Chairman's Report

(2000-2001 Season)

These last twelve months seem to have been a period of consolidation and certainly I have noticed that board meetings seem to have taken rather less time than in previous years. I don't feel that this was because we have got lazier but rather that many of the initiatives we have been working on are now in place.

As I write this report, the courts at Westway are going up; they are due to be completed in October. This is a little later than had originally been envisaged, but the whole development has been a major undertaking and I suppose it is inevitable that there have been some delays. This, in turn, has meant that it has been difficult for us to plan ahead. We had originally hoped that the courts would have been ready in May, which would have given us time to have worked out exactly what we would have been able to do at Westway in the current season. As it is, we shall probably have to wait until the end of November before the courts are really up and running and we can get down to serious planning for the future.

As I mentioned in the January Newsletter, the EFA with considerable support from the Charitable Trust has agreed to put a full time coach into Westway for at least the first year. He is Mark Marriott, an Old Olavian; he is there on a full time basis, responsible for the running of the Fives courts at the Centre and liaising with the management.

Thanks to a bequest from Geoffrey Bolt to the Jesters, the EFA is planning to install miniature cameras into one of the courts at Westway. Such cameras already exist in one or two Real Tennis and Racquets courts. They are valuable both for coaching and filming matches.

In the meantime, the Zuoz Club at Zurich (as opposed to the school) recently completed the building of their second court. Joan and I went to Zurich to represent the EFA at an inaugural tournament at the end of April. The new court has been built to the highest standards (it is in fact poured concrete) and the Zuoz Club have every reason to be proud of their club and their two courts. Their enthusiasm for the game and the friendliness of the club are an ideal example of what a Fives Club should be. I need hardly add that Chris and Erica Tanner extended the warmest and friendliest hospitality to Joan and me.

While talking about Fives in Switzerland, a little known fact is that two courts were built about eight years ago in a sports centre in Geneva. Sadly, these courts are only occasionally used, usually at weekends. I gather that the developer of the club was a Fives fan and decided to build them (on something of a whim?). The long-term future of these courts seems somewhat bleak. It will require a major effort on someone's part if proper use is to be made of them; otherwise they will end up being pulled down.

At Cambridge, it looks at last as if progress is being made in the building of the new sports centre. The site has definitely been selected. This is at west Cambridge, very close to Exit 13 on the M11. Ove Arup have now drawn up plans, which are being scrutinised by the various University authorities and there is some optimism that there could now be quite rapid progress.

As I mentioned in the January Newsletter, Marlborough have renovated their four Eton and four Rugby Fives courts. This is now one of the few centres where you can play both codes of Fives. To mark the occasion Howard Wiseman organised a very successful weekend tournament at the end September.

I am pleased to report that the view of the directors is that more players entered tournaments this year than in recent years. If last year was the year of the Old Olavians then this year was that of the 'Old Chum's'. It was good to see Eddie Wass and Jamie Halstead win the Kinnaird again; with Jamie back in London, they showed us what a fine pair they are. Together they have resuscitated the 'Old Chum's' and it was a fitting tribute to them for all the effort they have put into their club this year that they should have won the League, even if by the narrowest of margins from the Old Olavians. It was good, too, to see how Robin Mason's efforts were rewarded by the performance of the Old Edwardians in the League.

The truth, as it has always been with Fives and many other games, is that virtually every club depends on one or two key people. Eddie and Jamie and Robin have shown just how true that is. And, of course, it is always a problem when they eventually retire from their involvement with the club.

The standard of Fives in Division 1 of the League was pretty competitive and I am pleased to say that Mark Williams tells me that most clubs managed to turn out three pairs with greater consistency than in the recent past. Sadly, the Old Ipwichians have decided to withdraw from Div 1 in the coming season and consolidate into one team in Div 2. But I am delighted to hear that the Old Harrovians will be back this season. With so many of their best players injured or abroad last year, they very sensibly decided to withdraw from the League for a year rather than field a sub-standard team. We very much welcome them back.

