Unearthed cup revives rivalry

A Far North squash tournament has been reborn - and a 29-year-old rift between two clubs healed - after a long-lost trophy was found in Kaitaia.
Pete Hoult, captain of the Kaitaia Tennis and Squash Club, said the saga began this year when an old trophy reappeared at the clubrooms.
After decades without a clean it was hard to read the inscription, but club members eventually established the cup had been donated by the Shapcott family in 1977 and last competed for in 1982.
In its day four clubs had fought for it - Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Kaikohe and Taipa - with Kaitaia five-time victors and Kerikeri winning once.
Mr Hoult said the opportunity was too good to ignore. Club members called their Kerikeri counterparts - the only other club of the four still with Squash Northland - and suggested reviving the tournament.
The response was an unequivocal "heck yeah!", and a one-off home and away format with two teams of 16 was agreed.
The first round was held in Kaitaia on March 3; making the most of home advantage Kaitaia finished two games ahead on 9-7, travelling to Kerikeri the following week confident of victory.
But it was not to be.
After 30 matches Kerikeri had clawed their way back to 15-all with two games to play.
"The quality of squash was exceptional, with some of the games going right down to the wire. The tension in the club was almost unbearable. I for one couldn't bear to watch," Mr Hoult said.
In the end Kerikeri prevailed, winning the Shapcott Cup 17-15.
Since then, enquiries with senior club members have cast new light on how the cup came to be forgotten.
The consensus now is that Kerikeri won when the tournament was last played, but the result was disputed by Kaitaia.
"Basically, Kerikeri stormed out and went to the pub, leaving the cup in Kaitaia. It's taken 29 years for the dust to settle," Mr Hoult said.
"I had the inauspicious honour of handing the cup over, but in the light of what's come out since then, it feels like karma."
The cup now takes pride of place at Kerikeri Squash Club, where players are determined the next gap between tournaments will be a lot less than 29 years.
"It was a great contest," club president Claude Shepherd said, "and the cup's in its rightful home now."