INCREASED HOCKEY ENTRIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26141, 2 May 1946, Page 2

INCREASED HOCKEY ENTRIES

With the increased entries in both the senior and junior grades, the prospects for men’s hockey in Dunedin for the coming season appear to be bright. Eight teams have been entered in the senior grade, compared with six last year, and the junior grade has ten teams, compared with eight the previous season. Last year’s premier team, University A, according to reports, will be fielding an even stronger team than last season's combination, and once again it will have the services of the Otago and New Zealand University representatives B. V. Kyle, L. W. Poole, M. B. Gunn, and D. R. Smith. A valuable addition will be G. Jones, an Auckland and New Zealand University representative player. Kyle and Pooie were the spearheads of the University attack last season, and between them they compiled an impressive tally.

Albany, the runner-up to University in the competition last year, has an excellent combination of players, many of whom have represented Otago and other provinces and N.Z.E.F. hockey teams overseas. Prominent in the team are W. Carr, B. Bedford, E. Kofoed, R. McKinley, N. Mong, and D. Stewart, all of whom have gained representative honours, and R. G. Pilling (Southland) and C. Sherrifif (Wanganui and N.Z.E.F.). W. A. Hadlee, who has represented New Zealand, Canterbury, and Otago at cricket and Otago at hockey, will again be turning out for Albany. Training College will also be fielding a strong team, including I. Wyatt (inside left), an Auckland representative, G. Hanley (centre-forward), a Wellington representative, K. Nicolson (centre-half), of Auckland, and V. McArley (insideright), who has been an Otago junior representative and an emergency for the senior team.

Stars of the Meeting Otago University provided one of the star athletes at the New Zealand University tournament in the Wellingtonian, J. M. Gray. On the first day Gray was narrowlv beaten in the One Mile by another Otago representative, J. D. Sinclair, but on the second day Gray won two titles and was largely responsible for his team’s success in the relay race. His time in the 440 Yards was 51sec, and he took 2min 1 2-ssec in the 880 Yards, while in the Relay he made up a deficiency of 25 yards to win the race for his team. Another star was the New Zealand sprint hurdles champion, A. R. P. Eustace (Auckland), who won the 120 Yards Hurdles and the 220 Yards Hurdles and was second to K. Plunkett in the 100 Yards, three finals being run within three-quarters of an hour. His 25 2-ssec in the 220 Yards Hurdles is a New Zealand University record. Critics in Christchurch stated that the lion-hearted Gray lacked style, but Eustace is a very polished athlete who takes his hurdles with deceptive ease and has a comfortable and fast stride, and the pair took the principal honours at a firstclass athletic meeting.

First Success The scratch runner, E. Rustbatch, won the Civil Service Harrier Club's Annual Maiden Race last Saturday, the minor places being filled by R. J. Fraser and D. Paterson. Rustbatch. who was the biggest boy in the field of new runners, is a former pupil of the Otago Boys’ High School. He ran a confident race to wm by 25 yards, and, although the time (9min) was slow for a mile and a-half. Rustbatch did all that was asked of him by conceding starts to the rest of the field and winning easily. He had a comfortable run, but he will meet harder opposition when he races against older and more experienced club-mates in the Postal Cup and Railway Cup events later in the season. World Snooker Championship

The final of the world snooker championship, between Horace Lindrum and Joe Davis, will be held in London, starting on May 6. The match, to take a fortnight in the completion, will be played in the Royal Horticultural Hall, Westminster, a hall capable of seating 1000 to 1500 spectators. The blitzing of Thurston’s was a great blow to the game of billiards and snooker, and ihe levelling of many other buildings in London during the war resulted in a shortage of halls for entertainment. Manchester, Liverpool,- Glasgow, Blackpool, and other provincial centres have put Ihe game over magnificently in the past six months. Now London is to have its first really big snooker show. This promotion, by the way, may signal the beginning of a new era for the game, for plans are afoot to get it properly organised for entertainment. RUGBY UNION PRESIDENT Mr E. (" Ted ”) McKenzie, of Wairarapa, will be elected unopposed as president of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union when the annual meeting is held in Wellington to-day. The honour is well deserved, for during a period of nearly 50 years he has given valuable service to the game in which other members of his family have also achieved distinction. Old-timers will recall the eldest brother, W. McKenzie, more familiarly known as “ Offside Mac.,” who led the Wellington team against Otago in the famous " Butchers’ ” match in 1897. “ Offside Mac.” played for the North Island in 1897, and for New Zealand in 1893, 1894, 1896, and 1897. He began his representative career for Wairarapa, but achieved his greatest prominence as a wing-forward with Wellington teams.

“ Ted ” McKenzie, however, was associated with Wairarapa Rugby throughout his career, and in 1902 he played for the

North Island, a distinction gained by another member of the family, H. J. (“Bert”) McKenzie, in 1913. “Ted” and “ Bert ” both became leading referees when their playing days ended, and the former officiated in the first test match between New Zealand and South Africa at Carisbrook in 1921. Yet another brother is Norman McKenzie, whose name is almost synonymous with Hawke’s Bay Rugby and who was a selector of provincial sides for 31 years until he retired this year. ” Both “ Ted ” and Norman were members of the selection committee which chose the 1924 All Blacks for the tour of Great Britain and of the New Zealand team which visited South Africa in 1928. Mr E. McKenzie was a New Zealand selector from 1924 to 1938, and in 1938 was sole selector of the team which visited Australia. He was also a member of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union for several years. Disappointing Form

Owen Bold, a member of the successful Hutt Valley Wilding Shield team, displayed disappointing form at the South Island lawn tennis championships. Northern writers have advanced his claims for inclusion in any Davis Cup team and he ijas been mentioned as one of New Zealand’s leading doubles players. Bold's best performance during the tournament was his win over G. C. Laidlaw in the semi-final of the singles, but otherwise the Wellington man’s displays were well below expectations. He failed against C. Angus who called the tune throughout, and also in his doubles matches at crucial stages of the game, suggesting that at present he lacks the temperament for international competition. In the Easter tournament, three local players, J. Patterson, J. C. Robertson, and D. Radford, were superior to Bold, while J. Robson who was winning the New Zealand University Championship in Christchurch, appears to be a stronger player than Bold in practically every phase of the game. Triple Successes

In the Otago Junior Lawn Tennis Championships played at Easter, two juniors—Miss M. Robertsbn, of St. Clair, and O. Ellis, of Roslyn—each captured three titles. Miss Robertson won the Girls’ Singles, the Girls’ Doubles with Miss N. Gosden as her partner, and with Ellis the Mixed Doubles, while Ellis collected the Boys’ Singles, the Boys’ Doubles with G. Shand, and the Mixed Doubles with Miss Robertson. Miss Robertson competed with distinction in the open events. Ellis was eliminated by V. Donnelly, of Maniototo, in the New Zealand Junior Championships this year, and hitherto has spoilt his game by persisting in " bash ” tactics, which have resulted in his defeat by players with far less stroke equipment. On this occasion, however, he exhibited far more control, and in the Singles final against Kofoed. who played a steady baseline game, Ellis used all his strokes, drives, volleys, smashes and even on one or two occasions a drop-shot, to the best advantage. A. L. Scott was another player who did well throughout the tournament, and by defeating J. A Adams (South Canterbury) 6—3, 6—3, in the final won the Intermediate Men’s Singles Championship. Scott also won his way through to the final of the Open Doubles, which he and D. Radford lost to Robertson and Patterson, 3—6, 4—6.