N.Z. hockey team faces Olympic exclusion

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 72

N.Z. hockey team faces Olympic exclusion

By

KEVIN TUTTY

New Zealand could be excluded from the Olympic Games hockey competition for the first time since 1956 when the final list of 12 teams for the Seoul tournament is announced, probably early in 1988.

New Zealand’s ninth placing at the World Cup, which ended in London at the week-end, has placed its Olympic position in jeopardy. The World Cup teams are selected on merit, but the Olympic competitions has a different qualification. There are six automatic positions leaving about a dozen nations to right for the remaining six places. South Korea as the host, and Pakistan as the defending champion, already have their places for Seoul secured. There must be a team from each of the five continents. Pakistan takes the Asian berth, and australia is a certainty for the Oceania position. The European and Americas representatives will be the winners of the European and Pan American championships to be held next year. The fifth continental representative will be the winner of the African Games hockey championship.

Presuming that West Germany and Argentina win the European and Pan American titles respectively, that would leave countries such as the Netherlands, Great Britain, thee Soviet Union, Spain, Poland, India, New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia to squabble over the remaining places. The Netherlands, the Soviet Union and Great Britain, on past performances, and with the backing of a strong Continental lobby on the International Hockey Federation, seem certain of places. Although it finished last in the World Cup, India will also have a strong lobby working on its behalf. If it is included that would leave two places. A fifth European team — possibly Spain — would probably take one of those places and New Zealand would be left in a battle for the last place with perhaps Poland, Canada, and Malaysia, which

reached the semi-finals of the Asian Games earlier this month.

New Zealand had to fight hard to hold its place in the 1984 Olympics in the face of the Asian and European lobbies who felt that it was unfair that Oceania, which consists basically of New Zealand and Australia, should' have full representation, while a much lower ratio of teams from Asia and Europe were included.

The chairman of the New Zealand Hockey Association, Dr Bruce Penfold, said yesterday it was likely New Zealand would be asked to play in a tournament next year, which would be a qualifying tournament for Seoul.

The position will be clearer after the I.H.F. meets in Brussels this week-end. Among the items on its agenda is the qualification criteria for the men’s and women’s Olympic competitions.