HOCKEY

Southland Times, Issue 21773, 30 July 1932, Page 15

HOCKEY

(By “Half-Back.”) The cognomen of “Daddy,” bestowed in affection by the lady hockey players in Southland upon Mr D. Burrell (president of the association) must now be changed to “Granddaddy, his daughter Iris (an ex-Maroon) havmg recently given to this province another lady rep. for the years to come. All will join with,me in offering hearty congratulations to Iris and the new grandpa. . There are so many lady aspirants whose standard of play is almost on the same level that Mr Hinton xyrll have an unenviable job in. choosing his Town team to cross sticks with Southern next week. Of course,’ the showing of certain players in the Union v. Collegiate clash to-day will have to be carefully weighed up by the selector before he makes his choice, but it would appear that, up to the time of writing, the most formidable Town team would comprise: 0. Stott; R. Burt, R. Breen; V. Robb, M. Belsham, B. Robb;. W. Belsham or M. Mclntyre (left wing), M. Hillis or E. Bell (left inner), M. Balch, M. Clark and K. Hunt, with the two held out in the left wing and left inner’s jobs, plus K. Hodgetts, E. Smith and E. Lambert, as emergency forwards and E. Kerse, M. Dawson and M. Wall the emergency backs. It may well be, however, that the selector will dispense with emergencies and give the extras their try-out in the Probables v. Possibles game the same afternoon. There is sure to be keen rivalry for the touring forward line and, with girls such as M. Balch, M. Hillis, E. Bell, M. Clark, E. Hope, K. Hodgetts and E. Smith, irrespective of any impressive Southern girls to-day, fighting hard for the three inside positions of centre, left inner and right inner, it will be difficult to comb them out. Assuming, for argument’s sake, that M. Hilhs, M. Balch and M. Clark are chosen for the town team to-day, then it would be interesting to compare the showing of, say, E. Bell, M. Balch and E. Hope against K. Hodgetts, M. Hillis (or M. White—the Southern aspirant) and M. Clark (or E. Smith) as the opposing inside players in two of the trial teams next week, when probably four elevens will be seen in the final trials. A change round among the aspirants should prove most fruitful to the selector .in his endeavour to compare one girl with another. Certainly, when the elevens are of almost equal strength, any “shiners” will soon be “spotted. Southland’s hopes of regaining the K Cup are wrapped up in the selector being able to assemble a strong team, both fore and aft, each member of which can be relied upon, not only to combine well with her mates, but also, if things are not going too well, to show enterprise and aggressiveness in her own right. The Collegiate B ladies eleven has been strengthened by a new recruit, M. Kirkpatrick, a sturdy right, full-back. She battled hard against High School A last Saturday and seemed almost as fresh as a mountain daisy at the final whistle. Her play would show an improvement if she cut out her onehanded conjuring with her hockey stick, however. P. Wilson ( the Collegiate B right wing) also showed promise in this game, while M. Wall, a sister of the M. Wall in the A. team, was responsible for some good saving work between the posts. N. Bell (the centreforward) worked determinedly and was frequently in the limelight. The High School A players, though they proved victorious, were not particularly impressive; the vanguard, in fact, lost chances galore, especially in the first stanza. Hazel Stewart (left inner) was the pick of the forward line, while Jean Anderson played her usual resourceful game in the rearguard. This player wil be very unlucky if she is not chosen for one of the trial matches. , . , » D. Boyle (the Technical A left inner) scored no fewer than nine of the 12 goals registered by her side in the clash with High School B. A good type of forward, she is very keen and her shooting generally accurate. She too, is due for a place in one of the trials. I. Rewcastle (right wing), who also displays clever stick work and enterprize, is another Technical College player knocking hard at the door for a trylire Ex-High eleven rubbed their eyes, threvz off the incubus and. waked for their tussle against Collegiate A, and, as a result of such fresh burst of life, they gave their opponents a hard fight for the honours. Gay Aitken came right out of her shell to put in some much sounder work in the full-back line and Edna Kerse, too, was prominent in her defensive play. The Ex-High forwards combined well on many occasions, and, but for some splendid saves by O. Stott between the Collegiate posts, there may well have been a different story to tell than a 4—2 victory in favour of the Greens. L. Fraser, the Ex-High centre, played aggressively and her work, together with that of M. Woods (left inner), was of a considerably improved standard. It was gratifying to see the return to form of E. Bell, the Greens’ centre-for-ward, who netted three of the four goals scored against Ex-High. In the limelight throughout the clash, she seized every available opportunity to penetrate the opposing rearguard, and her stock has again risen healthily. She should watch her position closer as shoud also Edna Smith, for these two players hugged M. Mclntyre (the left wing) too affectionately on many attacking movements and consequently did not give Madge the elbow room to which she was entitled. M. Wall, in the half line, imprisoned her excitement more than usual in this tussle, and, a£ a result, her play was much more effective than on the preceding Saturday when she slogged the ball too. often like a cricketer seeking boundaries. The Collegiate ladies’ A team was strengthened last Saturday by the inclusion of a newcomer, D. Williamson, who took the left half-back’s job. This girl, who played in Timaru before coming south, created a favourable impression in her first game here, and if she maintains her promising showing to-day she will probably plav her way into one of the trial matches.

