HOCKEY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 12

HOCKEY.

(Br Deiveji.)

The weather of last Saturday was not conducive to good hockoy, all tho grounds at Days Bay, otmi No. 1 (probably tho bost ill Now Zealand), being very slippery., Some of the other grounds were simply quagpaires.:

The contcei that evoked chiof interest was that between. United and Y.M.O.A. on No. 1, resulting in a lucky win for tho former by 2 goals to If Tho Unitedteam is a very lucky combination. '. For ten years they have kept together,"- with scarce a! and. have always .had .the luck-, But now;-the arc . hot', bo young as they used to be;- and one or- two are beginning to" drop out join.'.tlio .unattached Surely,' they have been victorious long enough. Once agatn; ; last Saturday, tliey /liad the luck. 'Nothingiwas clearer, t'liaa the fact that their opponents wore;; a superior . combination on the. dav's play, 1 arid, even with ordinary forshould have won,: and won easily, but the - li'ates; wftt® against 'them, opd reluctantly they had to' bite the dust. ', . ..

The match started off sharp and sudden from thcbully, and tho ball was soon in lied (United) ..territory. Then •it was seen wat tho defenders. ? (notwithstanding the fact ;tha.t A&hbblt was playing) were out of form,- and -theiri.supporters''bogan rto look a little anxious;- It: was, also observed that, Y;M.C.A. attacked 'with; their usual dash mil,d ; persistence, tlioy .. greatly missed 'tho servicM of llowle,Y Parkin in the forward line., Again and again in rapid succession the Yellow :dnslaught on the Red ramparts eacn time to'be repulsed by tho solidarity of the defenders. 'One feature of 'interest was: that,' "although United frequently conceded corners, Y;M.C.A. never - scored, or got anywhere near scoring, , from the: resultant corner hit. ' This event wasalways the 1.. precursor of'a speedy relief for the garnson, and- a: prompt followinc-up attack- on the distant goal. ; This is where, combination tells, and whore' scionce tells: "

; Another. feature that ; needs comment is tho - excellent passing of tho Y.M.O.'A. forwards. On soveral occasions they passed to' one another in rapid succession, evori to : the extent.of evading: Hiekson and\A6htolt,'but neveryi-;6Mre resulted. ;■ TTio forwards hiust learn. to: shoo,t straight when ' intHe circle, and not to get bustled. They Would do well to take,a leaf out of-' their oppoJi-, onts' note-book, 'lllliott knows precisely! iwhat-.to do when ho gets in, the:circle. [Ho. shoots goals. - In that, lies one of the lreaisons of iUnitcd's (Victory on 'Saturday) and, ;imta-l'the younger-toainsj with all their'energy, and; dash;--learn the finer points, they will always have to bo-content with secondary honours in the competitions. ' pealing with individuals,' the. most conspicuous' players for Y.M.O.A. ,wero Carde, centre-forward,"' Loader, insiilc-left: Good, centix;-half, Dawson, left-half, and toe backs, Holmes and A. .Pirton. .Loader, in particular, was. - vejry hot-iceabfbiv' -He . has a fine stylei about him, and, efo norig, he will donbt; less .bo ; beard of in a representative team.'\ They marked their men ; well, and watched them, too clo'sely ; to' alJo\Viany> sudden, rushes. As' tb-.their, ; onpor.ehts,i Hollis. Organ, and Elliott were , tho' pick of the forwards, Tho half-lino was weak, King; centre-half, made, somo, mistakes ;in the 'carrier portiort,' of the .game, but he picked ■ up v well as iit - progressed, The full-backs did not give so: good a display as they- have been giving - lately. Dwyer.was sound.in goal., ; - ■ vEvenhess characterised the game between Karori and Wesley, although tho former won by a ma-rgin of 3" goals to nil. The two sots of forwards took possession of tho ball pretty regularly one after the . other. The first spell was particularly even, and a gotxl while elapsed Mfore. Knrori secured theit first goal. , For. Karori,--, Murphy played : the neatest game of-the forwards. - G. Davies, also, was very brilliant, but Willis, on: the right-wing, was absolutely marked. .Fulton, centre, did not shine. -Of; the Campbell, at ccntrc, playod well, as did Gendall, on the right,, and Putnam, oil the loft. : The new.' right full-back was ilot- a sucooss,' show.ing traces of nervousness. The goal-keeper wa-s very reliable. ' '. : . _ i; One feature- that,calls: for', mention is'' G. Davics's splendid-stick play. He. simply; excelled himself; Be Secured one goal entirely: by his; own effort; eluding all, . the defenders. ■ \ Wesley.team showed a deeidod improvement on'tho previous Saturday's... play. If the team only had Some shooting forwards, it would certainly occupy a; very high place in the oompetitiou. There does not appear to to a brilliant goal-shooter in ; the team, some of their shots just missing by inches. Tho forwards: should practise this steadily, and tbcii improvement would to certain. . Birch, on ,the left-wing/ was very sound, and put in some very effective work. The halves were/all; on good behaviour, Christie, oentre,: being most; conspicuous. Of the full-backs," Ralph was in tip-top form, and averted many an assault. Sherwood , was very fair, in goal, although not quite so prominent as on the previous Saturday.' : ; Matters have. now . roacbed an interesting stage in. the senior championship,' and , today's game between tho two teams, Karori and United, should' practically v/ deoide" tho winners- this year. At present Karori are a point .-behind United, but if they 1 succeed in beating.their. clever .oppqnerits they: should Have little difficulty iiy winking the remaining games. Whichever liia.m wins will need to. plav, hard in ai" least /'two of the iremairiing matetos—Victoria': Colkge- and Y.M.C.A.—. both of Whidi 'leams are liiible to prove dangerous at. any time. ; It wjll be remembered that Karori suffered "sore defeat from -United last ; 'rdund-> United . easily',., outclassed ; ;the suburbanites that day, but'it is thought now that Karcfri will give a good account of themselves to-day." Their team has been strengthened by the inclusion';of G.- Campbell, who seems to bo, in form, judging by his play in recent, gainos. If the-' ground bo wet and at all cut i/p,' United will; probably ho at a disadvantage, as Karori in past seasons have seemed-, to'do better in the mud than on.a dry ground. : - Victoria Colloge. had a decisive win over Vivian:'-last Saturday. -Vivian did riot seem to to in their usual form, and the game was considered to;bo somewhat of "a soft thing" for the winners, who Tiave toen steadily improving since tho beginning of the • seasoh.: Beere, as" usual, worked hard for Victoria College, and was ably assisted by Boglo. Griffiths, at full-back, was up to: standard when called oh, although the baoks did not havo a heavy, afternoon's work. . Thorndon showed improvement on Satur-. day; and are playing more together. The forwards are doing good work, but'many chances, to score are lost through Hunt hitting wildly, anti-Arthur, on the wing, not passing soon enough. It is unfortunate for the team j that Hunt does not take thinjis a littlo more coolly. * A shot at, goal should certainly bo sent in hard, hut it is unavailing to hit hard mid not. shoot straight, Stall, ilmb is tho first octtfflrtflratiinn.. . J

