CLUB HOCKEY SHOULD BE THE BASIS OF NATIONAL STRENGTH

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 5

CLUB HOCKEY SHOULD BE THE BASIS OF NATIONAL STRENGTH

MEW ZEALAND’S participation in the 1956 , Olympic Games focused a great deal of attention on the composition and preparation of the national team last winter, but now, with a less eventful season from an international point of view, it is imperative that attention be concentrated upon the standard of club hockey throughout the country.

For far too long New Zealand teams have consisted of a nucleus of talented players who have virtually selected themselves, and a tail of varying length composed of very average performers. Amongst the latter there has been quite a scramble for selection, but this competition has been waged within a group possessing a certain evenness of mediocrity. The position is very similar to' that which exists in New Zealand cricket.

This state of affairs reflects a lack of health in the standard of club hockey. If New Zealand's national team is to be improved, as it obviously needs to be improved, a gigantic task lies before all who are charged with the task of conducting and improving hockey at the club level. Development in this field will produce a much greater number of capable players, with keener competition at a higher level for representative and national teams.

Standards

A great service will be done to the game by the first provincial association which is prepared to declare boldly and openly that its club standard is not good enough by a wide margin, and which sets about the task of improving it by constructive leadership and guidance. It would be a matter for local pride if Canterbury were to initiate such a lead, especially as its 1956 senior competition was not a very inspiring affair. In view of the mediocrity of most of the Olympic teams, a vigorous effort to stimulate a higher standard might very easily elevate New Zealand to third place in the 1960 Olympics provided such an

effort is set in motion not later than 1957. In the meantime club players must eschew any feelings of complacency at the realisation that the recent Olympics demonstrated that their contemporaries in most other countries do not excel them in ability. They must give greater thought to the principles of hockey and avoid at all costs the repetition of bad faults shown at Melbourne. Bad hockey does not become good hockey simply because it was played that way at the Olympic Games. Olympic hockey needs an amount of healthy debunking lest its false glamour corrupt our own club standards. A recapitulation of the worst of these errors is timely while enthusiasm is at its peak and the season beginning. First, many players ignored and consistently broke the illegal tackle rule, and most umpires connived at this by taking no action, with the result that the good players were handicapped and the poor players handsomely compensated. In the interests of skilful stick-work and clean play, umpires and players must achieve a unanimity of correct and informed opinion on what constitutes obstruction, and strive to eliminate it.

Second, if most Olympic teams demonstrated the virtues of physical fitness and speed, they also succeeded in proving the futility of speed when divorced from the requisite skills which should accompany it Some of the fastest so lacked dribbling ability that they were mere hit-and-run players and easily dispossessed of the ball by resolute tacklers. Others who had a little dribbling skill would make effective breaks, but could not develop their teams* attack further because of poor passing. In this regard it was startling to witness the large number of through passes made under conditions which suggested little appreciation of the principles applying to the through pass. The most common fault was the making of the pa»s when the player was too far away from the gap, with the result that the ball had to be hit so hard to penetrate the gap that it either went over the opposing goal-line or the side-line or was collected by a grateful opposition.

Early Passing

Even the Indian forwards indulged in too much dribbling and delayed their passes far too long. The major weatcness in the Olympic champions was their neglect of early passing for splitting the defence. Other teams' either shared this weakness or suffered from inability to pass accurately. It was unfortunate for New Zealand that the best display throughout the Games of early, accurate, effective passing by a forward line was given by the Pakistanis when they played the All Blacks.

In a certain sense the Indians and the Pakistanis demonstrated the effectiveness of their stickwork and short passing by default. When opposed by resolute, bustling opposition they tended to depart from their time-honoured skilful methods, and to lapse into the cruder hard-hitting methods of their opponents. They even descended to this level when opposing each other in the final. This has given rise to the illusion that the gap oetween IndianPakistan hockey and the rest of the world has narrowed. But even under the utmost pressure, lacking protection from the umpires against barging opponents, employing tactics foreign to their training, die stickwork of the Indians and Pakistanis got them through. It always comes b<fck to stick-work. This is the basic lesson for all New Zealand elub players. Stick-work

When New Zealanders have developed stickwork to the Indian level (remembering that a Babu Singh is not produced very often, even by India) and ceased weakly declaiming that it cannot be done, when adequate attention has come to be devoted to the art of passing, then and only then will New Zealand teams be able to challenge the world with confidence. But there were several ominous signs that Malaya and Kenya might beat New Zealand and Australia and Britain and Germany and Holland to it. New Zealand club players would do well to ponder upon the vast amount of back tackling of the Indian and Pakistan forwards, the speed with which it was carried out, and the level of fitness required for such activities. The Indian forwards were as busy as their halves and backs, which is saying a great deal. Without such effort no team can function as a unit.