HOCKEY SEASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20255, 15 May 1929, Page 18

HOCKEY SEASON.

DEFEAT OF THE CHAMPIONS. NEW ELEMENT OF INTEREST. ST. LUKE'S CONVINCING FORM. Tlio convincing defeat of Somerville, which has so long held sway practically undisputed, at the hands of ft. Luke's on Saturday has introduced a new element of interest into the Auckland Hockey Association's senior competition. It opens up the question whether on the one hand tho Somerville team, with its personnel hardly changed, is falling off from the old standard or whether, on the other. St. Luke's is advancing to a higher standard of efficiency. Perhaps there is a little of tho truth in each suggestion. In any caSe St. Luke's victory did not impress as being a chance happening. There was no indication at the finish that any extension of time would have enabled Somerville to improve its position. St. Luke's was to a man keyed up for a big occasion and each gave of his very best. Gardiner is undoubtedly much missed from Somerville's back division, which ho helped to hold together powerfully. Some further adjustments will have to be made there before the team finally settles down and finds itself. Cooper's valiant attempt to "como back" again at his old place in goal was not wholly successful and on occasions he suffered from indecision and from mistakes in judgment. Smith improved as the game went on. His companion, R Rogers, was guilty of a bad blunder, which, as it turned out, exercised a powerful influence on the fortunes of the game by presenting St. Luke's with an early lead. Peace, who is always in form, turned out in place of Edwards, who is temporarily laid aside with influenza, and played his usual sound game. The Somerville forwards, with their backs beaten, were allowed few opportunities to show their quality. When they did get possession it was to come up against an opposition which one of them frankly described as "heartbreaking." Well-balanced Combination. St. Luke's played as a very well-bal-anced combination, in which both backs and forwards showed distinct improvement. 11. Williams played a brilliant defensive game and was very ably seconded by his partner, Burnett. The half line, too, was dashing and accurate. Clark, last year's junior representative fullback, gave a solid display of good stopping and clean hitting. Clean, swift hitting was indeed a feature of the work of the whole team and on tliis alone it deserved its victory. Hookham, in the forwards, came back to his best form and every man in the line contributed bis full share. On several occasions Bay stood out for brilliant individual runs. Considering the heavy nature of the ground the pace set was remarkably fast and it said much for tho training of both teams that there was no appreciable slackening to the end. University had a fast and fairly even encounter with North Shore on a very rough and heavy ground. Crawley replaced Winn in the students' goal and gave a quite satisfactory account of himself. The goals scored against him after the defence had been drawn were such as to give him practically no chance. Radcliffe held his team together well and proved a tower of strength both in defence and on attack. Storry played a very good game alongside him. Clever Scoring Shot. Meiklejohn, the centre forward, scored cleverly with a nice reverse shot and had bad luck with other similar promising attempts. Thomson was quite good on the right wing, and Taylor on the left centred nicely. The place of P. Anthony, who was absent from the centre of North Shore's front line, was taken by Emirali, who scored the first goal for his side. Roid, who gave a most attractive exhibition, was generally considered to be the best forward on the ground. Monteith worked in well with him, and together thev were responsible for most of the difficulties that the students had to face. North Shore's shooting was weak, and more efficiency in this essential department might have made all the difference in the result of tho game. Haggett shono out among tho halves, and the two fullbacks. Parker and R. Frater. worked hard and well. It was a coincidence that the half-time scores in each of (ho senior matches on Saturday were 2-all. The table of points for the season is to bo adjusted by leaving Otahuliu out of consideration altogether. The position then becomes unusually interesting. With only two rounds played University is the only team with an unbeaten record, having won each of its matches by 3 goals to 2. Somerville, North Shore, St. Luke's and Mount Eden have each had one win and one loss, while. Epiphany has had two losses. There have been no drawn matches so far. Following is the draw for next Saturday's senior matches:—Epiphany v. Somcrville, University v. St. Luke's, Mount Eden v. North Shore. Game Popular in Sydney. An Australian exchange quotes as proof of the increasing popularity of hockey in Sydney the fact that during tho present season 36 teams will participate in the grade competitions, as against 28 last year. The impetus given to the game by the visit of tho Indian Army team a few years ago is apparent, and the propaganda work of some of the enthusiastic officials of tho association has had its reward. In addition a new association has been formed at Canberra consisting of five clubs, and including the Royal Military College, Dvintroon. Representative matches during the season will probably be confined to interclnb trials of strength. This is owing to the sporting spirit of tho New South Wales Association in waiving its right, to hold (ho inter-State carnival in Sydney. The carnival is to be held in Western Australia in view of tho Perth centenary celebrations. Ladies' Senior Games. Good hockey was again seen in the two ladies' senior games on Saturday. The pace was fast in the match between Mount Eden and Somerville. Tho Somerville players still showed a tendency to sacrifice position for the sako of bunching together after the ball. Miss Hoyte rendered conspicuously good service in tile Somerville goal, and the team owed much also to tho work of Mrs. -Cooper and Miss Hill. . On flip sido of Mount Eden, which won by 2 goals to 1, Miss i Twining and Miss Bestic were always ! prominent. | Wesley did not meet with very strong ' opposition from Arawn. and secured a ; victory by 5 goals to 0, without serious ; difficulty. The chief weakness of the J winning team was in the wing halves, but tho backs as a whole offered a very sound defenco when called on. The A raw a forwards showed up to very poor advantage when they reached tho circle, and wore quite unable to make opportunities or to takfc advantage cf those that came to them. The useful blackboard lectures on the game given last week by Mr. F. Nicholson and Mr. R. Avery drew a good audience, in which there was a large proportion of junior players. In tho senior ladies' championship next Saturday Somerville will meet Y.W.C.A., and Mount Eden will play Arawa. Wesley has tho bye. In tho junior A section Technical A meets Papatoetoo A, Y.W.C.A. meets Mount Eden, and Papakura has the bye. In the junior B section Manurewa meets Somerville, Wesley meets Papatoetoo B, and Technical B lias tho bye.