|
TEXT CACHED
To further relationships with our
new Swiss brethren outre-Sarine,
Norman Eatough took a winter Migros course in Geneva in Schwyzerd.
The application for a
work permit for Taddy Edelman as SSRA National coach was refused (no vacancies
left in the Sports sector): we appealed and Taddy got his permit in May for
October, having to masquerade as a musician!
1980 The January Swiss ranking list
placed Colin Fletcher (GC) at no.
rich Grasshoppers Club won
the Swiss Championship, Charles Freeland beating Chris Harris 3 - 0 to win the
Non-Swiss event.
In April, the Swiss team, still pure Anglo-Saxon, did battle
at the 3rd European Championship at the impressive Fitzwilliam Club (1877) in
Dublin.
The new system worked beautifully (and was
promptly adopted by Maisonnex Squash Section and CERN Croquet Club).
The 4th European
Championship was held in Brussels - and for the first time, a Swiss, Kurt
Beetschen from the Berne club, joined the Swiss team, the rest being drawn from
GSC.
1981 In March, the 8th Swiss Open took place at the
club and Norman Eatough won the Swiss Veterans championship, beating Dick
Keyser 9-7 in the fifth.
In November the club won its
third successive Swiss Team Championship title, Basle and Maisonnex coming 2nd
and 3rd, and George Kawalko gave two weeks coaching at the club.
Hard on the heels of the Open,
the valiant Swiss team was chosen and underwent coaching from one of the Open
participants.
At the end of 1977, the Swiss Squash Rackets Association (SSRA)
published its first Ranking list: 1.
1975 The 2nd Swiss Open duly took place in March 1975, again being won
by John Easter, probably the tallest top-level player on the circuit, who beat
Johnny Leslie in the final.
The club won its fourth succesive Swiss Team Championship in November, beating Grasshoppers 4-3, not
least due to a heroic deciding match in which Tim Reidy came back from 0-2 to
2-2, then from 1-5 down to pip Brian Rees at the post.
, then
rented for a nominal annual fee from the Geneva authorities, La Cotihre Squash
Club was the only squash club in Switzerland, the nearest soulmate being the
two-court Coates-of-Paisley club in Milan, some 4 hours drive away.
Among
their specific objections were that their sleep would be disturbed by the noise
of squash balls hitting the front walls, and the fear of late-night orgies!
Meanwhile, on the squash front,
matches were being played at various venues, e.
In January 1972, the Racing Club opposite CERN in Meyrin opened two
courts in conjunction with its 11 tennis courts and the SCG negotiated a price
for interested members to play there until our courts were ready.
1 Geoff Bible and Norman Eatough, filmed for two long hours by Swiss TV
and followed by an interview with Norman, plus an article in La Tribune de
Genhve: Aprhs le football, le whisky, la marmelade et les oeufs au bacon,
va-t-on encore emprunter le squash aux Britanniques? Eh oui!
In September 1972, our two courts in Chambisy finally opened, the end
of a long haul for the construction sub-committee.
Things were being taken very seriously by the Swedes by this time (not
surprisingly, with their recent staggering increase to 65 squash centres with
350 courts and 70,000 members).
In April 1978, a new event entered the Swiss scene: the first Swiss Seniors Veterans
Championship, held at Aarau.
1979 The (in)famous tent had to be
erected yet again for the 6th Swiss Open,
won by Frank Donnelly at his third attempt.
FAX
We were on the
international map with 16 other countries and could now send a team to the
annual European Championships and to a proposed European League (which sadly
never came to fruition);
- plans were put in motion for
the first Swiss Open, notably the netting of a main sponsor (Philip Morris, for
CHF 10 000 - which will be ongoing, subject to a satisfactory relationship at
the first Open).
Geneva Squash Club / Squash Club de Genhve
Pre-1964: see summary in Swiss Open programmes
1964 - 1968
With its single court on the
Route de Ferney, built by the local parfumes/flavours magnate Hugo Firmenich
for his sons who had begun to play squash when studying in the U.
