Hockey anti-climax

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 22

Hockey anti-climax

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Four weeks ago University’s record-breaking run of 12 successive senior men’s club hockey championships looked certain to come to an end. The champion had lost four games — the same number it had lost in the previous four seasons — and High School Old Boys had built a sizeable lead at the head of the points table.

Once they had beaten Selwyn-Hillmorton, the last four games looked plain sailing for Old Boys. As it turned out they needed only five of a possible eight points from their final four matches to Win the championship outright, and four points to share it. Three of the teams they met were in the bottom half of the championship. But Old BoyS faltered with a loss and three draws and watched the title slip out of their reach with a frustrating draw in the final game against Sydenham-Cash-mere last Saturday.

What was the most interesting senior competition in a decade ended m an anti-climax. University had a bye on Satureay and woh the title without having to take the field.

But in spite of the closeness of the battle for

the title — until the final few weeks Selwyn-Hill-morton and Redcliffs were also possible winners — little interest seemed to be generated among supporters of the various clubs. Perhaps supporters had become so used to University romping away with the championship with two thirds of the season gone in previous years, that they were still acting out of habit by staying away. A more logical reason is an apathy among players arid supporters which is also reflected in representative matches. This year University

was not the same strength as teams that frequently recorded double figure scores iti the early 1970’5. There were two reasons it almost lost the championship. One was that because it played poorly for a large part of the season. The other was that there was a marginal improvement in standard of the other teams. Certainly the closeness of the competition was not because of a dramatic increase in the standard of other senior teams as some people might believe. Had it not been for an exceptionally tough draw

at the start of the first round when it was without its New Zealand players, Mark Burtt and George Carnoutsos, Selwyn might well have collected the championship. In its first four games its best result was a draw. In its last 12 it had eight wins, three draws and a loss. Selwyn 1 iad the best record in th > second round earning 12 points ahd scoring 16 goals and conceding only three. At the other end of the scale, Wbolston, after several years at the bottom of the table, hauled itself up with some fine second round performances. Ross Gillespie, the coach of the New Zealand team at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, guided the side astutely. Basically a young side its greatest asset was a willingness to learn. One is loathe to ques-s tion the standard of umpiring, but generally this season the standard in senior matches has been mediocre. The Canterbury Hockey Association should be concerned at the standard because a poorly umpired game creates frayed tempers and a poor spectacle. judging on the standard at recent national tournaments concern should also be felt at New Zealand association level.