The Story of the UK’s Longest-Running LGBTQ+ Tennis Club
Croydon, south London, has always had a strong gay community vibe.
A stroke of fortune has meant that the local area has been full of professional LGBTQ+ people with many skills, knowledge and experience. This array of passionate people has made ACE Players Tennis the success story it’s become.
It hasn’t been all roses though. From dealing with unfriendly staff and homophobic bystanders calling us names in our formative years to sadly losing members during the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s and 90s, our challenges were many.
After the millennium, with society’s changing attitudes, playing tennis on public courts became more comfortable. A new issue emerged though: was the group still relevant in 21st century Britain?
Time has proven there is still validity in having LGBTQ+ spaces where people can be their authentic selves. Largely thanks to the Meet Up app, we have expanded our membership from a low of 15 members to over 150.
The tennis group has been an important part of my life and it’s heartening to see a new generation of players come along and join us – just as we renamed the group ‘ACE’ as a tribute to the aforementioned AIDS Care Education project (as well as an obvious tennis reference).
We hope our new members – and many others to come – will raise a glass to us for our 50th anniversary in 2027 as they have for our 45th.
About the author – Leigh Armstrong (he/him) is a committee member of ACE Players Tennis Croydon and has played in the group for nearly 40 years. He has been a long term LGBTQ+ community activist in the area, helping to set up and manage a youth group, an HIV project and theatre group and a 50+ silver rainbow lunch club. Leigh is also a committee member of Racing with Pride, British Racing’s official LGBTQ+ racing network.