History of the VETTS

In 1982 the first ‘unofficial’ Veterans World Table Tennis Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden and 26 players from England took part in the event. They returned with a haul of 2 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals. It was also agreed that the World Championships would be continued every two years at a new venue. The players who attended the first tournament enjoyed the camaraderie so much that it made them think of the many older players in the UK who would enjoy such friendship and competition. At that time this was not being catered for by the English Table Tennis Association (ETTA).

Mike Watts, our President until his death in 2001 wrote an article called ‘The VETERAN Scene’ which was sent round to all the county Associations to gauge the interest. Over 150 players responded positively to the article. The inaugural meeting of the Society was held on 15 January 1984 at Coventry when the constitution was set up and the first Officers were appointed. The objectives were as follows and are still adhered to.

• To form an Association for Veteran Players of all standards with the object of promoting friendship and competition amongst players throughout the country.
• To promote and organise the following championships each season
• National Championships involving over 40, over 50, over 60 and over 70 events
• Regional Championships with similar events covering the whole of the country
• Other competitions as may be required by the membership and agreed by the committee
• To organise dinner dances at all tournaments
• To promote other social activities
• To endeavour to maintain ranking/rating lists as required
• The Society shall be in Good Standing with the ETTA

Since that day the Society has gone from strength to strength. The current membership stands at 799 (October 2001). The membership fee is £10.00 per year with a reduction to £5.00 for members over 65. For this members get a diary and six newsletters. The National and six Regional tournaments are run. A Ratings tournament is held on the weekend of the Annual General Meeting. A very successful 200 club provides additional funds to help keep the costs down. The Society also runs its own successful promotions stand at all tournaments selling shirts, tracksuits etc. The Society was generously sponsored by Hilton Hotels for eleven years. This sponsorship not only helped pay part of the tournament costs but also provides reasonable room prices for the players and good facilities for our dinner dances. We also have an agreement with Tees Sport to provide equipment for all of our tournaments which enables them to advertise in our newsletter. Such is the popularity of the weekends we are needing to find venues to accommodate at least 25 tables for play as more than 250 players regularly enter.

Many of our members now enter the World Championships of which there have been ten, in Gothenburg, Helsinki, Rimini, Zagreb, Baltimore, Dublin, Melbourne, Lillehammer, Manchester and Vancouver. In that time members have claimed numerous gold, silver and bronze medals. In 1995 the 1st European Championships for veterans was held in Vienna and since then members have attended European Championships in Prague, Gothenburg and Aarhus. Many old friends from previous tournaments are met and the camaraderie spreads on a worldwide basis. Many of our members now attend other Veterans events worldwide including the Turkey Veterans Open, where between 40 and 50 members go annually.In both the World and European Veterans championships age groups have been expanded and now range from over 40’s to over 80’s.

The spread of the Veterans game across the world has been so successful that an International Veterans Society was formed in 2001 with the VETTS being one of the founder members. This Society will increase the links between Veteran players and friends around the world.

The ITTF now recognise the expansion of the Veterans game and have set up a Working Party Committee for Veterans with regional representation.