Tony Laws remembered as Surrey table tennis volunteer legend after death, age 65

Tony Laws’ death at 65 has left Surrey table tennis mourning one of the people who did the unglamorous work that keeps clubs, leagues and county structures alive. Laws died on 15 April 2026, and his long service earned him the Maurice Goldstein Merit Award, a mark of more than 10 years of meritorious work at club, league, county or area level.

That recognition only hints at how deeply he was woven into the local game. Laws stayed active in Guildford and Surrey after retiring in 2000 at 65, continuing to give time to the sport well beyond his working life. In a community game that relies on regular fixtures, coaching nights and someone willing to answer the phone when a team needs sorting, that kind of continuity matters as much as any title or ranking.

Surrey Table Tennis said Laws held a long list of roles over the years. He served on the Guildford TT committee, organised Guildford teams for English League Cup Competition national events, and ran weekly practice and coaching sessions at Christ’s College. He also acted as chairman of Surrey Table Tennis Association, served as vice-chairman, became secretary of Godalming Table Tennis Club, and represented the Guildford League in Table Tennis England governance. In practical terms, that meant he was one of the people making sure players had a league to enter, a session to attend and a structure that did not have to be rebuilt from scratch each season.

His reach in Guildford was especially long-lasting. Surrey Table Tennis said he competed in the Guildford League in every season from 1990/91 until the late 2010s, while also introducing many people to table tennis as a coaching officer. His coaching set-up included his wife Shula and son Adam, turning the work of growing the sport into a family effort that reached far beyond one venue or one year.

The Maurice Goldstein Merit Award underlines why Laws mattered so much to the sport’s foundations. Formerly the ETTA Merit Award, it has been presented to local volunteers for more than 40 years and remains one of the Pride of Table Tennis awards, which include 12 categories in the 2025/26 season. Laws’ career was a reminder that table tennis does not survive on champions alone. It survives because people like him keep the doors open, the sessions running and the next generation coming through.