HOCKEY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 142, 17 June 1924, Page 3

HOCKEY

SUGGESTION FOR BETTER PLAY

REFERRED TO ANNUAL MEETING.

An! important ( suggestion for the improvemeuti of hocKey in Wellington 'was uisuussed at a meeiing of t-he Wellington Hockey Associatiun last night, jUr. R" .L. Tnojjjpson presiding. Puitsuuflt to notice, tlie cfiairman' moved: "lliat tne senior grade competition be divided Inco A and ii grades, the A grade to consist oi Jblutt, Wellington, Karori, Wakatu, Univei-sity, Mud \\dsley, and tlie B to consist ot Petone, ilutt 15, ana tne four leading junior teams." Mr. Ihompson said he had been actuated by tne fact' thatNhockey was not improving in standard, and ne was sure the reason was that the better teams were not receiving good enough ■ games in matches against the other teams. By splitting up the grades more equal competition would result betwen the teams in the respective grades,, and 'it would also bring forward some junior players who'were really better than those playing in the present' senior grades. There* was no doubt that it was the introduction of a similar -scheme in Soccer that put that game on such a high footing. There were no constitutional difficulties in the way, and the grounds were available., .The Karori delegate said that his club approved:of the scheme, but would prefer that it be deferred until the end of the season, as it would . break up the competition. : Mr. C. ii'Kenzie (Wellington) said he did not think the suggestion would in any way improve the standard rof the game in Wellington. Certain junior teams could easily beat some of the senior teams, so that it was hard to see how the standard of play of the juniors would be. improved. Mr. P.- Atkinson (Hutt) thought that the matter should be dealt with by the general meeting of delegates; it was too drastic a change at the present stage of the season.

The chairman said that if the scheme was deferred until the end of the season there might be difficulty in making a classification as the personnel of teams changed radically from season to season. Mr. Cousins said thatrit would be for the clubs to decided which grade their teams were fit to enter for, and once they had started the leading team in the B grade would go up, and the lowest team in the A' grade would drop ;back. He thought, that while the scheme would improve senior hockey it might do harm to the junior game. It would practically rob the junior competition of all' interest. ■

Mr. Thompson, replying to a question, said that if the scheme were put into operation, the competition would start all over again, the present points gained being allowed to go by the board. This might be a hardship for some clubs but they would recognise that it was for the good of the game. After further discussion, consideration of the suggestion was referred to the next annual meeting. •

The Wairarapa ladies' hockey, games on Saturday resulted:— Seniors.—Greytown 2, Dalefield nil 1 ■ J»nl, or-7, cart«rton 3, High dchool B 1; Dalefield 1, Solway Collet 1