HOCKEY

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 150, 25 June 1921, Page 7

HOCKEY

(By "Sticks.")

. VARIOUS MATTERS DISCUSSED

CONCLUSION OF FIRST ROUND

POSITION Of THE TEAMS,

Last Saturday saw the* conclusion of tho first round of- the senior competition. United and WakatU both eeOufed wins, and retain their position at tho hoad of the list. Petone, who defeated Ramblers, have gone up into second place, and Ramblers aro one point behind. Earori and Wellington eharo the rather doubtful honour of' being at the bottom of the list, Huia havibg climbed up two places. Details- of the position of the teams are as follow: — " ; . • . , -. Goals Ch.

Huia had dnotbav win on Saturday. This -team have played good hockej throughout' the season, but lmvo been rather unfortunate. Their main trouble has been lack of finish, but on Saturday some- improvement was shown in fchis_ respect, and the forwards also combined well. Diaper, a junior player who had been placed temporarily in the 'senior team, showed great.dash on the left wing, ■■and easily earned a permanent position. Butcher and Keys also did good work, but Hailwood was a little inclined to run away with* himself. Several times he spoilt promising forward rndves by offside play. Adams is • undoubtedly tho mainstay" of tho back division. - He is a hard-worker all the time, and does not lot very much paafc him. . It is difficult to undorstahd tho Karori - eleven. One Saturday they run . Wakatu off their feet, and the next they fail badly against Huia. The Karori {earn contains some first-class players, but inconsistency seems to be one of their unfortunate characteristics.' Saturday's display was very disappointing.-- Throughout practically the whole, of the second spell the forwards were attacking, but they threw away numerous jhancea of scoring. Generally speakiug, the back play was good, but the forwards failed badly. The Pctone team is going to be a big factor>.in. the senior- championship. Last Saturday the suburban men defeated ■Ramblers, and the previous Saturday they accounted 'for Hie strong United eleven. They are now only one point behind Wakhtu and United on the'championship ladder, and from all appearances, these two latijlr .teams will have to fight hard to retain their position* United are still playing, gibd hockey, and should1 bo Bard to 'beat in the final ■ round, tes Boyd and Breed, -in the forwards, have lost nonc> of their dash, ana Thompson, Martin,; and Niel Boyd con^ sti.t'ute a particularly strong half-line—pro-• .baoty the strongest in the "competitian.. Martis is a-first-class full-back, and "DickYHunter is safe and sure in, gaof. ... !.. . The 'Varsity team put up a good fight in .their ' caatch laat^ Saturday. .-. One out-' standing fa'lit, however, was lack of combination, amongst the forward?, and this fact robbed them, of several chances of scoring. 'Varsifv are one of the most popular teams in the competition: They are good spdeia, 'every one, 'and play a good, clean game. ■ Although their chances of success are small, ithey have the satia--faction' of having been placed in. the "A" grade for the,, seepnd' round.' They" will, be up against, the first-rate teams, but may bo reiied on. to give a.good account* of themselves. WiiUatu had...'a. narrow' escape- on Saturday, just mahagiiig to defeat Hutt .'Valley by one. goal to -nil.. Their play during the last few Saturdays has not been, up to, standard, and' they will nqed to show improvement daring 'the' second round. Given a hard, fast' ground, however, they will make the games very willing. .-- Wellington have beon vory disappointing this year, and at present they are running level with Karori for the wooden spoon. Their luck lias certainly been. out, for on several Saturdays they have been men short This, besides robbing ■the team of ony chance of success, is very discouraging to the' remainder of the eleven (or what should be an eleven). RECENT PROTESTS. Two protests ,were' dealt with at this week's meeting of the Management Committee- 6£ the local' association, one- from , the ""United1 Club, and .another from the Wakatu Club. Both- were'"disallowed, mainly on- the -ground/that the protests were booed on questions'of fact, and that therefore the referee should be the solo judge., ■ The writer is inclined towards the opinion that -the committee made a mistake in not hearing t.ne statements of representatives of the cluba before airriv,ing at this decision. Perhaps the decision was a. eorxect one legally, but a- better understanding between tho players concern* ed and the committee would have heen, brought about if the . club captains, at least, had been permit-fed to make a statement in support of their protests. The referees were given the opportunity of speaking, but when the-United captain (Mr. Thompson) attempted to speak, he was promptly' stropped. This action-•'will possibly leave a bad impression in theminds of players. The Wi|catu Club was not air such a- great disadvantage as-the United dub, »s it has its own representative on the committee, and he was,' naturally, allowed to air his yiew.s on the subject. Tho writer is of the opinion that the-comnuttea's action; i» not in the best interests of tho game. The underlying principle of justice is' that both sides shall be heard before a decision is reached. After both sides had been heard, there would have been no complaints whatever way the coinmittoe decided. The question of raising a "dangerous precedent" was mentioned during the meeting, and it. was stated that, if tho evidence was heard, there would be a flood of protests. This is.surely an exaggeration. At any rate, it is the committee's duty to control hookey, and referees and playcts shooH receive equal treatment. . THE REFEREES. There have been. several complaints this season about tho alleged faults of referees. A referee, try as ha may, cannc*.- pTeaaeeverybody, and consequently he has to pat up -with *, Jot of criticism. With a view to patting a stop to this criticism, it ha* beon deoided to call a special meeting of two representatives from each club and -representatives of tho Referees' Aseo-' ciatioh to disouss matters in connection with tho gtano of hockey. The meeting will be held -on Tuesday night next, and. it is hoped that it will do much to remove any feeling that might exjst between players and roferoes. A correspondent has written to. "Sticks," in regard to the appointment .of referees to certain games. He takes ejtcoption at the appointment of a referee known to be concerned with a certain club to a match in which that club is interested. Although this might' be avoided, when possible; "Sticks".doo3 not think that any of the referees are at all biased towards any particular team. Tho officials give their time and ttjrvices gra-, tuitously, and aro out solely for the good of tho game. , I THE LADIES''TOURNAMENT. Miss E. Moore, secretory of the New Zealand Ladifia' Hockey Association, writes in regaM to a Btateniont. made in this column last week to tho effect that the ladies' tournament this. year will behold at Palmcrston North. Miss Moore states that no decision has yet been reached in regard to this matter. The applications do not close until the olid of June, and a meeting of the council has been called for 18th July, when it will,.bo decided whore the'tournament is to be hold. The statement ' made lnst week was inado in view of a paragraph appearing id v. Palmei'bto-i paper (hat arrangement;! for tho cnterbunmonb of the. team* wore being made. ' » .' .

P. W. D. L. F. A, Pts. United ......... 9 7 1 1 36 ll 15 Wakatu 9 6 3 0 46 11 15 Petbne '■'■.". 9 6 2 1 24 .18 14 Ramblers 9 6 1 2 22 14 13 Hutt Valley ... 9 4 " 1 4 33 18 9 University ...9 4 1 4 26 30 9 Wesley 9 2 1 6 24 40 5 Huia 9" 2 0^ 6 43 4 K4rori 9 117 17 f \ Wellington ... 9 11 7 9 32 3 ' TEAMS AND PLAYERS,..•