HOCKEY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27992, 12 June 1956, Page 9

HOCKEY

N.S.W. TEAM MAY TOUR N.Z.

formal invitation to BE ISSUED

A first-class New South Wales hockev - nal \ e a tour lasting four to five ueeks in August and September. A tO informal negotiations ma de by the president of the New Zealand Hockey Association (Mr L. H tl‘L rt £ n) ~ as , received at a meeting of the New Zealand Hockey Association last evening. It said that New South Wales 'Y ou l d . be able to send a team on a short tour of New Zealand. The meeting wl^!, de c V? 1 w U 1 e a lorinal invitation to New South Wales and to ask the Australian association to sanction the tour It is also possible that a Pakistan team may tour New Zealand next season. The proposal was made by Mr S. M. Hassian captain of the 1938 side to tour New Zealand, in a personal letter to the secretary (Mr W. H. Down). Mr Hassian is to be advised that New Zealand is interested in the scheme. Pakistan reached the semi-finals at the last Olympic Games.

The venue of the New Zealand challenge shield tournament, which was to have been held at Invercargill, may now be transferred to Christchurch. A letter from the Southland association said that it was withdrawing ift team and requested that the tournament be transferred to another centre. The tournament will now be offered to Canterbury and will be held early in August. New entries will be accepted and the closing date has been extended to June 30. Several speakers expressed dissatisfaction when it was reported that provincial associations had not notified the association of the dates of their representative fixtures. They considered that this was making the task of the selection of an Olympic team more difficult for the selectors. Some players who were possible Olympic candidates were being robbed of a chance of being watched by the selectors because of a breach by their provincial association.