In the meantime, Old Etonians 2 won Div 2, but I suspect sensibly decided, after considerable internal discussion about whether they wished to be promoted to Div 1, that they didn't have quite enough strength in depth to field two teams in Div 1. Having learnt exactly how demanding the requirements are if you have two teams in Div 1, I should like to congratulate the Old Olavians on being able to maintain two such teams there with such successful records. Congratulations to the Old Millhillians, who gave the Old Etonians a close run in Div 2.

It was good, too, to see the Old Westminsters 2 win Div 3. With the Old Ipswichians consolidating into one team, the Old Westminsters are to be congratulated on being one of only three clubs with two teams in the League. The Emanuels in their first year in the League were runners up in Div 3. And the Old Reptonians were able this year to field a side for most of their matches.

I would like to mention briefly the match management scheme. My feeling is that it worked quite well in its first year. It certainly helped the Old Reptonians to get sides out. It will be used again this season by two or three clubs.

The Individual Challenge was won by Eddie Wass by a resounding margin, very much making the point that this was his season. Richard Tyler is taking over the running of this tournament from Malcolm Keeling. Malcolm, who I think has run it for the nine years, has decided that the time has come to retire from playing and organisation. We all very much appreciate the enthusiasm and commitment with which Malcolm has run this competition.

James Toop instituted a British Universities Eton Fives Championship, which was held at Edgbaston in November.

The HSBC Schools Championships were held at the end of March at Harrow, which had last hosted these Championships in 1992. I think I am also right in saying that this was only the third time they had been held there. To mark the occasion, Harrow had spent quite a considerable sum of money on cleaning and refurbishing their courts. Once again there was an excellent entry, if not quite up to the record numbers in one or two of the previous years. This was mainly due to the fact that there was some variation in the dates of school terms.

These Championships are something the EFA should feel justly proud of. A tournament of five hundred boys and girls is a major undertaking; much of the credit is due to Mark Williams, whose enthusiasm and dedication has helped to build up these Championships to the levels they have now reached. There are, of course, a number of other people whose help is invaluable. In particular, on behalf of the EFA I should like to thank those housemasters, who are prepared to keep their houses open after the end of term so that competitors can be put up.

Once again, we were given an excellent dinner by HSBC during the Championships. These were the 18th Championships sponsored by HSBC Insurance, the name now adopted by Holmwoods. The EFA is very appreciative both of this sponsorship and their sponsorship of the Preparatory Schools Fives Tournament and for the loyalty they have shown us in the eighteen years they have been our sponsors.

The Championships were won by Highgate, who had the distinction of producing both the pairs in the final. Sadly, both Harrow and Shrewsbury, who had strong pairs had to withdraw because of illness and injuries. It was a fitting tribute to Jeff Tolchard that in his last year of coaching at Berkhamsted, his first pair, having beaten Eton 1, went on in the semi-finals to take the first two games off the winners Highgate 1. I am delighted to say that the Berkhamsted pair will be available next year as will a number of other first pairs. The standard in next year's Championships should be high.

The board of the EFA and the committee of the RFA have both agreed that we set up a joint consultative body. This body will have three representatives each from the EFA and RFA. The body will have no jurisdiction over either association. The purpose of setting up this body is that the two associations have liaised much more closely in recent years and it is now clear that there a number of areas, in particular coaching, where we could both benefit from pooling our knowledge.

The enlarged colour format of last year's Annual Report was very well received by members. It was, of course, almost entirely due to the efforts of our Secretary, Mike Fenn. The board decided that, although it was produced partly to mark the millennium year, it would be a retrograde step to revert to the old format. So, as you have seen we have continued with our new format. I am delighted to say that this year after considerable efforts all round we have managed to produce a little more advertising than in the past. I would particularly like to thank Philip Wilson for having taken a full page in colour for the Wison Group of Companies; our first colour page. Hopefully, this will encourage other members to take colour pages in the future.