Arthur seems to have a doal of confidence in his powors of boating an opponent, but judging by tho number of timoa his opponent triumphs it would pay him to pass inliold and not risk losing possiblo clianccd, Sloano brothers tiro now playing back, and this has strengthened Thorndon's dofonco considerably.

Wellington, although they beat. Thorndon by a very fair margin, did not by any moans have it all their own wav, liut for bad shooting tho result might have boon different. Smytho, was probably tho host player Wellington had. Tho Auckland- "Jlerald" last Saturday contained the following 'concerning Taranaki's appeal against Auckland's refusal to play; Cnallongo Shield matches till tho representative team returns in Scptotnber:—ThoTaranaki Association have appealed to tho Now Zealand Association to t.'iko action in regard to tho refusal of tho Auckland body to play Challenge Shield matches until the return of tho representative team in September. In some respects tho shield is proving on unmixed blossiijE.; Last year, in conseqilenco of bo many challenges,' the cfub competitions had to be greatly curtailed, and tlio presont committee, which apparently, contains only a few members w;ho tako. a. broad tho subject, is determined, that that cxporicuco shall not be repeated. ' In this, they will havo tho support of tho majority of tho players, but tho commit'too must remember that while tho shield is hero a plethora of . challenges is assured; and, further, those challenges will havo to bo accepted if wo, wish to rotain tho trophy. If tho association show hosit&ncy in playing shield matches tho New Zealand body will step in, and the shield may be presented to "the next best" province. A complaint was mado at a recent meeting of tho Refercos' Association concerning alleged misbehaviour of tho'Karori junior team,. Much talking and dissoneion between members' of that team seem to liavo. been the main oauso'iof trouble.. Karori have in past years had a bid namo among other teams for superfluous use of the tongue. The senior team seem to hay.o ovotcomo this, and it is . hoped the junior team will follo>v their example. The'.Wednesday teams, -Karori included, should also endeavour to curb tie unruly ir.ombor. j,l"' . ;'... -. / , 'Tho following leitor has been received from Mr. E. J. Colley, of 'Sir,—When reading your report on Saturday's gamej Y.M.C.A. v. United, Inote you say"Colley made no attempt to savo.'' : Now, I. do not ' know .if you were reporting , the match, or, if you obtained your notes, froni an-; eye-witness,. but; r-wonld : like -you -to report correctly, iso will endeavour to givo vou tho oorrect accountof .the incident. . The ball was ccffltrcd 'by, .Organ : (a' long, pass). to Smytlie.' .1 ran but to.tackle Smythe, and in doing., so slipped. ; lip (owing ; to,: the greasy state of tho turf), and fell flat'on my back. Smythe hit the; ball. into the net'while 'I was in that, helpless-position.- I think; that you will admit that your ' report is, therefore, scarcely correct. Ido not object, to adverse eritieuHii;wiifeh' that criticism is cofrcct. This is not writtenwith' any dftsire that you should supplement your; report or make any furtbor oommont on tho incident, but that .'you should take more; caro'to; be correct in your statements.