A
particular result of these sessions was that a number of us were now more
confident in awarding a point to obstructed strikers, instead of giving a
feckless stream of lets, a great step forward for fair play;
- in September 1973, the Swiss
Squash Rackets Association was formed in a Plainpalais restaurant.
The Swiss veterans championship is again won, in
March, by Norman Eatough, beating Dick Keyser in yet another marathon, 9-5 in
the fifth.
Meanwhile, clubs had been opened
in Basle and Davos, and we had been informed that a commercial tennis, squash and bowling complex was to be built at
Veyrier, Geneva.
On February 3rd, Aftab Jawaid
(World Open champion 1963, 64, 65, British Open champion 1965, 66, 70), had
been engaged to give a demonstration with his nephew Qamar Zaman (Pakistan
Junior champion 1968) and his friend Mohibullah (Pakistan Junior champion 1969
to 1972, World Junior champion 1970), the first experience of top-level squash
most of us had had.
Norman Eatough was despatched to
Edinburgh, where the basis was laid for a new era in the clubs, and Swiss
squash, development.
had suggested that we
prepare for the Swiss Open by playing in the Dutch Open: If you can do half as
well as they do, you will be well on your way.
The Tribune de Genhve
posters announced that Un itrange sport fait fureur ` Genhve, and later
reported 1er Swiss Open - Les Britanniques intraitables.
These features
have since become routine, but to set them up from scratch required a great
deal of ingenuity and perseverence, plus an actionable amount of company time!
Meanwhile, back at club level,
squash was expanding as membership had continued to climb - from 180 in
mid-1972 to 300 by end 1973, at the same time as The Racing Club had moved from
0 to 95.
Dick Keyser won this years Swiss
Seniors championship and Niall MacCabe ran off with the Veterans Cup.
It is worth recording that there
was some unhappiness concerning the large size of the main reception room (such
as It will be useful only once a year for the Swiss Open) and the Committee
had to stoutly defend its plan, pointing out the need for the club to develop
its social side.
In February, the Swiss team of Freeman, Harris, Eatough, Hogg,
Notari and Fleischmann, who had beaten Germany in Cham six weeks earlier,
travelled to Stuttgart, only to find that Germany had put in some useful
practice - taking the Mens match 6-0 and the Ladies 2-1.
rich at the Grasshoppers Club, separated into a Swiss Nationals and a
16-entrant Non-Swiss event.
We discussed
details with the Dutch organisers - and reckoned we could outshine them, in
particular by offering accommodation with members (a feature which has made
successive Swiss Opens especially attractive ever since).
1977 The first Swiss Championship to be held outside Geneva took place in January
in Z.
At an SSRA meeting, the Swiss National Committee for
Elite Sport awarded Ivan Schnider, our top junior, an annual subsidy of CHF
2100, and the treasurer, Graham Beale, announced that the recently-introduced
Swiss annual licence fee (Fr 35) had realised CHF 5000, transforming the SSRAs
finances overnight.
September 1982: The new extension opens Building
work had crawled on through the summer and it was not until 30th September that
Taddy and Norman Eatough cut the ribbon at the entrance to centre court 4 and
played the first game - the start of a new era in the clubs history.
By contrast, our
captain Mike Hopes instructions amounted to a jovial: Swiss team: in bed
before breakfast! An Irish player was attached to each team to
show us the sights, including in our case a rowdy hoolie at The Abbey Tavern at
Howth and a visit to Glendalough, where Norman Eatough bought a lucky-charm
leprachaun; when about to play Ireland the following day, he pinned it to his
back (where the unfortunate Irishman was supposed to see quite a lot of it as
he chased from one back corner to the other), and asked his Irish opponent what
he thought of that: You dont imagine it will work against us, do you? It didnt!
In October, the club sent a joint
team with Maisonnex to play Milan, involving a 4-hour drive each way,
compensated for by close games and a good social programme.
The 7th Swiss Open was again held at the club in March, despite renewed
attempts to have it moved to Z.
In December, after four pioneering years as
General Secretary of the Swiss Squash Rackets Association, Norman Eatough
resigned in favour of Brian McHugo, who lives in Z.
In response to an article in the press entitled Sauver les
arbres!
