the holidays.
Sometimes you wish you had school holidays yourself.
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