St Ann’s Tennis competes in the Brighton & Hove Parks League. See details and fixtures here

The Parks League is a 40-team contest, split into four leagues, involving 12 clubs and 650+ registered players. Each team has eight players: four men and four women, competing in mens doubles, ladies doubles and two mixed doubles. The league runs April-August every summer, and has been running more or less unchanged since 1930. Find out more about the Brighton & Hove Parks League here.

There is also the annual Parks Cup knock out competition (singles and doubles and mixed doubles) with a Finals Day held at QPTC every July.

The Parks League End Of Season competition takes place in September. St Ann’s won the 2022 End Of Season tournament (Group B), and won the 2022 Parks League Division 4 title (earning promotion to Division 3).

Please note that all team members must be registered St Ann’s Tennis members, and must also be registered with the Parks League before the start of the league season (deadline will be Sunday 3 April). Please pay full season subs £25.00 in advance. Click here.

About the Parks League

Some important Parks League rules
You have to be registered as a St Ann’s Tennis team member, AND registered with the Parks League (BHPLTA) in advance before you can play a match. You cannot register on the day. It has to be by the evening of the previous Sunday. St Ann’s had to forfeit a hard earned victory last season because one player was not registered (my bad). Yes, they do check. We will strive to get everyone fully registered before the start of the season. Teams are allowed to register new players mid season, one week in advance of any fixture.

You cannot play a competitive fixture for a private club (eg. County league matches) AND Parks League during the same season. This is the sacred rule of the Parks League: this competition is not for private club players. You can play for a private club in winter, but you cannot compete for a private club even once over the spring or summer AND also play Parks League. To clarify, if you play a match for, say, Wickwoods in April then you are effectively barred from Parks League for the entire summer season. You may play for Wickwoods in Winter, but you cannot play for Wickwoods in Summer, and also play Parks League. This is harsh, but the rules are clear. BHPLTA actively scours names and results across Sussex, and will not hesitate to a) suspend a player and b) dock team points for any infractions. This happened to two different players last season (including Stanford, who were really struggling to put out a team. Stanford complained. The BHPLTA did not budge). The reason this rule exists is essentially because the Parks League is a) dedicated towards grass roots, community parks tennis, not private club players (who have plenty of their own competitions), and b) the Parks League is very popular, so a lot of private club members want to play in it, and would swiftly fill all the places if The Rule were not in place.

Subs & Registration
Team St Ann’s subs are £25 per player, paid in advance, covering team sessions, BHPLTA team registration, fresh match balls and court time. All players must be registered in advance with the BHPLTA, with the deadline for all fixtures the Sunday before matchday. No exceptions. Finally, all registered players are allowed to enter the Parks Cup singles and doubles competitions. The current cost per entry is £4.00 per player per event.

Click here to pay Parks League subs

If you would like to help organise and promote competitive tennis at St Ann’s, please get in touch. New players welcome! Email admin@stannstennis.co.uk