BASKETBALL

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

BASKETBALL

(By “Defence.”) A donation of £3 3/- has been received from Kiwi. The secretary for Makarewa Club assures the executive that a donation will -be forthcoming. To-day the Southland second grade team plays Otago at Duke street at 3 P-m. . , Matches postponed during May with the exception of second grade, will also be played during the afternoon. The visitors will be entertained at the courts to afternoon tea immediately after the match and in the evening Mrs Noble, vice-president, will be hostess at her home in North Road. The Wallacetown-Makarewa A fourth grade match set down for today will not be played. These teams have already met twice in this competition. Queenstown is considering sending a team to Invercargill next month. The second grade representatives will probably be too formidable a combination and the match if it eventuates will be offered to one of the teams in the competition. The draw for the knock-out tournament and officials will be published on Monday. There are a number of entries from the country teams. I do appreciate the enthusiasm of these teams; some of them have long distances to travel and there is always the extra expense that distance entails. The evening should be a great success and thoroughly enjoyable. Auckland, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Canterbury, South Canterbury, Ashburton, Otago and Southland have entered teams for the New Zealand tournament. . . , Auckland holds the New Zealand Cup and Wellington the Annie Brown Cup. There is a new trophy for teams playing in the second grade. As only three teams, Ashburton, South Canterbury and Marlborough have entered for this section, it was decided by the New Zealand Executive to. hold the tournament in only one section, but to award this trophy to the team in the second grade which gains the most points. The following delegates have been appointed: North Auckland, Mr R. L. McNabb and Miss Donnelly; Wellington, Mesdames H. D. Muir and R. M. Smith; Southland, Miss E. B. Pay and Mr L. R. Lewis; Poverty Bay, Mrs Cole and Miss Millan; New Zealand Executive, Mr A. Kinross. Affiliated associations not sending teams will have delegates present and there should be a full representation at the council meeting on August 23. Billets will be required for about 120 players and officials. Will club secretaries send in lists as soon as possible. The tournament secretary (Miss M. L. Strathcm) wants as much information as possible and requires it early.

I hope that I shall be able to give the draw, referees, scorers, etc. by next week. During the next few weeks do talk about the tournament to all your friends. Auckland, champions, are making a very special effort in coming that Southland may not be disappointed and it may be the only opportunity most of us will ever have of seeing them in action and they are worth

seeing. Every basketbailer should be eager to see Auckland, Wellington and Otago, the three best teams in New Zealand, playing against one another. The Competitions. As the competitions draw to a close, one can see from the table of points that Collegiate, Bluff and Makarewa will win the first, third and fourth grades respectively and no one knows who will win the second grade. St. Mary’s and Collegiate have an unplayed match which will be decided next Saturday. If St. Mary’s can manage even a draw this team will be leading, and Collegiate need a win to get one point ahead. The game will be interesting, although through accidents St. Mary’s have lost J. Deegan and Collegiate M. Godward. Although Bluff lost their first match last Saturday for this year to Collegiate, their four points lead will give the cup to the Club. This is the team that won the fourth grade cup last year. With only one match unplayed Makarewa cannot lose the fourth grade. Tills is a team of young players, who have come out top from really good play due to some excellent coaching. Knowing how superior this Club is, especially with their lower grade teams, in combination, I feel at the beginning of the season it could have held their own in the third grade, although , they would possibly not have won the higher grade. Since senior basketball was instituted in Invercargill, Collegiate have entered a team in first grade. For some years they just held their own always, giving their opponents a good game, but not scoring many competition points. For two years the team have been stronger and rather unlucky not to win. It is good to see them come out on top at last. The fourth grade competition closes on Saturday next and that the season may not be quite finished for these players, an afternoon tournament will be held for this grade on August 13 at Wallacetown. Entries are also invited from country teams for that date. The games will be played at Wallacetown as this club is very anxious to have some matches on its own courts. for the sake of its supporters. If Kennington wishes it, a similar tournament will be held at Kennington on August 20. Last Week’s Matches. Another day when one wondered whether it would not have been better to play inside. Despite a few showers, however, all games except one fourth grade, which will be decided to-day, were played. There was a certain amount of grumbling about wet courts and heavy, greasy balls, but players should be prepared to play when the ground is wet. She would be the most optimistic of optimists who considered that the game must always be played when the asphalt is quite dry and the ball in the same condition. It is most essential that representative players should know how to handle a heavy ball without fumbling, and also without feeling it is something they should not be asked to do. After all Invercargill is the only district in New Zealand where matches need never be postponed, whatever the weather.

