HOCKEY

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 140, 14 June 1911, Page 7

HOCKEY

The senior championship matches of last Saturday materialisou in a manner which places them amongst the luost remarkable of the season; not on account of good expositions of hockey, for that was almost out of tlie question owing to the treacherous nature of the Uirf, Intt for prolific scoring. No lower than 2S goals were registered, giving tin average of nearly ten per match. Without the services of Porter and Bloomtield United had very little hope of checking Ponsoiiby's recent successes, and when time wns called Ponsonby had, for the first time in their career, not only overcome the champions of two seasons, but had inflicted the heaviest defeat sustained 'by United, although Auckland equalled the score some years ago. The game fell a long way below senior standard, and breaches of the rules were frequent. The players evinced a great deal of surprise at the frequent sound of the whistle, but it was fully justified and proved a useful lesson. Among the Ponsonby forwards Young was the most convincing, and seemed to revel in the mud. Hay rendered valuable service, and is one of Ponson'by's most consistent players. Parton and Mills had a day off. The former did not appear to take kindly to the Avatery condition of the ground. Mills was very weak indeed. Aligon played a sound gajne without being brilliant. Turner was safe. Jaeobsen proved a stumbling block to the United vanguard. Munro was the shining light of the United forwards, but received little support. Bickeson grafted hard, but showed a tendency to roam. Woods had plenty to do, and got through his work in good style. A little more "wood" in his strokes would ■Lγ an improvement. Christchurch are not considered very formidable rivals to the teams at the head of affairs, so an easy victory for University was anticipated. Unfortunately the Southerners only mustered nine stiekwielders. This considerably weakened the side, and consequently they were never able to extend their opponents. The students were merciless, and bonvbarded the opposing citadel continuously, which produced the huge, total of fourteen goals, but with so ninny opportunities the tally should have been even much larger. Jacobsen was a thorn in the side of the opposing defence, and registered eight goals. During five matches the total of goals from his stick is 21. Whit taker's work in the open was good, but lie appeared to lack dash on gaining the circle. Reynolds was always there when wanted. Richards and Robinson were the most prominent of the backs. The latter is seen to much better advantage in this position. Adams started in the full back line, but eventually returned to the front rank, and. with Amos, did the bulk of the work in that department. Jones was not quite so good as usual, but shaped best of trio rcmr.indcr. Auckland obtained another victory by defeating North Shore on the Domain Cricket Ground in a somewhat easy fashion. The match mainly developed into a contest between the Auckland Forwards and the opposing backs, owing to the unorthodox defence of the seasiders. This consisted of seven backs, and was triod in order to upset the tactics of the champions' forwards. Notwithstanding these precautions Auckland =cored eight goals, so it could hardly be called a success. The first spell was of an uninteresting nature, but some fino parsing bouts by the winners" vanguard improved matters when the teams turned round. The Shore backs did some strong hittinc. and. although it brought temporary relief, did not prove of much advantage, as the ball cither went out of bounds, or wns stopped and immediately returned by the opposing backs. Their own front line of four wero unable, and could not be ex-perted to nccount for six backs of greater ability, consequently t'ho leather wns soon back in thoir territory again. Tho t-.vo. most prominent men in the. seaside brl* gado mre Pnacas axd _

Second grade player 3 will be pleased to hear that the president of the Association (Mr. Wm. Coleman) is donating a cup for competition among teams in that grade. The winning teams of "A" and "B" sections will play off to decide the holders for twelve months, while the cup will become the absolute property of any club winning it three times in all. This trophy should add considerable interest to the second grade competition. The match between University A and Unitarian proved very exciting, though not a particularly fast one. Play was considerably impeded by several large pools of water on the ground. The University backs defended well, but were somewhat weak in attack. Fawcett was in great form as a goal-keeper, and stopped several hot shots. Rennie was most conspicuous in the half lino. The University forwards did not chow to advantage, probably owing to poor support from the halves. Brook and Oilmour, however, got in some good work. The Unitarian backs were stubborn in defence, Simpson, especially, stopping well. Their forward line does not seem as good as last year's, but is still nippy and fast. Hobson and Parker showed up to great advantage in the forward rushes. The game ended in a draw. In the third grade competition Auckland defeated Unitarian by nine goals to nil. Unitarian played two men short, n:id were outclassed by their younger opponents, ivho gave a surprising displnv of combination. Replying to the remarks of Mr. Thos. Gresham. president of the Auckland Ladies' llockpy -Association, concerning the alleged interference in the aTnira of i his Association by the Auckland Hockey Association. Mr. L. H. Norton (honorary secretary of the A.H.A.) writes, expressing a desire to ili-'pe] any fiilse impressions Mr. Gresham's remarks mny convey. "I Finv, emphatically, that the Aurkland Hockey Association him no desire whatever to interfere with the business or control of the LmlicV Association, !Uld hns pursued this policy right through," declares Mr. Xortnn, ami he goes on to any that tlic friction between the two Associations to -which Mr. Gresham refers is =imply an extraordinary attempt by the Indies' executive to interfere with the advertising arrangements of the A.H.A. ■•The parent body," be dialer,, " has always -tretit/'d the Ladies' Association in a most liberal manner, an.l grants Indies* teams the use of grounds at liemueva ;it ridiculously low rates, i.e., one-fourth of the f"es charged the men's (ranis, notwithstanding that to do this we have to rent grounds elsewhere at very hiirh rut, * to accommodate men's tennis tlint could otherwise? play at lle-nim-m. Anil now. for sum" (jnite inexplicable reason, the Ladies' Kxi'cntive objects to the Auckland Hockey Association 'ment ionwig the most impo-rtaiit ladies' matches in its usual weekly iulvertiuftinents, although this body is the lessee of tlie entire proiincls, and controls all sronnn , arrangements." The writer explains that the advertising of ground arrangements was so obviously essential for the notification of players and referees, that nueh arrangements were, and always had been, made by the men's executive.