Tennis Association
This plaque is located at 45 Parrott Street. (Back of Recreation Reserve scoreboard)
After scouring minute books to discover when the CDTA began, the only official information found was the association being reformed after World War 2 in 1947. The exact start-date of the association is unknown but minutes from small district clubs date back as far as 1925 with a recess between 1940 and 1947.
The association was reformed by teams from Cobden, Presbyterians, Elingamite, Bostocks Creek and Jancourt in 1947-48. Tesbury and Cobrico joined the following season with Methodists, St Brendans, Tandarook, Naroghid, South Purrumbete, Carpendeit, Red Hill, Glenfyne and Stoneyford joining the competition over the years.
The honour boards show Mr K Bolton as president in 1947/48 with Mr A Gale holding the top job for the next seven years. The F A Gale Challenge Cup was donated by Mr Gale for A, B and C grade competitions. When he retired and left the district in 1955, he was made a life member, the only one ever awarded – to the current executive’s knowledge.
The minutes show Easter tournaments and January championships were held for singles, doubles and mixed. Kevin McQuinn won the singles championship seven times between 1958 and 1965. Tough competitors over the years include Don Vickers, Ken Taylor, Peter Sharp, Maureen Clements, Fay Greaves and Ellen Darcy and, more recently, Blake Sealey. Cult hero Jack Black played well into his 70s and was renowned for fix-it jobs like bolting his racquet together when it cracked.
In September 1989, the remaining small country clubs were struggling with numbers so the association’s committee decided to centralise the tennis at Cobden Recreation Reserve. Senior teams
from Carpendeit, Cobden, Cobrico, Glenfyne, Redcourt (Red Hill and Jancourt) and United were requested to pool players, who were graded into even teams. Junior numbers were strong at the time but they followed the same format. The new teams took up the names of the old clubs.
This format continues today with senior numbers gradually dropping from 40 to only 20 in the 2010- 2020 period before the committee’s hard work, with a little help from COVID-19, boosted the numbers in 2021-22 to 36. Junior Hot Shots programs, C grade coaching and competition have remained strong.
The association has had many long-serving office-bearers since its inception but current president Garry Finlayson along with wife Sharyn, as secretary/treasurer, have combined years of service for the association of 58 years. The couple was presented with Tennis Victoria ‘Tennis Service’ awards on the night of the St Patrick’s Day fires (2018).