The games on Saturday were not up to standard. All the play was slow and hesitating. In the second grade Makarewa defaulted to Kiwi. Mrs Mortimer, Mrs Todd and M. Clark were not available for the first grade match and their places were filled from the second grade. Considering this disorganization of the team, Makarewa did very well to lose by only three goals against Collegiate. The Collegiate team were without E. Small, who was replaced by B. Matheson from third grade. The game was dull, lacking all keenness, but it was also free from major infringements. Rata B surprised the spectators by having a draw with High School, after a game where scoring was the chief point of interest. In the game of 40 minutes, a total of 40 goals was scored. M. Anderson was absent from the High School team; it is very unusual for this player not to be on the court when her school has a match.

Collegiate and St. Peters second grade had flashes of interest in the first half and had C. Dore not been absent from the Blues it is possible the team might have kept the lead they had in the early nart of the game. As it was, however, Collegiate gradually improved their play and kept the ball with their own forwards, so winning quite comfortably. In the third grade, St. Mary’s have gradually been improving their play and winning their matches. Were the season only commencing now this team might get very near the top. As it is they have come from bottom up to fourth place. Kennington have been holding their own and with just a little more experience, more especially in handling (some of their members have a clumsy method of getting rid of the ball) this team could be at the top of the grade.

TABLE OF POINTS. FIRST GRADE.

ROYDS SHIELD POINTS. Collegiate 75 Makarewa 50 Kennington 36 St. Mary’s 29 Bluff 28 Kiwi 25 Rata 24

Bluff had their first loss when Collegiate defeated them by three goals. Certainly the town team deserved their win, Bluff being outplayed on a number of occasions. I do not know whether there were any changes in the team, but they certainly were not combining as I have seen them on other occasions.

McKenzie’s are now the only team in cry of the competitions who have not yet been beaten. Can they retain that record until after next week? Today they meet Kennington again with which team they drew a fortnight ago. Players must not wear any form of jewellery during a match. There is a definite by-law to this effect and referees have authority to ask for the removal of the offending articles and to order a player off who refuses to obey. Complaints have been made

P. W. L. Points , D. For. Agst. Ch. Pts Collegiate 12 11 1 —— 209 108 22 Makarewa 13 9 3 1 234 161 19 Rata A 10 7 2 1 148 116 15 High School 13 4 7 2 171 193 10 Pirates 13 5 8 —— 180 206 10 Rata B 12 2 9 1 188 226 5 Bluff 11 1 9 1 150 216 3 Second Grade. Kiwi 12 8 4 — 130 102 16 St. Mary’s 11 7 2 2 132 123 16 Collegiate 11 7 3 1 152 116 15 St. Peter’s 12 2 8 2 153 192 6 Makarewa 12 2 9 1 112 155 5 Third Grade. Bluff 14 12 1 1 188 133 25 Collegiate 14 10 3 1 206 138 21 Kennington 15 10 4 1 203 153 21 St. Mary’s 14 6 7 1 148 186 13 Exhibition 14 5 9 133 139 10 Kiwi 15 4 10 1 178 174 9 Pirates 14 3 10 1 97 170 7 Haynco 14 3 11 —• 143 194 6 Fourth Grade. Makarewa A 13 11 1 1 222 95 23 Collegiate 13 8 4 1 187 147 17 McKenzie’s 9 8 —— 1 127 62 17 Wallacetown 15 8 7 —— 179 162 16 Kennington 14 7 6 1 169 205 15 St. Peter’s 13 4 6 3 132 162 11 Waihopai 13 3 8 2 134 198 8 Rata 12 1 9 2 98 154 4 Makarewa B 7 1 5 1 80 91 3 St. Mary’s 5 0 — — 15 50 0