Backlash for critics

Press, 3 September 1986, Page 36

Backlash for critics

By

KEVIN TUTTY

The New Zealand women’s hockey team's fourth placing at the World Cup in Amsterdam 10 days ago was a pleasant surprise for its supporters at home, and the handful who travelled to the other side of the world to watch the young side.

Before it left New Zealand, the team was treated with some scepticism. It was young in terms of international hockey, and the national selectors caused gasps of horror when they excluded New Zealand’s best-known woman player, Jenny McDonald, from the team.

The coach, Wayne Boyd, had set a target of sixth place. That would have represented New Zealand’s best placing at a World Cup, and also boosted the team’s chance of selection for the next Olympic Games at Seoul in 1988.

With one international win to its name since the Olympics, New Zealand’s prospects of being one of the six selected teams for the Olympics were fading with each game. Its effort in reaching the World Cup semi-finals has virtually assured the team that it will now play at the Olympics.

There will be other international tournaments

where results will be considered when the selection for the Olympics is made. New Zealand might play in one of those in the next 18 months, and a couple of wins would make its place in Seoul safe.

Ann Sutherland, from Christchurch, the president of the New Zealand Women’s Hockey Association, was in Amsterdam for the tournament She was delighted with the team’s performance and said it was a triumph for the national association’s policy of introducing junior tournaments. Many of the World Cup team had progressed through the national junior team in the last few seasons.

“During the tournament itself the team exhibited plenty of typical Kiwi grit to advance as far as it did,” said Mrs Sutherland.

Some New Zealand teams in the last few years had experienced problems, with friction developing between groups of players. The team at the Los Angeles

Olympics was one of these.

"The World Cup team was a happy squad,” said Mrs Sutherland but she would not be drawn on whether the appointment of Pat Barwick as assistant coach of the squad late last year had been responsible for the change in fortunes of the team.

Mrs Barwick is highly respected by players around the country and is an astute and knowledgeable coach, who played international hockey for 10 years. She would have been the national coach now, except that she was unavailable for the position when Mr Boyd was appointed three years ago.

“You can draw your own conclusions,” said Mrs Sutherland, when asked if it was a coincidence that the New Zealand team had started to win internationals since the appointment of Mrs Barwick.

The team’s preparation was another vital factor in its performance. It was based in Amsterdam for two weeks before the tournament It was able to

train on artificial surfaces whenever it wanted, and had all the games it needed without the worry of tiring travel The team was hosted by the Dutch club, Hurley, who billeted the players in the two weeks before the tournament Mrs Sutherland said the comments by the Dutch coach, Gijs van Heumen, that the New Zealand players were “hackers" and should not have been in the semi-finals, apparently drew a lot more attention here than they did in Amsterdam.

She said she could not agree with Mr van Heumen’s comments and that they did not trouble Mr Boyd or Mrs Barwick. The New Zealand team was aggressive, but only in its determination to succeed and not in a physical sense. It cost the New Zealand players SlBOO for the tour and they were determined to return home with something to show for that investment New Zealand's next international outing might be a tournament in Perth in January, which is part of the America’s Cup festival of sport The invitation to the tournament is conditional on both the men’s and women’s teams accepting.