Aroundtown Magazine March/April 2022 edition

Aroundtown MEETS
to be a superstar footballer every
lunchtime while at junior school.
“Pop showed an interest in
me, and I gravitated towards his
kindness. He could see the promise
I had and asked me to join their table
tennis team.”
Alan started in division nine and
in two years had risen to the first
division. Not bad to say he knew
nothing about the sport when he
joined. He’d even dyed his white
shorts blue after finding out they
were disallowed. With great visual
anticipation, Alan could read
where the ball was going and had
developed an orthodox technique
after reading a book by former
tennis star, Ann Haydon-Jones who
coincidentally had designed his first
bat bought from the Co-Op.
But funds were still a barrier to
his future success. For that first
tournament in Sheffield, his parents
had to borrow the train fare off
Alan’s grandad.
“Before he agreed to give me the
money, he gave me an interview
asking why I wanted to go. I told
him I wanted to win, and he said if
I wanted to win then he’d back me.
But I didn’t have any money for food
or drink. It was February and the
water pipes were frozen, so I went
outside and put snow in my mouth.
“Thankfully some kind people
from Barnsley bought me something
to eat and gave me a lift back to
Barnsley. I didn’t like asking them
to take me to New Lodge, so they
dropped me in the town and I walked
the two-and-half miles home.”
When he won a place at the sports
camp in Skegness, his parents
couldn’t afford to go with him for the
week. But this was an opportunity
he couldn’t miss. The talent spotting
camps were established by Johnny
Leach, who had become a News of
the World columnist. Young sporting
hopefuls received coaching and
assessment from some of England’s
top players.
A 13-year-old Alan stayed with a
Barnsley family his grandma knew
who were coincidentally holidaying
there that week. Similarly, when he
With Tony Book,
Man City Footballer
went to the finals at Bognor Regis the
following month, he stayed with the
previous year’s winner and her family
who were from Doncaster, catching
the midnight bus from Doncaster.
But it would prove the right
decision. Because his trusty bat
limited him to a defensive plan of
action, he was marking low against
an opponent from London. The two
boys were the main contenders
for the trophy, so that game would
decide the winner. His opponent
dropped a shot near the net and
Alan was able to smash it back to
win the match.
“It was Denis Neal who was
marking. Afterwards, he said how it
all hinged on that one shot. As soon
as I smashed it past him, he knew I’d
win. At the awards presentation there
were about 2,000 kids stood on the
stage and I was right at the back as I
thought I’d got no chance of winning.
Then they announced the winner was
a left-handed table tennis player from
Barnsley and I had to push my way
through the crowd. The trophy was
nearly bigger than me; I could hardly
carry it.”
That Christmas, Alan bought
himself a new bat – this time one
with a sponge layer and sticky
rubber top sheet to create more
spin on the ball. This increased the
speed and aggression of his serve,
helping him become an attacking
player, which was difficult when he’d
been moulded to be a defender.
His technique adjusted overtime to
become an all-rounder, with a low
swing stood back from the table,
the acceleration of which created a
varied spin attack.
Alan’s ‘most promising’ win would
turn into reality, upsetting the youth
table tennis scene with a boy who
had come from nowhere. But he’d
had a hard slog to get noticed. While
his schoolmates were out socialising,
Alan would be training or competing
around Barnsley, often ending up
soaked in sweat. Matches finished
at 10.15pm and if he missed the last
bus from Barnsley, he’d have to walk
all the way to New Lodge. And he
was always under pressure to win
With Son Paul and Stellan
Bengtsson - 1971 Men’s
Singles World Champ
Most Promising Boy
of the Year 1961
“I’d never been happier than when I
stood on that podium in Singapore and
was given my first gold medal. But it had
taken ten years to get there.”
the prize money to pay for the next
tournament.
“It didn’t ever seem like hard work
as my body was fit and my mind
was young. The alternative would
have been a miserable life not
achieving anything.”
Not long after he joined the
England youth team in 1964, Alan
was about to finish school.
“I didn’t have the same
opportunities as kids these days.
My classes were noisy and disruptive
so I couldn’t get my head down at
school. The only input we had for
careers was which coal mine we
were going to go down. After I left
school, I used to go to Barnsley
Library on a Saturday when I wasn’t
training and teach myself maths
from an old book that would say
‘turn to this page if you got the
answer right’.”
Because of his place in the
England team, Alan was offered
a job in the repairs department at
Slazenger’s factory in Horbury near
Wakefield. He would catch the bus
to the factory at 7am every morning,
giving half his £3.50 a week pay
packet to his parents. He worked
there for four years until he became a
full-time sportsman in 1968.
“They were good people and
gave me time off to train and
play. Slazenger had become my
sponsor, so they paid my expenses
for tournaments and once I turned
senior I earnt royalties from the Alan
Hydes bat they produced. After
that, I didn’t have much time to work
because I was always travelling the
world going to various tournaments
and competitions. But table tennis
was all I could do well, so I always
knew it would become my career.”
Life became a rally between
English, European and World
3x Double Champ
with Dennis Neale
championships, living out of a
suitcase for over ten years. Alan
was selected to go to the European
Championships in Lyon 1968,
Moscow 1970, Rotterdam 1972,
and Novi Sadi 1974. The World
Championships he went to were
Munich 1969, Nagoya 1971,
and Sarajevo 1973. He won five
English national championships
in men’s and mixed doubles, and
three gold medals at the inaugural
commonwealth championships in
Singapore 1971.
“In sport you either win or lose.
It’s easy when you win; you feel
exhilarated, elevated. I’d never been
happier than when I stood on that
podium in Singapore and was given
my first gold medal. But it had taken
ten years to get there.
“Losing could be terrible, but
nobody wanted to listen so I never
complained. I just had to learn
why I lost and had a notebook
where I’d write down the strengths
and weaknesses of myself and
my opponent. I learnt a lot about
my whole character; I had the
determination to play to win but
never made much of a song or
dance about it. My career could have
gone either way, so I’m always full
of gratitude when I reflect on how
fortunate I was.”
One of Alan’s greatest memories
is being part of a world first, where
sport was used to establish and
improve diplomatic relations. In 1971,
table tennis teams from the USA, UK,
Canada and Colombia were invited
to the Chinese capital – the first time
American delegates had set foot in
Beijing for over twenty years, and ten
years since the England team had
played in China.
Dubbed ‘Ping Pong Diplomacy’,
it’s the biggest thing that has ever
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