HOCKEY SELECTION Young players given chance

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33092, 6 December 1972, Page 34

HOCKEY SELECTION Young players given chance

Only eight members of the 16-man Munich Olympic hockey team arc included in a squad of 26 players, announced by the New Zealand selectors yesterday, to attend a coaching school next March.

J. H. Christensen, W. B. Wright, K. J. Rigby and E. B. Salmon have been omitted, and A. J. Patterson, R. J. McPherson, C. R. Ineson and J. J. Borren were not available. The omission of the first four did not mean the selectors (Messrs J. R. Gillespie, R. H. Mackinlay and B. A. Turner) would not consider them if New Zealand was selected to play in the World Cup at Amsterdam next year. FIRST-TIME CHOICE The squad is a very young one and includes 12 players who will be national trialists for the first time. The squad is: D. Appleby, G. Archibald, G. Dayman, P. Lawson, R. U. Patel, A. Parkin (Auckland); A. Borren, A. Chesney, A. Ineson, I. Jacks,on, S. G. Maister, B. J. Maister, C. Maister (Canterbury); D. Campbell, R. H. Campbell, R. McCormack, G. Newbum (Otago); W. Banks, P. Silver (Manawatu); P. Benfield, T. Manning, A. Mclntyre. K. Touns (Wellington); F. Mailman (Wanganui); N. McLeod, A. Rowley (Whangarei). OTHERS OMITTED Besides the eight members of the Olympic team not included, six members of the squad for the final Olympic trial in April this year are also missing. The most notable of these are T. Burrows, R. L. McHarg (Canterbury), W. Byers (Whangarei), and R. Sommerville (Auckland). A feature of the squad is that three brothers are included. The Munich Olympians, S. G. and B. J. Maister, have been joined by their younger brother, C. Maister, a member of the Canterbury team which won the Challenge Shield at Timaru in

August, and also the New Zealand under 23 team. Mr Gillespie said yesterday that the school was to give younger players an opportunity to show their skills and that other players not in the squad might well be considered for a World Cup team. In picking the squad, the selectors had looked further than just the World Cup. The international programme for the next four years had been taken into consideration. The province with the largest representation is Canterbury, with seven players. Auckland has six and Otago and Wellington four each.