N.Z. HOCKEY TEAM

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29232, 16 June 1960, Page 15

N.Z. HOCKEY TEAM

£1750 Needed For Rome Trip About £1750 had still to be raised to enable the New Zealand hockey team to compete in the Olympic Games, said Mr J. G. Leggat, chairman of the management committee of the New Zealand Hockey Association, in a statement last evening. Mr Leggat said that the decision to send 14 players in the hockey team was reached after the consideration of an urgent request by the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Associations to send 14 players if it were at all possible. This meant that the amount of money required to be found, apart from that originally budgeted for. which was originally estimated at £lOOO for the team when its entry was approved, was now some £1750. This was exclusive of the funds provided by the New Zealand Olympic Council. “The New Zealand Hockey Association has in the accrued Olympic levy fund, which has been built up from the individual contribution of every adult hockey player, approximately. £2OOO. As the result of a further special levy on all affiliated hockey associations a further £4OOO has- been raised or guaranteed by those associations,” said Mr Leggat. “In addition the members of the team and the manager are contributing £l5O each (£2250). It is thus that a balance of £1750 has to be raised by a further special effort if the team is to participate.”

Some of this money has already been collected and the team will undoubtedly go, but at this stage it does appear likely that the players may themselves be asked to contribute still further if the trip is to eventuate.

For that reason, the widest possible support was needed to see that the players’ further obligations were kept to a minimum. Those responsible for district Olympic appeals had agreed to give all the support possible and the fullest and most generous response was urgently necessary to ensure the success of the appeal. The New Zealand Hockey Association was conferring with the captain and the coach of the team to decide the venue of team meetings and practices between now and the departure of the team.