8. Sporting Achievements

Bowls Section 

It was not until the 48th, 49th, and 50th years of the Club’s existence that it won its first State bowls team events. In each case, it was the men’s teams: Sixth Division, State Fours in 1967, First Division, State Fours in 1968, and Third Division, State Fours in 1969. This was a momentous and much celebrated experience for the Club.

Individual bowlers had achieved success prior to this.  For example, Wilf Muirhead won the State singles title in 1951-52.  In 1948-49 two women bowlers, Mesdames Cole and Treloar, were selected to represent South Australia in interstate carnival games held in Sydney, and former Club Singles Champion Laurie Rosenfeldt represented the State in the 1967–68 and 1968–69 seasons.

In more recent times many Club champions won State events.  Helen Hutton twice won the South Australian Champion of Champions pairs, first with Jody Kraguljac, and then with Jeanette Hill.  Penny Landherr (Wright) and Jackie Gardiner won Club singles and were selected numerous times in State teams, with Penny winning the Women’s State Singles in 2009 and player of the series at an interstate tournament, and being selected as an Australian representative, emulating Jeanette Hill, skipper on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Other successes of Bowls members at State level in recent years include Gary Thompson, the State Open Singles winner in 2008-09, and the Men’s Champion of Champions in 2009-10; his son Josh Thompson, the Under 18 Junior Boys champion in 2007-08; Paul Garnett, the Under 35 Singles champion in 2008-09; Gary and Josh Thompson won the State Champion of Champion pairs in 2009-10; Alyssia Brown, the State Pairs Champion Under 18 Girls in 2013-14; and Jack Watson, the under 18 Singles Champion in 2013-14.

Tennis Section

In its earlier life, the Club participated in the District Tennis competition played at Memorial Drive, with the men’s team being premiers on four occasions, most recently in the 1952-1953 season, and the women’s team on two occasions, most recently in the 1964-1965 season, with Ann Boucaut at first singles. 

The Club has enjoyed considerable success in the Saturday Morning Metropolitan Lawn Tennis Association competition since the Association’s inception over 50 years ago, fielding up to 12 teams per season in some years.  

While the SMMLTA records are incomplete prior to 1994, in the 23 year period since then the Club has won 36 premierships across the various divisions.   There was a golden era in the 12 year period 1993-4 to 2005-6, when the Division I team was successful on 8 occasions and runner up in several other years.  

Ian Cooper, the current Finance Director and a former Tennis Secretary and Tennis President, who organised Saturday morning teams for many years, recalls that Mark Swanbury, David Dew and Andrew Thiel played in 6 of these teams, and also in the victorious Division 1 team in the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Lawn Tennis Association competition in 1997-8, and that Rino Traforti played in 5 Division 1 premiership teams across both SMMLTA and the Saturday afternoon Metro competition. Since 1993-4 Kensington Gardens players have won 31 SMMLTA “player of the year” awards across the various grades.  

Other Club records indicate that the Club won 13 SMMLTA premierships in the 1973-74 to 1983-84 era.

The Club also enjoyed success in the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Lawn Tennis Association competition. Over a period of more than 60 years until the last decade, the Club regularly fielded both men’s and women’s teams which won many premierships in various Divisions, including Division 1 premierships in the 1967-68, 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1997-78 seasons.

The Club continues to participate in the Women’s Midweek Grasscourt Tennis Association’s competition, currently fielding five teams across five divisions. In her role as Thursday Ladies President for seven years until 2017, Rosie Budenberg and her committee encouraged members to participate in this competition. The Club has achieved many premierships over the years, including a golden period for the Division 1 team starting in the 1967 – 68 season, with premierships in 11 of the ensuing 17 seasons until 1985. In recent years the Club has hosted the competition’s grand finals with lunch to follow, a testament to the Club’s courts and facilities. Social midweek tennis is also played by a number of lady members on a regular basis.

