HOCKEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 34, 8 February 1913, Page 16

HOCKEY.

There have been several accidents in England recently arising from bitting the ball in the air. The practice certainly seems on the increase, the element of danger is twofold, as there is the risk of a player being hit in the face not only by the ball Imt also by the stick. Of course there is room for a lot of discussion of the subject, and the first point thai comes to one's mind is to define the exact meaning of hitting in the air. The stroke that should be penalised is the indiscriminate hit at the ball in the air that has the effect of raising it. On the other hand, a ball imay be coming just a foot or so off the ground to a forward, and he passes it to another forward in all probability without raising it the la&st bit more, and in the majority of cases the act of passing it sends the bail to the ground. Strictly speaking, this would be hitting the ball in the air, but it is not my aim to prevent a stroke of that sort.

The dangerous stroke is the one tha<t is so often seen, of either hitting or attempting to hit the ball in mid-air, with the intention of passing it over an opponent's head. It would not be a difficult task, by eny means, for an umpire to judge if- the stroke were dangeroue, and I think at might safely be left to the umpire's discretion to penalise a player for a stroke at the ball in niid-air which, in the umpire's opinion is dangerous. Of course, there is no hope or chance of anything being done until next season, but the sooner the problem is tackled, and a rule drawn up, the better at will be for all concerned. I think the stroke is as prevalent at the 'Varsities as in club lrockey. and prabaiily one of the causes of it is that nowadays one invariably sees players, before a game starts, picking the ball up on tiieir sticks and hitting it to one another in the air.—Eric Green, in "Sporting life."