President Barry Wykes, press officer Tom Quinn and league secretary Barry Vibert all stood down from their roles last week and the Jersey Table Tennis Association have been operating with an acting secretary, Malcolm Gallichan, since Tony Wood moved over to help with the organisation the sport’s NatWest Island Games schedule.
What, if anything, has caused the departures is not known, but it is not expected to affect the NatWest Jersey Open at Easter or the Island Games late in June.
Wykes, speaking on Tuesday from Plymouth, where his son Jordan is attending an England training camp, said: ‘Yes, I’ve stood down; I was not getting the support of certain sections and working three to four hours a day only to be criticised I thought “do I really need this”?
Departed press officer Quinn, who will continue as chairman of selectors, said: ‘I’ve a young son and I’m busy at work; the position of press officer was taking up a lot of my time so I’ve given it back.’
Quinn refuted any suggestion that his withdrawal was anything to do with development officer Craig Gascoyne, who has won seven Island Games medals, not being selected for Jersey 2015.
Quinn added: ‘No; not at all, it’s just life in the JTTA.’
Aland 2009
Silver: Men’s doubles (C Gascoyne/J Wankowicz)
Bronze: Men’s singles (C Gascoyne), Men’s doubles (M Tupper/H Tupper), Mixed doubles (C Gascoyne/K Le Febvre), Team event.
Isle of Wight 2011
Silver: Men’s singles (C Gascoyne), Women’s silver (N Duke), Team event.
Bronze: Women’s doubles (K Le Febvre/N Duke), Mixed doubles (C Gascoyne/K Le Febvre).
(Table tennis was not staged at Bermuda 2013)
Acting secretary Malcolm Gallichan said: ‘Things are on the up and we are looking at getting them sorted.
‘Barry Wykes has resigned; Tom Quinn has stood down as press correspondent while Tony Wood vacated the secretary’s position to help with the organisation of the Island Games, so we’ve called an extraordinary meeting (4 March) to appoint replacements.
‘I know various emails have being going round and that Barry has stood down for his own reasons but I don’t know what they are.’
‘It’s a breath of fresh air to know that we have people to run the NatWest Jersey Open at Easter and the Island Games with Chris Band helping out along with Craig Gascoyne,’ he added.
Gallichan, a stalwart of the sport, says he has not intentions of taking up a JTTA position.
He said: ‘I’ve no wish to change what I am doing. I’m president of the CCC club and I attend JTTA Council meetings as their delegate.
‘Table tennis continues to move forward; we’ve got a lot more adults coming to the Centre these days and everyone involved wants to continue to promote the sport to all, with the least hassle as possible.’
