HOCKEY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 245, 13 October 1917, Page 14

HOCKEY.

; THE PAST SEASON. • The season of 1917 cannot be regarded as one of exceptional brilliancy, which, however, was not to be ex- . peeted; yet it had several redeeming features. The grim struggle practically disorganised everything in the wide r -world. As the conflict increased in - dimensions and intensity it made incessant calls on the flower of our manhood, and naturally sport suffered s severely. It would have been a very - poor kind of pastime of the strenuous - order that could maintain its progression rwhen all able-bodied and physically - fit men were required at the front. fc | Sportsmen enlisted freely, so followers 1 and pioneer 3 of the various branches of sport, instead of being disappointed by depletions, were rather proud of the 1 j fact, the vacancies usually meaning " I that their branch of sport was adding , ! j toward the big army in the making. ;\ Although one of the more recent I ! games established here, hockey was one j of the first to suffer, and before long some of the foremost teams were in distress, and even went cut of existence. In addition to the war, the wretched w.ather conditions, which became worse a 6 the competition advanced, and Droved one of the wettest years on record, considerably affected play. The season opened mo6t promisingly, and the matches, until the middle of the second round, proved tough propositions, the greatest difference between winner '. and loser being two goals, while in other matches the bare majority decided the contest. During that period all the competing teams in the senior championship suffered defeat. The championship was in the balance until July 16, when an unfortunate incident, which caused no little sensation, led to the withdrawal of the Areta team, under protest, from the competition. Fortunately, the Association was able to obtain the facts of the case later, and the matter was satisfactorily adjusted for Areta. However, they were not 6uch a strong team as before the incident, and, suffering defeat at the hand of Mount Eden, the latter again assumed the lead, and never looked back. The hockey at times was good, notably in the Areta-University match, which provided a scientific encounter of merit as far as field work was concerned, although the circle work was not up to the same standard. Taking into consideration the state of the ground, howe.*r,- forward play was usually conducted' under scientific methods, but the apparent weakness was the shooting. Opportunities frequently went begging, and, dfespite the fact that a number of e_r_e_l4nt goals were scored, shots went very wide at times. On the heavy going the full-backs had the easiest task to perform, and out of the eight in that division half-a-dozen of them were very capable. It was the first line of de- • fence that experienced trying times on i the uncertain going, and, of course, their i work suffered considerably, and barely i half of them were able to show consis- • tent form. i The senior championship throughout was really a struggle between Mount 1 Eden and Areta, yet the other two teams ' were by no means "make ups," for Edendale defeated Mount Eden on one occasion, and also played one drawn game with Areta, .while University ' checked Areta twice. Mount Eden even- ' tually won the championship, Areta was , second, and University had double the . success of Edendale. The second grade went to Areta, after an interesting series of matches. No I championship caused so much enthusi- . asm as the third - grade, and the . matches between the rival churches Somervell and St. Luke's were full or • excitement, and attracted far more ; attention than some of the senior games. , Eventually St. Luke's were victorious. ; Wesley Training College were successful in the fourth grade, and Stanley Bay Old , Boys accounted for the fifth grade ■ championship. Besides the ordinary competitions, two • j tournaments eventuated, and teams from j Mount Eden and Areta went to Waihi and Thames respectively. Mount Eden, the season's premiers, ■ I started by winning all the matches in the first round, but the second round proved most disastrous to them. They were compelled to strike their colours to the Areta and Edendale in successive matches, but the situation was saved to • some extent by gaining an easy victory ! over the students. The success "was only :: temporary, and Mount Eden occupied -1 second place until July. After they ! j appeared a much stronger eleven and ) carried everything before them. The II first match with Areta was an exceptionally good one. and the contest with i j Edendale furnished quite a strenuous i struggle. Altogether Mount Eden had i the fine record of eleven wins, defeating i University and Edendale each four i times and Areta on three occasions, i while they lost a couple of games to i j Areta. and had a surprising defeat from ,] Edendale. The team was evenly bal- ; anced. and each department did its share .towards the success. l Avery appeared in most of the , | matches, and played consistently. Jar- ; man performed splendidly at full-back, i his work being very clever and profitable! • McLeod was not so brilliant as his part- ' ?- er \ but P erforme<J steadily throughout, , his hitting being very powerful. Hunt ( (captain) had the distinction of beim* , the best of the backs, and his opponents ' « a \ * estif y to his abilities with the 1 tv i' Barkleet als ° showed good form. , The forward line was a strong combina- . tion towards the end of the season, and . as a scoring quintet proved to be more Bangerous on the wings than in the centre. ( dansen, on the left, and the two Alexanders, on the right, provided the . danger, while Whittaker and Malcolm ( | worked matters up in a systematic ,; manner for the benefit of the colts, who ( ; possessed more life and dash than the ;two members of the older brigade. ■ ; The manner in which the Mount Eden :forwards attacked towards the end of ; the competition was reminiscent of the ';: early days. The line advanced at a -sound puce, and they worked to various : parts of the line with accuracy. After the l j opposition was drawn, one of the young •jmembers of tbe advanced brigade would '|suddenly dash>through. and had the conditions been normal, instead of samples ! jof these brilliant movements many more have eventuated. ! I Areta, second on the list, were the > | victims of misfortune about the middle ,lof proceedings, and came in for a good I deal of sympathy. Happily they reIceived ample redress, and instead of

