Annual Report 12/13 - The English Table Tennis Association

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photographs, ephemera, ties, pin
badges, bats and balls.
3.8.2 Research has been undertaken
both internally and for other
interested parties. Enquiries as
far afield as the USA, Sweden
and Israel have been satisfied.
Following an interesting visit to
Liverpool University, to sort and
search archive material held there,
it was possible to supply ITTF with
some missing records from early
English Open Championships.
3.8.3 Domestically, Colin Clemett has
been concentrating on producing
a comprehensive results archive
for all National Championships,
at all levels. Additionally he is
working on table tennis history
from 1921-1927, during the
days of the resurgence of the
Ping Pong Association until the
foundation of ETTA.
3.8.4 Further archival records are being
created giving details of all senior
England internationals playing
records in major championships
and international matches as
well as a breakdown of results
by competition and year. This
work is still in its infancy but is
being expanded upon continually.
It helps complement the ‘Who’s
Who of ETTA’ compiled by Diane
Webb.
3.8.5 Cataloguing and scanning
continues in Hastings but
adequate storage is still
unresolved. An Archives Section
on the ETTA website is still under
consideration.
3.8.6 Many thanks go to all who have
contributed to our history by way
of information and/or artefacts
and ephemera. Much appreciation
also goes to committee members,
Colin Clemett, Rob Sinclair, Mike
Smith and Diane Webb for their
continued work and commitment.
4. Competitions &
Marketing Department
4.1 Introduction
4.1.1 The Department is responsible
for all competitions including
our National Championships
and English international events
as well as the full domestic
programme of British League,
County Championships, Cadet
and Junior National Leagues,
Grand Prix and a number of
other events. The highlight of the
season was of course the Liebherr
Men’s World Cup event held at
the Echo Arena in Liverpool, last
September.
4.2 2012 Liebherr Men’s World Cup
4.2.1 The Association was privileged
to stage the 2012 Liebherr Men’s
World Cup from 28th–30th
September 2012 at the superb
Echo Arena on Albert Dock in
Liverpool, possibly the best venue
that we have used in recent times.
The venue is capable of seating
approx. 10,000 spectators for live
concerts and up to 3,500 people
for the layout we used. The
facilities were excellent providing
us with not only two wonderful
show courts but also with practice
and “Come and Try it” areas as
well as a trade area.
4.2.2 We were fortunate that the Arena
staff were extremely supportive
of the event, and our thanks to
the City of Liverpool and the Echo
Arena for providing a fully fit-forpurpose
sports arena at virtually
no cost to the Association.
4.2.3 The quality of the players invited
was excellent, with 10 of the top
20 players in the world including
China’s Ma Long & Xu Xin, and
European favourites Timo Boll and
Dimitri Ovtcharov. We were also
able to agree with ITTF that two
English players Paul Drinkhall and
Liam Pitchford would compete.
4.2.4 A huge prize fund of $150,000
was up for grabs with Ma Long
collecting the winner’s cheque for
$45,000.
4.2.5 We budgeted for the event to cost
the Association £20,000 which
was similar to the costs for the
two English Opens in Sheffield.
In the event we were a further
£7,500 away from budget, mainly
brought about by poorer than
budgeted ticket sales (see below)
and additional costs originally not
budgeted for venue dressing for
a printed screen and additional
carpeting for main arena.
4.2.6 Tickets sales were disappointing
with just over 4,200 sold,
including sponsors, guests and
VIPs. The take-up of free tickets
to Counties, Local Leagues and
PremierClubs was higher than
for past events. We promoted
this event far earlier and more
often than any other in recent
years but still failed to draw in
larger audiences. Echo Arena did
however advise us that our figures
were better than for some other
sports events held there in recent
times.
4.2.7 An event of this stature cannot
be successfully staged without
a considerable number of
technical officials and volunteers.