Letterbox

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 36

Letterbox

Sir, The Canterbury Hockey Association would be well advised to have a good critical look at its own administration which I believe has suffered from increasing apathy over a number of years, dating back almost as long as its representative side has been successful. It might find that the alternative measures outlined by Mr Morse (the C.H.A. president), should the clubs not support the association have been in effect for a number of seasons, and that the association’s obsession with representative fixtures at all costs, has been a direct tax on clubs and players alike. When the association’s entire seasonal competition halts, or is tailored to enable a handful of representative players not to miss their respective club games, it is little wonder that Uie apathy exhibited exists. Yours, etc., M. J. CLARK. Sir, Is it any wonder that woman are gaining the ascendancy when we see fully grown men resting

every eight minutes at tennis. Sport is certainly on the downgrade. In shooting they have telescopic sights; we used to score possibles at 600 yards with open sights on the Redcliffs range. In baseball they use catching gloves to save their lilywhite hands. Bodyline bowling was banned in the Larwood days; now head bowling is quite legal. How anyone can concentrate with all the head and face gear beats me. I am always pleased to see David Gower score well as he is a player who seldom wears armour. Any batsman being hit chest high has a case of assault, as anybody bowling bouncers isn’t attacking the wickets.

It is time to call a halt, otherwise we will have a chair at each end of the pitch to rest after every over. We would have called them sissies in my day. I played in a singles final in 1938 and the score was 8-10, 16-14, 9-7. In a hot nor’wester we stopped to have a drink after the second set. Of course, that was when men were men. Yours, etc., W. B. PALMER.