Since the early tournaments in Finland in the mid 80's, Racketlon has grown significantly. 2002 saw the introduction of international tournaments and in 2006 a British Racketlon Tour was created, built on the success of the previous English & Scottish Opens. 2009, the fourth 'British Tour' year looks set to herald many new venues as racketlon grows throughout the United Kingdom.

British Beginnings

From the first UK tournament in 2002, British Racketlon has developed from just 20 players to 250 tournament event entries at the 2008 Double World Championships & English Racketlon Open at Redbridge. UK Racketlon growth is now arguably the fastest of any country in the world. This is not surprising considering the number of racket clubs, the length & breadth of the British Isles!

British Racketlon began with possibly the first ever Racketlon tournament outside Scandinavia in Monifieth, Dundee, Scotland in August 2002. The inaugural Scottish Open was organized by Phil Reid, who was inspired by his own experience at the 2001 Racketlon World Open in Gothenburg.

Among the participants were Michael Auchterlonie, an English racket enthusiast and former international table tennis player who went on to organise the first English Open at Heston near London in early October 2002. The participants were made up of 10 international players and 10 British players.

Origins of Team Events

The 2002 English Open event effectively doubled up as the trials for the England Team to compete at the inaugural World Team Championships which took place in Sweden towards the end of 2002. At the trials Stuart Foster beat Michael Auchterlonie for the 3rd team place.

The England team of Rebecca Macree, David Lazarus, Gary Zuconni, Stuart Foster & reserve Wayne Donaldson, came fourth in the  2002 Racketlon World Open Team Championships in Gothenburg.

The Scotland team of Phil Reid, Steve Thomson, Judy Murray & Jonathan Russell defeated the England team to take third place, with Phil Reid defeating Stuart Foster (+3). The full team results can be found here.

Inception of Governing Bodies

The International Racketlon Federation (IRF) was ratified at the Swedish Open in Stockholm in January 2003 and Stuart Foster was asked to join as the English representative.

Michael Auchterlonie decided not to continue with racketlon after the English Open 2002, handing the mantle to tennis enthusiast Stuart Foster who took over the running of the English Open 2003 and also instigated the British Open in Watford on the 2003 IRF World Tour.  Stuart must be commended for taking this on. Katy Buchanan gave Stuart good support in getting these off the ground. The 2003 English Open saw debuts for Keith Lesser & Ray Jordan. Magnus Eliasson beat French International badminton specialist Nicolas Sene.

Katy Buchanan helped Stuart Foster create the first UK racketlon website in 2004. Stuart also organized the first set of IRF doubles rules and organised the first ever IRF tour doubles event at the 2004 British Open. The English Open mantle was handed over to Keith Lesser and team in 2005.

The transition from the IRF to FIR occurred when the first FIR COUNCIL was elected in October 2005 at a General Meeting chaired by Stuart Foster during the English Open in London.

British Tour Origins

With the English & Scottish Open events forming part of the World Tour, 2006 was the year the "tour" grew up. April 2006, with the introduction of the British Championships, saw John O'Donnell and Natalie Lawrence crowned the first ever British Champions.

The first doubles only tournament followed at Thurrock, where Robbie Wong and Gareth Shaw hosted 32 budding rackateers. Next, the Hampshire Open saw the introduction of Steffan Morgan, followed by the South of England Open at Eastbourne, where O'Donnell defeated Morgan.

2005 World Cadet Champion, Ashley Watling then took the plaudits in September 2006 at Ipswich. English & Scottish Opens followed with honours going to Calum Reid, Doug Struthers & Magnus Eliasson. In the women's events, Sarah Reeves & Lorna See traded titles.

The Growing British Tour

2007 saw the tour double in number, including the first ever English Championships. In July, the inaugural London Open, was hosted at King's Club, Wimbledon by Steffan Morgan, exemplifying the spirit of taking the sport back to club & community!