For many years men’s and women’s singles and doubles tournaments were conducted for tennis members, including handicap and mixed doubles events. Matches were usually scheduled to be played on Sundays because of the demand for courts on Saturday afternoons. However, the finals were generally played late on Saturday afternoons, and were watched by a good number of tennis members crowding around Court 1. Trophies for the winners and runners-up were presented at an annual dinner dance at the end of each season.

All events were always keenly contested, with social tennis players often providing strong opposition to some of the teams players. Regrettably, the Club tournaments gradually attracted less interest, and were eventually discontinued after the 1998-99 season.

The success of one member, Colin Brown, should be recorded. He was a strong tennis player, having represented Western Australia as a junior in the Lynton Cup Tennis competition. He won the Club Men’s Singles tournament in 1963, and after joining the Bowls Section, won the Bowls Singles championship in 1998. As far as can be ascertained, he is the only member to have succeeded in being the Club champion in both Sections’ singles tournaments. 

Another member, Liz Scholefield, won both the Tennis Section’s Mixed Doubles championship (with her son Roger), and the Bowls’ Mixed Pairs championship (with her husband Bob). She modestly attributes her success to her careful choice of partners, but others attest to her skill at both sports – she was the Ladies singles Bowls champion in four successive seasons, commencing in the 2005-06 season.

Kevin Lonergan was another strong player who   won the Club Singles Championship twice, first in 1978, and then his daughters Kerry and Michelle then immediately followed his example by winning the Ladies singles in the next two years. Stan Hawkins played doubles with Kevin, and later they both enjoyed much success in seniors’ events. John Potter played in the Wimbledon Singles Championship, and Dr Peter Oatey in the Australian Open Singles Championship.  Bill Jeffery, the Club’s Junior Coach for many years, was the Tennis Singles Champion for five successive seasons in the 1960s. 

Other members of the Club also achieved significant success as seniors. Dr Colin Parker was a member of the 2009 Australian International Federation team, which was runner up to the USA team in an international tournament for men aged 75.

The late Rev Allan Shephard was the Gold medallist in three successive Australian Masters Tennis Singles Championships, starting in the Men’s 70 and over age group in 2003, then in the 75 years and over age group, and for good measure, four years later, in the 80 years and over age group. He and Ron Moulton were the Doubles champions on five occasions, in the same age groups. Ron Moulton also won many singles and doubles events in national and State Masters and Seniors championships, including the 65 plus singles championship in the Australian Masters Games in 2001, and most recently, the 80 plus singles championship at the Victorian Grasscourt Championships in 2016. 

Other tennis players enjoyed significant success in other sports, including Graeme Hole, an elegant top order batsman who played test cricket for Australia before playing competitive tennis for the Club, and Dr John Marriott, a Magarey Medallist who was selected as a ruckman in Norwood’s team of the century and won all Australian selection in 1953, and later became a Tennis President.  Robert Oatey OAM was also a member of Norwood’s team of the century, as well as a former captain of Norwood, and later a Sturt premiership player.  Other members who played in SANFL league teams include Norm Walker, an outstanding ruckman and full-forward (Norwood), Doug Young (Sturt), Dr Peter Oatey and Bob Chalklen (Norwood) and Brian Dew (North Adelaide). Bob Scholefield was involved with football as an SANFL league central umpire, and officiated at two grand finals at the Adelaide Oval in the 1980s.

Brian Dew’s wife Helen nee Ancell), a strong player in the Ladies’ midweek tennis competition, captained the Australian Women’s hockey team in 1965 and 1968. Life Member and former General President John Kirkwood played for South Australia in the 1955 Under 18 football team, and another Life Member, Keith Christie-Ling, played lacrosse for South Australia.

Dr Terry Farquharson, a caring Sport & Exercise physician, is another member who had a long association with both the SANFL and cricket in South Australia, having been the Team Medical officer with the Redlegs for 18 years, the SANFL State team for 10 years, and the Redbacks for 16 years, as well as touring with the Australian Test Team to Bangladesh in 2011.