Welcome to the International Lawn Tennis Club of New Zealand
"Hands across the net, friendship across the ocean "


Welcome to the IC of New Zealand

The IC of New Zealand was formed in 1956 and has around 150 members in New Zealand and around 50 living overseas.

Ron McKenzie and Jeffrey Robson inspired the formation of our Club after they had been made Honorary Overseas Members by the IC of Great Britain. Jeff was our Patron from 1994 until he died in 2022 aged 93 and always took a very active part in our activities.

At our May 2023 AGM we appointed another long-time member Sir Colin Maiden as our Patron. Sadly Sir Colin passed away in July 2024.

ICNZ was very pleased to send 2 teams to help celebrate the centenary of the foundation of the original International Club in Great Britain in 1924.

The revolving photos above reflect some of the team. To read more click on the August 2024 Newsletter on the Noticeboard as this is entirely a report of the IC Week held on the Wimbledon grass courts.

Some of the names of former or current International players who are members include:

Lan Bale, John A Barry, Dr Peter Becroft, Jill Bignell, Beverley (Vercoe) Billington, Martin Colenbrander, Marcus Daniell, Gilles de Gouy,      Bruce Derlin, Malcolm Elley, Marina Erakovic, Raewyn (Dickson) Ferkins, Patsy (Belton) Fleming, James Greenhalgh, Peter Hampton, Brett Hibbert, Alistair Hunt, Grantley Judge, Betty (Bryant) Kay, Robin Legge-Hunt, Dan King-Turner, David Lewis, Mark Lewis, Andrew Lobb, John Lockington, Greg Long, Justin Mackenzie, Cecilie (Fleming) McIntyre, John Mills, Ethne (Green) Mitchell, Dame Ruia Morrison, David Mustard, Mark Neilson, Linda (Stewart) Nightingale, Pavlina Nola , Elizabeth (Terry) Odgers, Onny Parun, Tony Parun, Danny Parun, Brenda Perry, Marilyn Pryde-Lawrence, Erin Routliffe, Ruth Seeman, Philip Seemann, Des Shaw, James Shortall, Jeffrey Simpson, Artem Sitak, Gary Slater, Elaine (Becroft) Stephan, Brett Steven, Judy (Burke) Tinnock, Claudine Toleafoa, Andrew Turner, Michael Venus, Marcel Vos, Wesley Whitehouse, Dan Willman, Kevin Woolcott, Brian Woolf.

Overseas based Anton Bettink, Howard Broun, Robert Clarke, Ian Crookenden,James Dunphy, Ron Dutton, Kelly Evernden, Pauline (Elliott) Hanson, Lew Gerrard, Jeremy Grubi, Steve Guy, Robyn Legge-Hunt, Chris Lewis, Mark Long, Julie Richardson, Russell Simpson, Oliver Statham, Rubin Statham, Paul Smith, Stephen Temple.

Touring Players. We also have a group of younger players who are actively playing on various circuits. At the Paris Olympics Erin Routliffe and Lulu Sun represented NZ.

The IC of New Zealand is active in organising a number of events and matches for both junior and senior members.

The NZ Funds Trans-Tasman Trophy event for junior players (16 & under) was competed for annually with Australia, on a home and away basis. This led to the wider zone eliminations.

In 2008 the World Final of the first Compass IC Junior Challenge event washeld very successfully in Auckland. This has now grown each year with the elimination matches being played every second year, with the final the following one. The 2013-4 Finals were played at Wimbledon, the 2015-6 at Monaco and the 2017-18 in Japan. 2022 was held in San Diego and November 2023 in La Jolla USA. This is now called the Rod Laver Junior Challenge.

Morning Tea functions at the ATP & WTA tournaments in Auckland each January, for members and overseas players.The worldwide Covid-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the two International Tournaments for the 2nd year in January 2022 but we were thrilled to be back in action again in January 2023 and 2024.

60th Anniversary Weekend. In late August 2016 we held a wonderful celebration, with tennis, golf and a special Dinner. Around 120 members and partners came from around New Zealand and overseas for this. Special guests included Lew Gerrard and Ian Crookenden, two well-known NZ Davis Cup Players. Our Patron, Jeff Robson MBE was honoured with Life membership of ICNZ, a very well deserved honour. Since then Life Membership has been awarded to Des Shaw and Brian Woolf in 2019 and Jill Bignell in May 2023.The most recent was Cecilie McIntyre in 2024 after 5 years as President and 25 years on the committee. She has now edited 100 of the occasional Newsletter which can be opened on the Noticeboard.