The 2007 English Open was moved to August & provded the first real surge in interest. the tournament was held at Redbridge Sports Centre, one of the best multi-racket centres in the UK. The venue allows for five matches running parallel, for the benefit of both players and spectators.

2008 saw further growth with fledgling events at Romford, Cambridge, Bristol, Dudley, Nottingham & Dulwich venues. 2008 also saw the re-introduction of the British Open at Ipswich, a World Tour 'Challenger' event with world ranking points. A number of non-tour events were also in evidence as Racketlon became more widely publicised.

Media Interest Builds

The BBC provided Racketlon with some great publicity during 2008, with features on BBC Sportsround, BBC Breakfast & Chris Evans Radio 2 Drivetime show, all generating an upsurge in registered interest.

2009 set more records as both Racketlon awareness & participation grew, with new tour events being added, including the inaugural Welsh Racketlon Open. 2010 will see attempts to give the UK tour a more even geographical distribution. Existing tour events are being developed to allow for more competitors, and ideas for the future development of the sport are being generated and worked on by the fledgling English Racketlon Association.

The Future Development of Racketlon & "ERA"

Keith Lesser, Ray Jordan and Stuart Foster set up the English Racketlon Association Ltd in late 2008. Another key figure in the English Racketlon Association is Gary Tovey who has been instrumental in pushing onwards the communication, marketing and development of the sport. Dominique Ford has additionally made several key contributions, particularly to the British Tour and the "headline" events including the national championships and international opens. With other key individuals like Richard Lawrence and Stuart Hobden on board, racketlon is set to go from strength to strength. Thanks also to the wider team in recent years who have helped take the English Open in particular to the next level.

The International Racketlon Federation (FIR) has promoted the setting up of national bodies & it is hoped that associations in all UK constituent countries will be ratified, following the English example. Welsh racketlon looks set to get kick-started with the inaugural Welsh Racketlon Open in August 2009 & S4C TV coverage of the sport also filmed in May 2009 for a July broadcast. The UK tour & the World tour, already both well established, continue to grow in number & geography.

Around the world, other national tours exist, along with satellite events in countries from the USA to Hong Kong. There are ever increasing national ranking systems in place, international team championships & in some countries, racket clubs have developed inter-club competitions. In Germany & Austria this has now resulted in league racketlon & for 2010 an international champions league has kicked off.

National & International junior events are flourishing & the sport is seeing renewed interest from those tasked with 'racket development' in the club and schools environment. In the UK, university students have started to take to racketlon in ever increasing numbers. Racketlon has been a 'best kept secret' for a number of years, but now with signs of real grass roots interest it is seen as set to take off!

The next step for the UK is developing a beneficial membership scheme that would lead to greater recognition of the sport & open up funding opportunities & other benefits

2009 Progress

The ERA website was launched at the end of 2008 & tournament entry now requires registration to the site. This has meant that over 95% of tournament entries are completed on the site & payments made at least a week prior to the relevant event taking place. We thus have a player database with over 500 players already registered after just over year with the new system. We can now say that we have over 1000 players who have played UK tournaments in recent years, although with busy lives & the demands of racketlon, not all are tour regulars.

Evidence for the growth of the sport in the UK is perhaps also the increasing presence of racketlon on the web & particularly on social networking sites. The UK Facebook group, created in 2008, has over 300 members, & unlike other facebook groups, these members are active racketlon participants & the group is growing, introducing new people to the exciting sport of racketlon. The majority of tournaments in 2009 were oversubscribed, with typically 100 competitors for a two day, 2+2+2+2 court set up. We also increased the number of 4+4+4+4 tournaments, allowing for 150+ competitor entries.

2010 Beginnings

2010 kicked off with the English Championships at a new home & with a new sponsor. The event moved to Redbridge, the home of the English Open, & with at least 4 courts of each sport available, attracted over 100 entries. 2010 has also seen the advent of regular racketlon events at Redbridge, making it very much the home of racketlon. For details of the full 2010 tour, visit the 'Events' page, or for tournaments open to entry, visit the 'Tournament Entry' page.

World History of Racketlon