Click here for the Laurie Dunker Squash Tournament website

During the late 70’s Iscor (ArcelorMittal) had the policy to support and sponsor Inter Centre Sport days to enhance staff interaction as the NIH (not invented here) factor was quite high.

As usual the golfers and rugby players took the lead and organized events that really became a high light on the annual Iscor calendar. A small group of squash players decided that this is an example that should be followed and early 1983 set up a committee with representatives from all the Iscor Centers.

The first tournament was hosted by Vanderbijlpark in 1983 and the hosting was rotated to Newcastle and Pretoria after that.

The format that was initially decided upon consisted of 4 Centers with 15 players in each team (60 players in total). Later the format was changed to 2 pools with each Center having two teams of 4 players in each pool (64 players in total).

The Iscor mining group (now known as Kumba Resources) was invited to join, and they hosted the tournament in Grootegeluk. Initially the tournament was only on one day where three games were played but was later increased to two days where one game was played on a Friday and two on a Saturday.

Laurie Duncker was the most senior Iscorian that played squash in those years. He was on the EXCO equivalent management team. He arranged the first sponsorship from Iscor and donated a trophy which the committee decided to name the Laurie Duncker Trophy. Through the years he and wife Beth (a springbok hockey player in her days) remained in contact with the tournament. Initially Laurie played but later they only came as guests. Laurie passed away in 2012.

This annual event also became a highlight in the squash calendar as despite various challenges the tournament continues:
 

Iscor discontinued their financial support many years back, so a keen player saw the opportunity for AST (Gijima) to become the main sponsor which they did for several years. They also withdrew their sponsorship later so the tournament is now sponsored by various organizations and the players.

The Pretoria Iscor club was shut down and together with that one of the playing venues and hosting committees. The team was changed to an AST (Gijima) invitation team and the 3 remaining hosts took up the venue hosting slack.

Grootegeluk and Kumba Resources discontinued their involvement when Iscor was privatized, and Richards Bay were invited to join the tournament and they hosted it a few times also.

Recently Randburg Squash took over the Gijima Invitation slot and has also hosted the tournament twice.

The tournament was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid situation but continued again in Randburg in 2022.

Regarding the above we must mention the name of Richard King who now plays at Randburg.  He was one of the founder members of the tournament in 1983 (at that stage in NCL) and was adamant that it should continue despite the incidents mentioned. It was his suggestion that Richards Bay should become one of the hosts after he moved there and Randburg when he moved to Gauteng.

While mentioning names we cannot conclude the history of the tournament without thanking Hendry Murray, also one of the founder members of the tournament, Graham Hocknell of Iscor (now Mittal) Vanderbijlpark and Harry de Jager from Newcastle for their unstinting support and organizing over the years.

There is a lot of tradition around the tournament and many friendships have developed between players that have participated. In the world of squash, it is very rare for a tournament such as this to still be running after all these years.

We can only hope that the younger generation of players will continue to ensure that the tournament continues, the traditions are maintained and goes from strength to strength.