Invitation now declined

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 48

Invitation now declined

Financial restraints have forced the New Zealand Women’s Hockey Association to withdraw its acceptance of a late invitation to play in the Australian Games in January. The late invitation was accepted three weeks ago when two of the original invitees, the United States and Canada, indicated they were not available. When the eassociation attempted to book air fares to Melbourne last week, it was unable to obtain epic fares because of the closeness of the tournament. To travel on economy class fares would have cost players an extra $350 said the chairman of the N.Z.W.H.A. management committee, Miss Dayle Jackson, and the association was not prepared to ask players to make the extra financial commitment for what looked like being three

or four games. Besides the international fare there were internal fares to consider, said Miss Jackson. “The team would have had a training period on the new artificial surface in Wellington. But there are no flights to Melbourne from Wellington so the team would have had to travel to either Auckland or Christchurch to get to Melbourne. “The exercise would have been a very costly one, and one the association was not prepared to make, when we are looking at developing a team to play in the World Cup in 1986. The money will be better spent in New Zealand. “It is a big disappointment that we cannot attend. We do not often get the chance to play international matches in this part of the world,” she said.