HOCKEY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23516, 2 June 1938, Page 5

HOCKEY

By Centre-half

FIXTURES June 6.— -Otago v. Canterbury, at Christchurch. July 4 to 9.—Universities’ tournament. July 9.—New Zealand Universities v. India. July 20.—Otago v. India. THE SENIOR COMPETITION The following table shows the positions of the teams in the Senior Competition:— Goals P. W. L. D. F. A.Pts. University A 5 5 Albany ..6 4 2 24 J 4 8 H. 5.0.8. .. 5 4 1 20 6 8 Tech. 0.8. 5 22 1 8 20 5 University B 5 1 4 8 14 2 Train. Coll. 5 Collegiate 5 UMPIRES FOR ENGLISH MATCH The Otago Women’s Hockey Association has been advised that the umpires for the match Otago v. the English touring team will be Miss J. Warwick ‘manager of the visitors) and Mr. L. J. T. Ireland. THE ENGLISH VISIT When the English team arrives at Auckland by the Remuera on Monday, the visitors will be met by representatives of the New Zealand Association. Miss Laycock will travel with the team as far as Wellington, where it is due on June 13, and from there to Christchurch. via the West Coast, Miss Kilby will accompany the visitors. For the remainder of the tour they will not be accompanied by representatives of the New Zealand Association, except to and from the test matches, and on these occasions Mrs Poulter and Messrs Hamilton. Moloney, and Butcher will attend. The English team is to reach Dunedin by the 4.18 express ' from the north on June 23, and in the evening the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) will lender a civic reception. RESULTS OF MATCHES The secretary of the Otago Women’s Hockey Association, Mrs Borthwick, is experiencing difficulty in obtaining the results of Saturday matches promptly. Team captains or club secretaries who are responsible, should make a point of handing in results with all possible despatch. Not only is it embarrassing for the association to be unaware of results of matches, but it hampers the work of the secretary unnecessarily. SEVEN-A-SIDE Excellent entries, numbering 11 A Grade and 24 B Grade have been received for the Otago Association’s seven-a-side tournament to be played at Logan Park on Monday. Clubs in and around the town, as well as many in outside districts, regard this occasion as an enjoyable day out and everything points to a very successful tournament this year. SATURDAY S GAMES The two A Grade games played on Saturday were productive of a comparatively poor variety of hockey. There was little of interest in the Otago Momona match, which was won by Otago by the narrow margin of one goal to nil—something different from the score of eight to nil recorded when the teams met' in the first round. Otago’s three inside forwards gave a poor display. B. Mackie was the best of the half line and she was always a thorn in the side of the opposition. B. Campbell, left-half, was tired, possibly as the result of over-training. It would be a pity to see so promising a player spoiled by lack of judicious training. I. Palmer, played hard in the Momona halves; indeed, on Saturday she did more than half the work of the whole half line. While appreciating the keenness and ability, it seems reasonable to draw attention to the fact that such tactics must result in the development. of the habit of roving out of position. N. Oliver, of last year’s representathe team, has a fair distance to go this season before she will be fit enough for a place in the provincial side. Kings attacking force met with stubborn defence from Dunedin on Saturday, Dunedin’s halves, backs and goalkeeper all giving Kings a very difficult task. R. Cumberbeach, J. Arnott and A. Harley were equal to the situation, however, and carried strong attacks through with excellent effect. The hint given a week or two ago that E. Sonntag would improve her game by working together with the centre-forward to a greater extent seems to have been taken seriously, for this player combined well with A. Harley on Saturday. Two points were mentioned to “ Centre-half ” by the selector. Mr Ireland, after Saturday’s matches. The first was: “Many forwards imagine that as soon as they get into the opponents’ circle the time has come to abandon any idea of combined play. This is the time when exact co-ordina-tion is most necessary.” The other point was: “When a team has a winning margin of, say, two goals, it is frequently the case that the full-backs decide to try a little speculation, and this, once started, usually continues. The only time when speculation may be justified is when the full-backs are hard pressed.” A. Robinson, the Kings centre-half, was again a tower of strength to her side, and she received good support from the right-half, J. Gilchrist, who is a strong, clean hitter, though a little lacking in speed. D. Kennedy, Dunedin right-half, played an excellent game. She is achieving greater speed every week and hits hard and places well! With more combination, the Dunedin forward line would be very hard to stop. THE OTAGO TEAM t There was a fair amount of promising material available for the selector (Mr E. D. Brown) to select his team from and while there may be some disagreement on the filling of a few of the positions, the majority of players will agree that the team announced on Monday by Mr Brown is substantially the best that could be produced. There is, in the first place, very little argument admissable on the selection of Hercus as goal-keeper. Hercus has proved his ability in the past few years and can be relied upon for cool judgment and keen play even against the formidable onslaughts of the Indians. For the game against Canterbury next Monday he should be more than adequate. The selection of J. Harris as a fullback may have come as something of a surprise to those who held the opinion that he had turned out this year only to fill a gap in the ranks of Technical Old Boys, but he has filled that gap to such purpose that it is not too much to say that no other full-back in the competition has played a good solid game more consistently than Harris. On the matches seen this season, the selector could not ignore the value that Harris must be to the provincial team. Bedford, the other full-back, has been little short of brilliant in some of the club games this season and in the opinion of a fair number of followers of the game is even better than was Boocock, who was regarded last vear as Otago’s best full-back. When Bedford suffered an injury to his ankle