withdrawing from the competition continued until the end. They did not make a very promising opening, for they had to submit to a solitary goal defeat at the hands of their old rivals, and in the next match only managed to draw with University. In the next round they achieved a splendid success by turning the tables on Mount Eden by three goal* to one. Two drawn games followed, and then again they beat Mount Eden. Thereafter Areta won every match with the exception of two games with last year's champions. Areta's championship points were the result of two victoriei each over Mount Ed.n and University and Edendale, two drawn games with ; University, and one with Edendale were responsible for the remainder. Areta'« work was not seasoned with much spice of good fortune, "nevertheless matches were absolutely lost through the lack of combination. There were prominent players in the forward line, including Fletcher, Thomas, and Westwood, -but the line within striking distance of tht circle frequently seemed to get tangled. Fletcher was a very dangerous element in the attack, but his services were not always available. Westwood rendered good service on the left. Thomas was very nippy at times, and scored a number of goals, but should have passed more. Preston broke away frequently. Brinsden was one of the notabilities of the season, and played a splendid halfback game. Baker, in the same line, wu very useful. Sloman and Horspool treated the spectators to brilliant hockey at times. Both speculated in a marvellous manner and seldom erred. University, which had; a very, chequered career, were seen at their best in the opening stages of the competition when the weather was better. The first and second round were exactly alike, a win, a draw, and a loss in each case. The third round proved very disastrous, as every match was lost, and they scored only five goals, while a dozen were notched against them. Two victories over Edendale terminated their successes, and they finished up the season a long way behind Areta. The team. was quite different from last season, and did not contain a player eligible for active service, chiefly on account of the age limit. The most apparent weaknesa was in the back division, as they possessed no Speights or Eennies, although Reynolds accomplished good work at full-back. The half line seldom rose to any stage of extreme brilliancy, though every member worked hard throughout. Fawcett, in goal, defended the sticks splendidly at times, but then again he had off days. 'The forwards gave some splendid exhibitions, and outside the circle the scientific methods were of a very high standard. Shooting was not a strong feature; their attack seemed to break down just before reaching the circle edge. Somers could not put in an appearance regularly, however, when present was invariably this mainstay of the line. Harman and "Wadding" ham played dashing games,.and Garrard wa_ also in evidence.

Edendale Old Boys, last yeart junior champions, were in the second year of their existence, promoted to senior grade, achieving the honour of biing the first primary school old boys' team to reach seniority. Although "handicapped by a paucity of players the team possessed a nucleus of good men and succeeded in extending their older opponents in every match until the last round, when several players being placed hors de combat, the team became somewhat disorganised, and suffered several serious defeats. Their stickwork was good, and their tackling second to none, but except in the third round, when Rowe took the field and went through the round undefeated, they showed a weakness in combined tactics and •in circle work. The young team is to be complimented on its showing in its initial season in senior hockey. Beckman (goalie) was a determined stopper, but requires more experience in clea__ng. Of the full-backs Sparkes was very ciever, but should part with the "leather" sooner. Riekett is a reliable and solid back, unfortunately inclined to "sticks." in the half line Phillips showed by his dogged play that he comes of a "good fighting stock, but is sometimes a little careless re the restrictions imposed by the obstruction rule. Emery proved 'a constant toiler with plenty of vitality. Barton showed good form at half when he feit like it. He plays a good forward game in the circle—showed that he " had a punch." Hall, probably the smallest and youngest player ever seen in senior contests, was at aU events game, and kept his place well. In the forward line Wheeler, on the left wing, did not disgrace himself. Grayson proved a good worker and clever with his stick, showing towards the end of the season signs of overcomiitj his besetting sin of hanging on too long. Davis, vice-captain, is a hard work rr and keen tackier. Rowe (captain) is the most dangerous and experienced player in the line. He knows how to make an opening, and is a capital shot. Monteith, on the right wing, was a battle* of the stereotype order.