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The History
Compiled by Fernan Cruz
The
Birth of the Sydney vs. Melbourne Interstate Event
Record of the Inter-State
Event
Our Outstanding Players
Leadership of PATAS
Success of PATAS
Sometime in 1980, a group of tennis enthusiasts headed by Rene Gabor met at the residence of Ben Indolos at Prospect and agreed to form the Philippine-Australian Tennis Association of Sydney (PATAS). In this group were Manolo Patacsil, Lito Leonardo, Remi Nieto, Fernan Cruz and Ben Indolos and, along with others, worked tirelessly towards unifying all Filipino-Australian tennis players in Sydney who at that time have started to band themselves together in small groups of tennis fanatics playing in several areas of Sydney at different times.
In the early 80's and prior to this, several small tournaments were held in different places starting at the St. Columban Seminary at Turramurra, Mascot Park, Merrylands, and at Fairfield and Blacktown. A team tennis competition was also started at Blacktown in 1982 by the some founders of PATAS.
The Birth of the Sydney vs. Melbourne Interstate Event
After moving to Melbourne in 1981, Rene Gabor contacted Fernan Cruz and proposed an idea of having an inter-state event between Melbourne and Sydney. With the cooperation of a few, Fernan was able to organise a contingent of 7 players, namely: Manolo Patacsil, Willie Jauco, Martin Gonzales, Speedy Villanueva, Gerry Benitez, and Dodo Gutierrez, and accepted the invitation of Rene to go to Melbourne in the Easter of 1982. This became the first Sydney vs. Melbourne Interstate Tennis Classic.
At that initial encounter held in two unusual courts made of crushed bricks at Altona in Melbourne, Sydney won by 36 matches as against only 2 losses and the cost of a perpetual cup was shared by both parties. The 7 Sydney delegates dragged themselves back to Sydney with blistered feet and swollen muscles as a result of playing so many matches in that inaugural inter-state With the success of this initial encounter and the efforts shown by the Sydney contingent, they were at the time branded the Magnificent-7 of PATAS, who drove to Melbourne for 12 hours, wined and dined by hospitality by their hosts the night they arrived, but overwhelmingly beat the opposition at that first encounter in 1982.
This initial encounter was the catalyst to all the present arrangement between the two states. Without any formal written agreement at that time, the PATAV (Philippine Australian Tennis Association of Victoria) and PATAS agreed to hold an annual interstate event every Easter with both agreeing to provide free accommodation, entertainment, and other facilities for the visiting team. Later on, the two associations agreed to upgrade their agreement to include individual trophies for all participating players from the two states, with the cost being shared equally by both parties.
Eventually in 1993 in Sydney, a formal agreement was signed by the two Associations incorporating many improvements in the agreement including divisions for over-40's, juniors, and ladies. With the progressive increased cooperation and enthusiasm between PATAS and PATAV, the inter-state event flourished and remained to be run successfully up to this new millennium.
From a modest presentation night in 1982 at the residence of Rey Tanghal at Altona Meadows in Melbourne and at the garage of Bob Alipalo at Fairfield in Sydney over a decade ago, the two Associations moved their presentation nights to much larger venues such as sports halls to accommodate the ever-increasing number of supporters and followers from both camps. The ever-growing enthusiasm and interests shown by many tennis players from both states, both young and old alike, was reflected in the improved standard of matches shown in recent interstate events whereby the two teams fielded players of high caliber including ex-Davis Cup players from the Philippines as well as Australian ranked junior players.
The popularity of the inter-state tennis event was shown by the marked increase in the number of players representing each state in recent years. PATAS sent a delegation of 72 players to Melbourne in 1993 and near similar number in 1995. From then on until the present time, the number of delegates had swelled from both sides.
Record
of the Inter-State Event
Melbourne has not yet emulated Sydney's performance in the 19 years history of this Inter-State Event with Sydney winning majority of the 19 encounters. PATAS also won as visitors in 1982 and 1984 which Melbourne hasn't yet achieved. In keeping with an established agreement, PATAS nearly kept the perpetual trophy permanently in Sydney if not for its loss in 1986 in Melbourne after winning four consecutive years in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985.
Danny Pila, an ex-Davis Cup player from the Philippines, stirred great enthusiasm amongst our junior members during his brief stay in Sydney a couple of years ago where he ran tennis clinics for our juniors.
In recent years, young talents emerged among the ranks of PATAS and most importantly the rise of a number of young players who were trained in Australia and whose parents were in many ways associated with PATAS. The influence of these parents gave rise to their children's interest and achievements in the sport. Most prominent of these children was Pamela Cruz, who was the first and only Filipino-born Australian to be selected in an Australian tennis team and played in the World Youth Cup in Hong Kong in 1990. She was, as a junior, a prominent member of numerous Australian touring tennis teams that were sent by Tennis Australia to Europe and New Zealand. She also spent some time on full tennis scholarship at Texas Christian University at Fort Worth, Texas in the USA.
Pam's younger sister Monique, had the distinction of being the youngest ever Open Ladies Champion of the Blacktown & District Tennis Association at age 13 and was also a state-ranked junior at some stage.
The Giron brothers, Sidney and Don, were likewise prominent juniors of PATAS with state rankings and outstanding results. Don also had a stint in US tennis scholarship.
Another ex-junior tennis player from BTC, Maria Yunon, won several junior tennis tournaments in the Philippines. Rhonel De la Rosa and Eric Rodriguez are the current junior hopefuls of PATAS this new millennium.
Since its inception in 1982, PATAS was led by a number of very dedicated individuals, with many still around continuing to support PATAS. On several occasions, the Chairmanship was held by Lito Leonardo, Manolo Patacsil, Fernan Cruz, Gerry Benitez, and Joe Clauna. Finally, in 1995, PATAS was formally registered and incorporated into a sports body through the strong efforts of Ruben Reyes, with 7 affiliated tennis clubs and embracing some 300 tennis players of Filipino-Australian background. Dom Ponce was elected Chairman in 1995 with Willie Jauco taking over the chairmanship in late 1996. Ramon Rendon succeeded Willie after that and his term ends in December, 2000. After the recent election of officers, Ross Benitez will take over the helm of PATAS in January 2001.
Overall, the success of PATAS in recent years was an
exemplary one. Not only was it able to unite almost all Filipino-Australian tennis clubs
in a large cosmopolitan city like Sydney, but was the only second ethnic tennis
association in NSW (the other was the NSW Chinese Tennis Association) to be successfully
united and incorporated as such. Its record of successfully running an inter-state event
continuously for nearly two decades should be considered a unique achievement of its kind
in Australia and elsewhere in the world where the Filipino tennis fraternity is of
prominence.
PATAS - For Fair Play!