Premier interclub games move to midweek

All premier interclub fixtures will be played on Wednesday nights this summer in a bid to ensure more top players from Manawatu play in the competition.

Three different options had been mooted for the premier competition and the Tennis Manawatu board decided to go with what had shaped as an outside chance of playing every game on Wednesday night.

Saturdays will now be free for players to travel and play in the Wellington competition or attend other tournaments.

This means those who travelled down State Highway One last summer on the weekends can play in Manawatu and the capital this season.

There was also the option of playing a Wednesday competition in October, November, February and March and having a Saturday league run through December and January, but it didn't take off.

The other choice was to leave the status-quo and play on Saturday.

The decision to ditch Saturday was made this week and it means the Wanganui Tennis Club will pull out of playing premier interclub, because they won't be able to make the scheduled 6pm start time on Wednesdays due to work commitments.

Wanganui were last year's runners-up to Tu Toa and their club president, Dave Butters, understood the decision, even though his club only started playing in Manawatu last year.

"It's been a really good competition and it's a shame we won't be playing on Saturdays, but most of the players are from Manawatu, so we've got to respect that," he said.

"We are disappointed, but we are still happy to play in the A-grade competition [on Saturdays]."

Butters estimated they would lose six players from their premier side who won't want to play in the A grade, but they would enter more teams in the A and B grades, which would continue to run on Saturdays.

He said there were players from the region who travelled to Wellington to play, but didn't think it was in the best interest of the club, because junior players were deprived of the chance to see top players in action on their home court.

Wanganui Collegiate School didn't return calls yesterday, but it is understood they won't compete in the premier competition due to time constraints and were more likely to play in the A grade on Saturday.

Tennis Manawatu deputy chairman Doug Cartridge said the decision to move to Wednesday would keep the punters happy.

"It was based on the feedback from the players overall," he said.

"We just brought all that together and looked to see where we were going to get the strongest competition.

"We made the decision based on the best interests of Manawatu tennis."

The playing formats will be ironed out over the next few weeks by a select committee, with the first round of interclub to start on October 13.

The games will be played at the Manawatu Lawn Tennis Club and the Feilding Tennis Club courts and would be expected to finish about 9.30pm.

An additional charge will be added to cover the lighting required for night fixtures but the figures weren't available immediately, Cartridge said.

Tennis Manawatu executive office Lyn Biel said the competition would have eight teams – like last year's – and up to 10 club or school sides had shown interest in being involved.

- © Fairfax NZ News