In view of the senior and junior representative matches between Otago and Southland to be played in Dunedin on August 20, a senior Possibles v. Probables trial game will take place at Queen’s Park at 3 o clock this afternoon. At the conclusion of the tussle, the selectors (Messrs H. S. Cordery and J. D. Gregg) will announce the Maroon A and B elevens to cross sticks with the Dark Blues. The B team will, in the main, be composed of junior players, though the eleven will probably be strengthend by the inclusion of certain of the seniors taking part in this afternoon’s trial.

The men’s selectors have thoroughly combed the available material in choosing the Possibles and Probables teams for this afternoon’s trial. Hazeldine (High School) and Gee (Service) would have knocked hard at the door had each been available. The former, however, cannot make the trip while Gee is hors de combat owing to injuries recently sustained on the hockey field. Though no indication along such lines has been given by the selectors, it would seem that their Probable: team is that which they regard as’the likely senior eleven (plus the emergencies) to cross sticks with Otago A. There has been little to pick and choose between Lockhart and Boyd so far as the relative merits in , the play of these rival centre-forwards

are concerned. Lockhart’s star, however, was probably in the ascendant by reason of the fact that both his team mates (L. Roberts and Mayston) are the inners in the Probables team and the. selectors no doubt thought that he would work in well with them seeing he was so conversant with their tactics through playing alongside them each week. Barham, the Probables left wing, will have to be right on his game if he hopes to gain his Maroon cap over Shields. The Collegiate player has been putting in good work lately and he will fight his rival tooth and nail for the honours. Barham was not particularly impressive last week, but, on other, occasions, he has put in some promising work The showing of each of these aspirants for a rep. jersey will be watched with interest by the selectors and the spectators alike at this afternoon’s trial. Howard, the Central full-back, who has been chosen as an emergency for the Probables v. Possibles trial,, must have knocked hard for inclusion in one of the elevens. He has shown good form throughout the season and, as one of the last line of defence in the White eleven, shouldered his good share of the burden thrust upon the rearguard. Wills (the Collegiate right inner) is another player between whom and Mullen (selected for the Possibles) there is little, if anything, as regards the standard of work. Ferguson, too, the Collegiate left full-back, is unlucky in not striking a trial.

Hearty congratulations to the Central Men’s Club, whose A representatives, by fighting the Collegiate A eleven to a draw last Saturday, emerge as senior champions of the season. The Whites deserve their good fortune for, after knocking hard, but unsuccessfully, for the honours last year, they took the field in 1932 with a real “do or die” complex to carry almost everything before them. Until last week their record was not even besmirched for every opposing eleven had gone down in defeat before their sticks. Collegiate, however, nearly pulled the conquering heroes up with a start but a draw was of no avail to the Reds, who, having already fallen to Central earlier in the season, needed a clear-cut victory to draw level with them to have the issue fought out again in another return match. Not alone an admirable comaraderie and loyal co-operation but also a consistency and enthusiasm in training vzere responsible for the well-deserved fortune of the A eleven, each member of which at all times gave of his best in the interests of his Club and his team mates as a whole.

Though the Collegiate supporters rent their garments and donned sackcloth and ashes at the A team’s inability to hold fast, until the end of the clash, to their one-nil advantage over Central, their grief was somewhat assuaged by the fact that the eleven put up a really impressive showing against their formidable rivals. To have the lead until practically the last five minutes of the tussle was a worthy feat and, as the final score indicated, there was little, if anything, between the two opposing elevens. A visitor to Invercargill last week was Mr D. Woodfield, a member of the Otago Men’s Association’s Management Committee, the sole Otago selector and an ex-New Zealand rep. to boot. Mr Woodfield was one of the referees in the Ex-High v. Collegiate clash last Saturday and, to the sorrow of some of the girls, was wide-awake to his job. Obstruction and “sticks” were penalized without mercy, and quite rightly too, as many of the local players are bad offenders in this respect. The touring Marooon K Cup team (or teams) to Dunedin will have to watch their play carefully as they will probably find the northern referees are much stricter in their interpretation. of the rules than are many of their kinder-hearted confreres down this way. Several of the lady players in the Collegiate A v. Ex-High tussle trespassed repeatedly on the five yards’ neutral zone when the ball was being thrown in from the line-out, and the referee (Mr D. Woodfield) swooped.on the offenders immediately. It is high time the rule governing the throw-in was properly carried into effect by the players. Many of the men, too, are like trepassers on their seven yards’ zone and, no doubt, the referees will pull them up with a start if they continually so offend.