This is the second in a series of historical articles written by Lorraine Maxwell who has been tirelessly digging back through the MIA Open archives. Thankyou Lorraine!

In the 1930’s players from around the region participated in the tournament. Tennis was a sporting and social event with articles in the paper describing the dance, band and venue after the tournament had concluded.

In 1932 the courts moved further down the street, to where the old ambulance station is towards McDonalds. There were 6 courts plus other around the town.

Jack Shannon won the Men’s Singles in 1933 & 1934, his deadly accuracy and sound play meant that he was able to come back from a 4-0 deficit to finally win 9-7 in an early round, then win the final easily.

This is the first in a series of historical articles written by Lorraine Maxwell who has been tirelessly digging back through the MIA Open archives. Thankyou Lorraine!

The first MIA Championship was held in November 1920.

It was either in response to local players going to Country Week in Sydney and then organising the event OR needing to have a tournament to qualify for Country Week.¹

Whichever way it happened it was an association of local tennis court owners who met in a school near the old cheese factory in Bagtown and decided to run this championship.

2021 MIA Open Centenary (+1) Planning Meeting

6:00pm at the Club House

Everyone welcome – there will be history of the competition dating back decades, event planning and more – see you there!

Griffith Tennis Club Inc.

Annual General Meeting

Monday 8th March 2021

7.30pm

At the tennis club house, all members welcome

…and everyone who would like to get involved by joining the committee to help tennis flourish in Griffith are especially welcome!

The 2021 Summer Social Comps return in February – there are competitions running almost every night of the week, so get yourself or your team registered via the attached form (also available to pickup at the clubhouse)!

Dear Members and Players,
We hope that you have been keeping well over the lockdown period, and are looking forward to returning to court ASAP!

The Griffith Tennis Club is continuing to follow the Community Tennis Guidelines provided by Tennis NSW:

Effective July Ist:

The NSW Government has issued a new Public Health Order (PHO), in which it has given
specific directions in relation to community sporting activities. Pursuant to the PHO:

• Where community sporting activities (including training sessions) involve more
  than 20 participants, the organiser of those activities must have a COVID-19
  Safety Plan;
• “Participants” include players, people who are training, officials and spectators;
  and;
• The maximum number of participants at a community sporting event must not
  exceed 500

The Government maintains its direction that occupiers of premises must ensure that there is at least
4 square metres of space for each person on the premises.

At this stage, as an outdoor event, and due to the smaller numbers (< 20) for our Winter Social Competition, no changes to our current operating procedures are required. We expect players to observe social distancing, and follow this checklist before you play:

Stay at home if you:

• Have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days
• Have been overseas or exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days
• Have flu-like symptoms
• If you are in a high risk health category

Thank you for your cooperation, and continued support!

The Griffith Tennis Club Committee