INDIAN HOCKEY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19699, 3 August 1938, Page 4

INDIAN HOCKEY

PLAY ON RESERVE IMPROVED CONDITION VISITORS' DIFFICULTIES TRYING TRIP YESTERDAY The hockey match between the Manavadar Indian State team and Poverty Bay to-morrow will be played on the' Childers Road Reserve. At one stage it was thought that the ground might be in an unplayable condition as a result of the continued rain, and the Rugby Union was approached with a view to holding the game on the Oval. However, an inspection made of the reserve yesterday resulted in a decision to play the game on the reserve as originally planned. The ground was soft when an inspection was made late yesterday afternoon, but no water was lying about, and so long as no further substantial rain falls before the match the area should be in fair order. The ground has been spelled for almost four weeks. No play has been allowed on the reserve since the beginning of the rains on July 10, every care being taken to preserve the surface for to-morrow's attraction. Request to Public In order to still further protect the turf for the New Zealand women's tournament at the end of the month, the "public is asked to use the Roebuck road entrance to the reserve when entering and leaving and to keep oft all portions used for play. Any heavy tramping now would greatly retard the efforts of the association in making the ground ready for the tournament. The Indian visitors should find the reserve in a much better state than the ground in Wairoa yesterday, when the Indian's winning record was nearly checked by a ground that was in a shocking state following the unusually long period of rain. The tourists had a trying time yesterday. The team took 5i hours in travelling from Napier to Wairoa, the condition of the road making progress very slow, and after arriving late the players were dismayed to see the area on which they had to play. Arrangements were made for the tourists to leave Wairoa this morning and to stay at Morere for lunch, coming on to Gisborne in the afternoon.

FIRST-GOAL HABIT WAIROA PLAYER'S RECORD The scoring of first goals against Indian hockey teams is becoming a habit with C. Prior, Wairoa, who secured the first Wairoa goal yesterday in the closest game of the tour. Prior has the honour of scoring the first goals against the firat two Indian teams on tours of New Zealand. He was playing for Taranaki at the time the Indian Army team came to the Dominion in 1926. Several games were played before there was a goal against the army, and it was Prior who scored it. In 1935, Prior was in Wairoa, and played against India under new colours. India defeated Wairoa by 18 goals to one, Prior scoring that one goal. It was the first for a New Zealand team on that tour, which had been in progress then for about. a fortnight. The present tour is drawing to an end, and up to the end of last week eight goals had been scored against the tourists. But Prior got his,goal yesterday, and though not the first of the tour it was the first of the match in which the visitors had the closest call. Also, it was the only match in which more than one goal has been scored against the present Indian team. IMPROVING HOCKEY VISITING MANAGER'S VIEW TOO MUCH BODY PLAY Views on the vigorous type of hockey played in New Zealand have been expressed by Professor Jagan Nath, manager of the 'Manavadar Indian State hockey team. "The standard of the game in New Zealand is good and the team which we played in the second test was the best that we have met so far on. the tour," said the professor in a recent interview, "showing a 100 per cent improvement on the display given in the first test. The backs were good, but the forwards have a lot to learn. "The game as played in the Dominion is very rough and there is too much personal contact. Hockey is meant to be played with the stick, but the majority of (the New Zealand players we have met are lacking in flu esse. "Throughout the tour we have struck bad grounds, the majority being very heavy, and it may be that this tends to make the New Zealand style of play a hard-hitting, vigorous type of game. Your players must learn body and ball control if they wish to make a name for themselves in the hockey world. Players Suffer Colds "The members of the team are becoming acclimatised, although a few are suffering from colds, while others are experiencing muscular trouble. This latter complaint is caused by playing o.i the heavy grounds, on which an attempt to come to a sudden stop can easily mean a torn muscle or sinew." Professor Jagan Nath said that he was greatly impressed by the bright cordiality of the people of the Dominion, all of whom spared no pains to make them feel at home. He saw New Zealand as a pleasant and prosperous country in which the people apparently had sufficient of everything that goes to make for a contented race. Shahabuddin, Peter Fernandez and Sultan Kahn, all of whom had visited the Dominion before with Dyan Chand's .team, were proving of big assistance to the manager, and all three were cementing friendships formed on their first trip to New Zealand,