SPOTLIGHT ON ALAN RANSOME - CURRENT ETTA CHAIRMAN 

 

With the ETTA election less than two months away the current ETTA Chairman Alan Ransome OBE was invited to address the Essex Leagues to explain why he is still the best choice for the job. Using all of his considerable experience in the role few people who were present at the Old Chelmsfordians Club in Chelmsford, on Monday 20 January,  will be able to argue that his presentation was anything other than glossy, hugely informative, professional, enthusiastic and that his message was spoken from the heart. He is 56 years of age, happily married, a successful businessman and, oh yes, a more than useful player in his time.    

 

Ransome's achievements in Table Tennis are immense, not only as an Administrator, but as a Coach, Tournament Organiser, Official and as a top-class player. There can be few people who are more knowledgeable than him on any one area of the Sport let alone on the "overall picture". As he effectively started at the bottom of the tree as the General Secretary of the Middlesborough League he has "the full picture", rather like the clerk who makes it through to the Board-Room within the same Company. Ransome's Club Ormesby remain one of the biggest names in the Sport in this country and are again on the "up". He also served as ETTA Vice-Chairman before embarking on the role of Chairman which he has held for the last 11 years. Furthermore he has excellent contacts at ITTF level, Sport England and on various international Committees.

 

With such a lot of experience and with such dedication to the task in hand you have to question why people feel that a candidate should need to stand against him at all.

A difficult decision as Ransome's tenure has seen major tournaments held in this country (1994 Europeans, 1997 Worlds, 1998 World Veterans Championships and the 2002 Commonwealth Games), it has seen the number of ETTA ranked players jump considerably, it has seen a record number of links forged between Clubs and Schools as well as various new schemes unfold up and down the country to entice new Officials into the sport. No one can dispute the fact that these are all major plus points as are the fact that record numbers of players are now competing in the County Championships, British Leagues (Juniors, Seniors, Ladies and Veterans) and in the flourishing and over-subscribed Grand Prix events. Ransome covered all these points eloquently and it is clear that the statistics speak for themselves. Likewise the advent of Lottery funding has been a major bonus-point and the formation of the ETTA Academy can only be a major step forward despite the criticisms that all the funding is going to the very elite. In all these areas Ransome's efforts have been exemplary and stand above any form of cheap criticism. Rude criticism of the current National team is definitely "cheap" and one should remember that those players who compete internationally do their best; and with most other European nations now employing Chinese players in their ranks success cannot be taken for granted despite increased capital investment.

 

Where the current ETTA administration don't have such a good case concerns how the local Leagues perceive their efforts. Despite the fact that more people are playing competitively at the higher end of the sport the numbers playing in local Leagues continue to decline. Figures cannot hide this despite the fact that more and more specialised Centres are springing up around the country. Just as the specialised Clubs (such as Cippenham) attract more players so the local Leagues (such as Slough) show a decline in numbers. Whereas the School-Club links undoubtedly bring more people into the Sport fewer of them are actually taking part in the traditional local Leagues. Whether they will in future remains to be seen? There are many cynics in Essex where the specialised centres (BATTS apart) have not been nearly as successful as in the North of England and the Midlands. Major efforts have been made to entice new players into the Sport within Essex, notably at the Fellows Cranleigh Club, Morpeth School, Langdon School, BATTS, NETTS, SETTS and the Wilson Marriage Centre but to date the improvement in numbers of people playing has not been dramatic. Ransome to his credit admitted that the picture in Essex is rather different than in some other parts of the country. 

 

It is clear that Alan Ransome has painted a "modern vision" for the Sport where he is looking for it to flourish in purpose-built Centres but the question appears to be whether the local Leagues in Essex want to embrace that vision or not?

This "Party Political Broadcast" is not meant to carry any bias in favour of either Candidate - Alan Ransome or Alex Murdoch. It is a report for the Chelmsford & District Table Tennis Web-Site, following an invitation to Mr Ransome to explain to local League Management Committees why he is seeking re-election as Chairman of ETTA.