Once again I would like to pay tribute to work done by the Charitable Trust and to its Trustees, led by Philip Curtis. Without its existence and support, there is no way the EFA could have contemplated funding a full time coach at Westway. That is why I would urge any of you, who would like to put back a little into the game, which has given you so much enjoyment, to support the Trust.

As you all know, Martin Shortland-Jones died just before last year's AGM. There is an obituary to Martin in this report and I wrote a tribute to him in the January Newsletter. I would just like to add that there was an extraordinarily moving memorial service at the end of January for Martin in the Chapel at Eton, attended by both the Provost and Head Master. I am sure he would have been delighted to have seen how many of his former colleagues and Fives friends turned up to honour him; he would certainly have appreciated the very beautiful singing.

Anne has very generously donated a cup, the 'MJS-J Cup', to the Veterans Tournament. This is a tournament, which was won frequently by Martin, and the Cup will be a very fitting reminder of all he did for Eton Fives. She has also given Martin's two Kinnaird cups to the Schools Championships for them to be given to the winners of these championships and to be held by them for a year.

If you have read the 'Notice of AGM' at the front of this report, you will have noticed that the board has proposed that Dale Vargas should be our next President. I do hope that you will all support this nomination. It is particularly well deserved; Dale was an energetic and successful Chairman of the Association in the late 80's and has since been extremely actively involved with the Charitable Trust.

In the years that I have been chairman of the EFA, I have become increasingly aware how dependent we are on the efforts and dedication of the directors. All directors contribute to what is done by the EFA, but I would particularly like to mention Mike Fenn, who carries so much of the administrative load on his shoulders, Derek Whitehead, who quietly and usually in the background, carries the balance of the administration, Martin Powell, who is now our Treasurer and was previously our Secretary and Mark Williams, who, quite apart from been the organiser of the Schools Championships, is the Chairman of the Competitions Sub-Committee. All of them have given many years of dedicated service to the EFA. We are astonishingly fortunate to have the benefit of their time and efforts.

Ken Hughes has spent a considerable amount of time over the last two years in preparing a booklet which will contain an abbreviated guide to the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the EFA as well as containing all the Laws of the game and competition rules. It is planned to enclose this booklet with this Report. Currently, it is quite hard to find the relevant rules to some of our competitions.

Thank you, too, to all the other directors. Many of them have been involved in running competitions and most have been involved in a number of other jobs for the EFA. And thank you to all those, who are not on the board, but run competitions for us.

Martin Samuel is handing over to Philip Robinson the responsibility for the booking of the courts at Westminster. We are very grateful to Martin for the many years he has carried this responsibility. So many of the League matches are played at Westminster that the smooth running of these courts is of key importance to us. Martin has also run the Kinnaird for a number of years. Very many thanks, Martin for all your efforts on behalf of the EFA.

Howard Wiseman is not a director of the EFA, but I would like to congratulate and thank him for all he is doing for Fives in running competitions and coaching. His interest and total involvement in the game has contributed to many of the recent initiatives we have made in the last few years.

Peter Knowles and Chris Cooley were elected directors at last year's AGM and during the year Stephen Brooke was co-opted to the board.

Anthony Crump and Ed Taylor retire at this year's AGM having served their four years on the board. But I am delighted to say that I understand we shall still be able to call on Ed's design skills - he is the designer of our cover.

It gives me great pleasure to be able to draw your attention to the fact that Teresa Dunbar is being nominated as a director. I am delighted that Teresa has agreed to take this on, because she already has a very full programme. I very much urge you to vote for her. She will be the first woman director of the EFA; I cannot think of a more suitable candidate; all her family are successful Fives players; and with both an increasing number of women taking up the game and our involvement with Westway, it is important that they should have a voice on the Board.

Michael Constantinidi

Constructed by Mike Fenn
10 September 2001
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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