In October 2019 we resumed our matches with the Australian IC when a NZ team of 10 members with supporters travelled to the Gold Coast for a very successful weekend of friendly rivalry. NZ won the matches 8/3 therefore becoming the first holders of the Sedgman-Tills Trophy. It was a great pleasure to have Frank Sedgman and his wife there for the weekend, and also on the Saturday evening to meet Ken Rosewall and his (now late) wife Wilma.We thank ICA President Kerryn Pratt and her committee for making us very welcome.

After a Covid postponement in March 2022, we played another match with the Australian IC in Wanaka, in the South Island in March 2023 which although smaller was well contested and NZ retained the Sedgman-Tills Trophy. See the Noticeboard for our newsletters covering this and other events.

IC Council News

October 2025
Team USA triumphs at the IC of Canada’s 60th anniversary event

Team USA triumphs at the IC of Canada’s 60th anniversary event

The IC of Canada celebrated its 60th anniversary in Toronto, Canada from 1-5 September 2025.

Six countries joined the Canadian team, as follows:

  • Argentina
  • Barbados
  • Bermuda
  • Great Britain
  • Mexico
  • USA

In total, more than 90 people participated in the event, with the USA taking home the winner’s prize.  Great Britain came in second place, with Mexico very close behind in third.

Because the IC of Canada wanted the event to be as inclusive as possible, and because there was a wide range of ages, team numbers, and player abilities, they used a modified round robin format, mixing and matching players to create matches that were as competitive as possible.

The week started off with some fun and informal padel games at a pop-up padel site near the Distillery District in Toronto on 31 August.  Practice day followed on 1 September, when most participants arrived at the host club, the historic Toronto Lawn Tennis Club (circa 1876).

Day 1 of match play began on the club’s Har-Tru courts under glorious late-summer sunshine, and they continued all day with a break for a sumptuous buffet lunch on the upper balcony.  Very quickly the team from Barbados set up “camp” at one end of the viewing deck, where all week long the sounds of laughter and the telling of tall tales could be heard.

The second day of the event saw the most matches, and by the end of the day there were many sore shoulders, knees, and hips, but smiles all around. The post-match Happy Hour helped to soothe the aches and pains, and goodwill remained high.

Thursday 4 September dawned under heavy skies and torrential rain making outdoor play impossible, but the committee worked hard to shift matches indoors to the Queen’s Club, where some outstanding tennis was on display. Rumour has it that it was also the occasion of a rare mixed doubles pairing between Peter Harding and his lovely wife, Sue. Fortunately, they were both seen smiling broadly at the end of the day, so all was well.

The Gala Banquet took place on Thursday evening in the Philpott Room of the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, where a fabulous dinner was served, followed by speeches and the bestowing of honorary memberships for the Event Director, Karen Clarke, and the IC of Canada President, Dale Kozicz. In turn, the Canadian IC gave honorary memberships to Rob Principe and Paula Myslivecek (USA), Miguel Angel Reyes Varela and Alfredo Riefkohl (Mexico), Jimmy Tasker (Barbados), Fernando De Marinis (Argentina), Michael Toyer (Bermuda), and Peter Harding (Great Britain).

The event wrapped up with a day trip to Niagara Falls on Friday 5 September, where teammates donned the iconic red plastic ponchos for a memorable trip on the Maid of the Mist to see the Falls up close. A little shopping and sightseeing followed, and then everyone headed to Reif Estate Winery for an afternoon of wine tasting and lunch before returning to Toronto at the end of the day.

In all, the IC of Canada’s 60th anniversary celebration was a wonderful success, where many old friendships were renewed and many new ones forged in the spirit of “hands across the net, friendship across the ocean.”

The IC of Canada wishes to express its deepest gratitude to the IC Council for its generous support of our event.

Many thanks to all those who travelled from near and far to help the IC of Canada celebrate its milestone 60th Anniversary!

Documents to download

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Contact

Our Honorary Secretary is Angela Hart
Telephone: + 6421 168 5148 

 email:secretary.icnz56@gmail.com

 

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