Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The past couple of weeks have brought some really good news and some sad tidings.

The real good news, concerns two major events that the will be hosted at the TECT Arena at Baypark.

Davis Cup tennis comes to the TECT Arena on the weekend of February 10-12 when New Zealand plays Uzbekistan in the Asia/Oceania Group one tie.

The Davis Cup is one of the best-known sporting trophies in world sport.

The prestigious trophy began life as a challenge prize between Great Britain and the USA in 1900.

Dwight F Davis, who was one of the inaugural USA team members, designed the format and put up a silver trophy, which became known simply as the Davis Cup.

The venue of the first contest would surprise many, with the first Davis Cup being played at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900.

A little known fact is that New Zealand had Davis Cup success in the past, winning the prestigious trophy on four occasions when a (minor) member of the Australasia team in 1907, 1908.1909 and 1911.

While New Zealand tennis has fallen a long way from the heady days of 1982, when the Kiwis got to the World Group semi-finals, it is a unique occasion for the Western Bay sports nuts to watch a qualifying rubber of the Davis Cup.

This is not the first time that professional tennis players have visited the region. Sideline Sid still has his entrance tickets from the ITF Satellite Tennis tournament, played at Otumoetai Tennis Club in April 1997.

The second big event to hit Baypark comes just three weeks after the Davis Cup visit. Many of the best netball players in the Southern Hemisphere will be at the TECT Arena to take part in the ANZ Championship pre-season tournament.

For the first time, all ten championship teams will be in attendance.

There is always talk about the cost benefit to a region when a sporting event hits town. Most seem to be based on the spending from the spectators.

Instead the ANZ pre-tournament at Baypark will be good for the region by way of the amount of money spent by the participating teams.

Ten ANZ sides with their full support personnel will need accommodation, meals and refreshments and transportation, for the duration of their visit.

A not inconsiderable amount of moolah (money) should be left in the region after the teams depart to get ready for the real battle of the ANZ Championship.

The sad tidings was the news a couple of weeks ago, the well known sporting scribe Peter Reilly had passed away.

One day that Sideline Sid will never forget was about a decade ago when Sid and Peter shared a car to a Bay Rugby second division game in Waihi.

That day I learnt about Peter's early journalism beginnings in Te Aroha, where he started clocking track work at the local racecourse.

From there he went into fulltime journalism, and in the 1960s and ‘70s was the face and voice of sport in Thames Valley.

A shift to the Western Bay in the mid-1970s saw him become the best-known face at local sport.

With a traditional reporter's cap and a pen always behind his ear as a BOP Times sports reporter and later sports editor.

Peter saw the world on many occasions courtesy of the numerous rugby (and golf) tours that he hosted.

From every tour came a rugby club tie (or three), which were amongst his prized possessions – Rest in Peace Peter.

Seeya at a HRV Cup Game