| The All England Lawn Tennis
& Croquet Club, which is responsible for staging the
world's leading tennis tournament, is a private club founded
in 1868 originally as The All England Croquet Club, and
its first ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon.
The first meeting of The Lawn Tennis Championships
in 1877 enjoyed a garden party atmosphere, and attracted
a few hundred spectators. Situated since 1922 at Church
Road, The Championships is the only Grand Slam tennis event
still held on grass. As a highly professional tournament,
it attracts an attendance of nearly 500,000 people and through
press, radio and television a following of hundreds of millions
throughout the world.
Membership of the Club
There are 375 full members of The Club, plus a number of
honorary members, including past singles champions, of various
nationalities, who have rendered distinguished service to
the game. In addition, there are about 100 temporary members,
who are elected from year to year, and active players who
are in a position to make regular use of The Club and to
play in Club matches during their period of membership.
Club Colours
The present Club colours, dark green and purple, were introduced
in 1909, following the discovery that the previous colours
of the Club were almost indentical with those of the Royal
Marines, which were blue, yellow, red and green. The decision
as to why dark green and purple were chosen is not stated
in the Club's records.
Merchandising
The Wimbledon Merchandising programme was started by The
All England Lawn Tennis Club in 1979 and has three objectives:
to increase awareness of Wimbledon throughout the world;
to enhance further the image of The Championships and to
provide additional funds for the development of lawn tennis.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club has 28
licensees in 7 countries. The principal products licensed
are tennis and casual wear, footwear, tennis rackets and
bags and tennis balls. In addition, the Club licenses a
select range of luxury products such as towels, fine leather
goods, sunglasses, crystal, chinaware, jewellery and luxury
food products. In the UK, there are Wimbledon 'Shop in Shops'
in Harrods and Lillywhite as well as duty free outlets at
Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The trademark of the Wimbledon
crossed rackets and flying 'W' are registered in some 42
countries. Wimbledon merchandise is now available at shop.wimbledon.org
Use of Courts
Apart from the Centre and No.1 Courts, the courts are used
all year round by the Club members and LTA sponsored players.
The grass courts are in play from May to September, except
Centre Court and No.1 Court which are used only for The
Championships. The courts are occasionally used by a number
of clubs and organisations, for the staging of various events
and tournaments
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