(Save the trees), we published an open letter in the Tribune de Genhve and
modified our plans several times in an attempt to move ahead on the building
extension, for which we had obtained approval from Chambisy.
The year ended on an extremely
sad note: Ed Musiker, 28, captain of the Swiss team and the clubs best player,
who had been ill for some six months and undergone treatment in the UK, died on
12th December.
The onward rush of squash in
Geneva was such that the Committee minutes of August 1974 record the question,
less than two years after our two courts at Chambisy had been opened: `Should
more courts be built? The treasurer prepared detailed cash projections.
The club, named La Cotihre
after the ex-Firmenich house in whose grounds the court stood, changed its name
to Squash Club de Genhve, in a move aimed at pre-empting any other club or
centres adoption of this prestigious title.
In May 1977, a new event graced the Swiss calendar: the 1st Swiss Team Championship, played in
Basle between mixed teams of 5 men and 2 women, was won in great style by the
club team.
1973 Our international baptism could
be said to have begun in January 1973, when two members drove for five hours in
unspeakably wintry conditions to play in the Monte Carlo Open.
In April, Norman Eatough won the
1980 Swiss Seniors Championship, beating
David Hare (Basle) 3-1, while Ola Forsberg won the Veterans.
1976 In March, the 1st Swiss Squash Championship (closed) was organised by Maisonnex.
tsch - you should
have seen their faces!
The 4th Swiss Open was held at the club in March, though we now begin
to hear the first criticism from the
Alemannic end of the country that a 2-court club with a tent attached is not
worthy of an international event.
14 locals tested
their prowess against international competition, progressing not very far, but marking
an exciting new stage in the development of Swiss squash.
In November 1974, a new-style winter league opened, featuring teams
from Geneva and the Racing Club with such rivetting names as the Maniacs,
Rogues, Nitwits, Buffoons (no reflection on participants sanity intended, just
us being self-effacing, as usual).
When
Norman Eatough arrived in Geneva in 1964, he had not expected to find squash
played in Switzerland, but enquiries revealed that there was thought to be a
court near the United Nations.
of the court and the competition, no plate event being offered! Back
in Geneva, they asked: Why dont we organise a Swiss Open? We could hardly
fail to do better.
A sub-committee now began serious
work on making our first Open a success: extra seating and a tent were hired,
members were cajoled into offering B B, a programme was printed with the
help of additional sponsors, meals, a greatly-expanded bar, the official dinner
and raffle, and transport to the old court and the Racing Club in Meyrin (later
to become Maisonnex) for the preliminary rounds were organised.
Rumours were heard of another possible commercial squash
centre outfit crossing the Rvstigraben (French-German linguistic divide) to set
up in competition in Geneva.
rich opened the first courts in Switzerland outside Geneva.
Our continued reliance on the
Ville de Genhves assistance can be gauged by the services they rendered for
the 5th Swiss Open in March 1978 (again won by Johnny Leslie):
flooring, lighting and heating for the tent, banked seating on the balcony,
tables and benches, flags, etc for an all-in sum of CHF 1420,- (real cost
4485,-).
Attempts to
publicise squash continued, notably in the form of a demonstration game between
our no.
The 1978 Swiss Open programme proudly mentions that Switzerland now boasts 69 courts and some
7000 players - a phenomenal increase from the total of seven courts at the
end of 1974.
1982 In February, the architect
informs us that the new courts will not be ready for the Swiss Open, so we
negotiate the use of The New Sporting Clubs courts - only to see this arrangement
withdrawn shortly afterwards as their membership increased.
Squash activities continue in the
form of the winter league, consisting of 120 players in a large number of
teams, coordinated by Jim Anderson.
In June, the SSRA excelled itself by publishing the first edition
of its magazine Squash, which included a coaching article by George Kawalko,
the recently-appointed National Coach.
Armed with the information
gleaned in Edinburgh (where incidentally, the European Squash Rackets Federation was formed), events moved
quickly:
- in July, Tony Swift, the
National Coach no less, came in person to run a 4-day clinic, administering to
club members their first refereeing and marking lessons.
|
SQUASH
valutazione:
valutazione:
valutazione:
