TTT30 Spring 2023

The whole of the tournament was to receive a huge amount of TV coverage. As well as live broadcasting of
the major events, a one or two hour ‘Match of the Day’ programme was being shown by the BBC each evening.
Just before the start of play on the first day, Mike Lawless, the Association’s Development Officer, came
rushing up to me and asked if I would sit in with the BBC commentators to provide the expert commentary.
Well of course he could not have thought of anyone better qualified! But I was there as team manager and I
knew that I would have enough to do and so I declined; I suggested that Mike should ask Johnny Leach to do
it.
The Opening Ceremony was televised. I had the honour of leading the England Team into the arena. We duly
lined up, hoping that we would be able to do well in the tournament - but it was not to be and in fact European
players generally did badly. Mitsuru Khono of Japan won the Men’s Singles while Pak Yung Sun of North Korea
won the Women’s. The Men’s and Women’s Doubles also went to Asians; the only bright spot as far as Europe
was concerned was in the form of Jacques Secretin and Claude Bergeret of France who won the Mixed
Doubles. China won both the Men’s and Women’s team events.
I think this non-story was pounced on
by some bored sports writer who
couldn’t think of anything better to
write about.
What of our players? We had some
good wins here and there but our
overall standard was not good
enough to make any impression on
the Asian players. Our best hope was
of course Jill but she had been
suffering from a right shoulder injury.
On the days before the singles began,
we arranged for her to have
physiotherapy and acupuncture
treatment and anything else we could
think of to try to get her fit. Although
it certainly wasn’t my idea, the
treatment included a session with a
faith healer – but not even that or
injections of pain killers was to have
any effect. In floods of tears, she had
to pull out of the singles after only a
few points in her second-round
match.
That episode led to a falling out
between me and Johnny Leach! After Jill had been unable to continue, I liaised with Ron Moseley and called a
press-conference for the following morning; at that time I would tell the press about her condition and what
steps we had taken to try to help her. But that evening, Johnny, who was doing the BBC TV commentary (Mike
Lawless had asked him to do it and he had agreed) came running up to me and asked me to give him the details
so that he could talk about it live on TV; what would I be saying at the press conference? I really didn’t know
what to do and Ron Moseley wasn’t around to consult. But it seemed to me to be wrong to call a press
conference – and then spill the beans 12 hours before it was due to take place; surely that wasn’t fair on the
other members of the press. So I told him I couldn’t answer his questions, he would have to wait until the
following morning. Well, he wasn’t very pleased about that! But it was tough – I did what I thought was right.
TTT: Issue 30: Spring 2023
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