last Saturday it seemed that he might not be available for the game next Monday, but, since he has been officially included in the team, it would appear that the injury was less serious than it might have been. The competition this year is not well off for good full-backs, and there is no doubt that the two chosen are outstanding. It can only be assumed that the selector’s reason for relegating A. Roberts to the emergencies is the fact that last season he was slow in his clearances in representative games, and has so far this season shown little improvement on the form shown then. The half line has a good deal to recommend it, though the selector’s choice may not be that of everyone. The competition games this season have shown Gurr to be easily the best centre-half in Dunedin at the present time. He has played consistently well both on attack and on defence, and has, to ah extent, been the mainstay of the successful work done by the Old Boys’ forward line. Baird has been chosen for the position of right-half, but it might be argued that such players as Bond (Technical Old Boys) and Galland (Albany) were equally in the running for the place. The former has been selected as an emergency, which shows that his good work has not escaped the notice of the selector.

The third half will be E. Densem, who, it must be taken, has been chosen for his experience. Densem has not been as good recently as in past years, but he can be relied upon for good generalship and will, there is little doubt, justify his inclusion. The forward line looks a promising combination, provided the players work as well together as they do in club matches. Rennick has been placed on the right wing, where, it will be remembered, he proved very valuable last year. Edginton is. perhaps, as good a choice as possible for the inside position, and it remains to be seen whether he can combine as well with E. Ryeburn. the centre-forward, as he has been doing with Webb, centreforward, in his club team. Webb was not available to travel to Christchurch at the week-end, otherwise it is highly probable that he would have been the selector’s choice for the centre place. Webb has been playing an excellent game for Old Boys, and is fully up to the standard required. Alldred and Botting may combine to advantage at inside-left and left-wing respectively. It may be argued that it was not a wise move to separate Alldred and Hubbard, who have been working up a combination in the University team, but both on previous form and on his work this season, Botting has earned a place in the team. Hubbard has been chosen as the emergency forward, and it would seem that the selector may have regarded him and Botting as very nearly on even terms. The team is to meet Canterbury, and it is probable that, as in the past, it will be a hard game. Not only will the match afford Mr Brown an excellent idea of the strength of the side he will have to match against the Indians next month, but it will also provide the New Zealand selectors with an opportunity of seeing those nominated for the New Zealand team in action. WOMEN’S NOTES FIXTURES June 11.—Otago A v, Eastern, at Milton. June 11.—Otago B v. South Otago, at Milton. June 25.—Otago v. England. July 7-9.—Universities’ tournament. July 9.—Universities v. Otago. A GRADE COMPETITION The following table shows the position of the teams in the A Grade competition;— Goals P. W. L. D. F. A. Ps. Kings .... 5 4 1 Otag6 .... 5 3 1 1 11 3 7 University ..3 2 1 7 3 5 Dunedin ..5 2 3 Momona ..514 Training Col. 3