BASKETBALL

Southland Times, Issue 25306, 8 June 1935, Page 15

BASKETBALL

(By

“Defence.”)

The first evening tournament will be held on Wednesday, but as some men’s clubs did not get their notices very early, entries will not close until this afternoon. The draw and handicaps will be published on Monday. The N.Z. president, Mrs H. D. Muir, Wellington, is undertaking a comprehensive tour of the whole Dominion, visiting the headquarters pf every association. She will be in Invercargill on Saturday and Sunday, July 13 and 14. It has been suggested as an experiment to run an evening tournament on the Saturday. A further suggestion has also been made that the Central v. Town match which this year will be played in Invercargill should be played on the same day. A general meeting of referees will be held on Thursday week, June 20, to which all country referees are invited. Discussions will be taken under the (1) personal contact, (2) 12ft line, (3) advantage rule. If you have any problems bring them along and make the meeting worth while. ’ I have a Winton ball, a watch, and a pair of woollen gloves which were left at the courts on Monday. June 3rd. Nowadays almost everywhere in the Dominion this day conjures up visions of basketballers everywhere taking part in tournaments. In Southland the first tournament of the kind was held one Wednesday afternoon at High School, about 10 teams competing. June 3, 1926 was the first whole day tournament and there has been one every June 3 since, the numbers increasing all the time. We have not the full records for this yepr, but there are about 100 teams in Southland altogether of which 86 took part in the tournament on Monday, 30 teams in the Drill Hall where all grade. 4 was played and 56 teams comprising grades 1,2, 3, and 5 at the Duke street courts. Rain threatened in the middle of the morning, but held off and the games were played expeditiously, the time table being exceeded by only ten minutes for the whole day. Everything went very smoothly except for not knowing early enough that the Clinton train was delayed an hour. This affected five teams. No teams defaulted, but one club read the notice wrongly and sent the 4th grade to Duke street and the sth grade to the Drill Hall, which mistake nearly cost them a win. Before the mistake was known, the fifth grade had played Rimu and won and it was only their sporting attitude which allowed the game to be re-played. Rimu then lost, also losing the honour of being section winners. There were very few accidents and these were all of a minor nature. Mrs Bain Challis organized the cafeteria this vear and so well did she and her band'of helpers work in preparing and serving meals that there was a profit of more than £lO from this undertaking. The most interesting part of the whole day was watching the country teams and noting their improvement since last year. Nightcaps, Riverton, Pahia and Rimu are all worthy of congratulation. I should like to suggest to the first two that they enter future tournaments in a higher grade. They have a good easy style and will not improve further until they meet more difficult teams.

■Balfour which has only been formed this year also deserve mention, losing as they did only one game. They would also find the third grade more interesting. Spar Bush are much too good for third grade and they are wasting good practice by not entering ip the higher grade. St. Patrick’s found that they were not fast enough for the first grade players, but I hope they were not too disappointed in not winning a game. Ryal Bush held their own quite well in their matches until they played Rata, who ran rings round them. There was no mistake that Rata played a very finished game and I hope that country players took the opportunity of watching them whenever they had a chance. It is too difficult where there are so many players to mention individuals, but I would like to say that I have not seen Rata’s centre-third so good all the year and that M. Farmer and S. Ross played particularly good basketball, i

The ''costumes are greatly improved this year also, but for goodness sake country teams do shorten your dresses. You will never do any good on a basketball court while your costumes come below your knees. The frock will impede you. A frock that touches the ground when you kneel is the very longest you should have it and a couple of inches shorter than that is better. Naturally you must wear dark knickers or knickers to match.

In the first grade matches went more or less as was expected, except that Ryal Bush were rather an unknown quantity. They did well to draw with Collegiate even though this team was not playing D. Deegan. The second grade was uneven. in some respects. S.G.H.S., after defeating the best teams, including Lochiel, which previously had only been beaten by Rata first grade at any tournament must lose to Collegiate who won only that game and Wallacetown. Certainly S.G.H.S. were lucky to defeat Lochiel, the final goal being a penalty just, on time. Pirates did well in their section, winning every game, but narrowly escaped a draw with Rata, the final goal being scored on time. I' heard one Pirates player state that the most enjoyable game of the day was against Oreti, whom I didn’t see at all. The final between Pirates and Lochiel was a very poor exhibition of the game altogether. Both teams were very eager and there was far too much wild rushing about which meant frequent collisions and dropped balls. Lochiel was the better team but I would suggest that they watch their goal throwing. One forward always takes longer than three seconds to throw the ball. She collects it, then twists it in her hands, and then takes aim. The referee could easily have penalized her every time. M. Hunt (Pirates) also frequently holds too long, but she does not infringe to the same extent as Lochiel. As a matter of fact I timed goal throwers all day, and everywhere the time of three seconds was exceeded.

After watching second grade teams on Monday I feel that Town has little chance this year of defeating Central in this grade. Central have the same girls as were available last year, while all Town’s representatives have been promoted to first grade and there doesn’t seem to be the same material offering this season. In the third grade H. and J’s played very nice basketball and won their section without a defeat, while St. Peter’s kept their end well up, losing only to H. and J’s. Collegiate maintained their reputation by winning all their games, having a great tussle with Nightcaps whom I expected to win. They really have a very good style and are quite speedy. Spar Bush always play a good game and I am surprised that they do not get further in their own competitions. They held their own comfortably on Monday, winning all their games, McKenzies lost to Spar Bu§h and drew with Rata; the latter team has improved a good deal since the season commenced. In the play off Collegiate were too good for H. and J’s, and had to play immediately against Spar Bush in the finals, being beaten by only one goal. Woodlands in the fifth grade had. a poor day, not winning any games, but I hope they found the experience was worth the defeat. Greenhills after losing to Otautau defeated St. Mary’s and as this was St. Mary’s only loss, a play-off was necessary when St. Mary’s won, thus being section winners. Pirates fifth are doing much better this season, and on Monday lost only to Winton. Why Riverton should lose to Wallacetown who registered besides only one draw after defeating everyone else in the section is hard to say. However they retrieved themselves and played a good game in the final although they lost to St Mary’s. In the fourth grade of 30 teams there were come big differences in scores usually when a club had a team in each grade. Gore H.S. did not do at all well ,but could not be graded fifth as they already had a team in that grade. Rata also did very badly in this section, but fielded a very scratchy team. The countries teams defeated the town teams all along the line, the finals being played between Riverton, Winton, Tuatapere, Pahia, Pioneer, all representatives from different sub-associa-tions. I hope they will all enter third grade next year. Riverton just got in ahead of Pioneer in the final in a good game where both teams played a good open game and did not keep on colliding with each other. The winners for 1935 are: 1, Rata; 2, Lochiel; 3, Spar Bush; 4, Riverton; 5, St. Mary’s.—A good distribution of honours. Winton Tournament. The Winton’ Club staged an evening tournament last week, and evidently from all accounts was most successful financially and,otherwise. From town there were entries from Collegiate, Rata, Makarewa, St. Mary’s, two Kiwi teams. Colac and Nightcaps also travelled and there was an entry from Otapiri, a newly-formed club. Colours in clubs seem to run to red, as this was the predominating colour on the court. The referees would possibly have welcomed a sprinkling of greens. However the costumes were all uniform, short and smart’ and all teams were well turned out in correct costumes. St. Mary’s played good basketball all evening,- defeating Rata in the semifinal, Rata’s first defeat of any kmd this season, and St. Mary’s thoroughly deserved their win. Rata played best against Ryal Bush otherwise their display was not up to form in any respect. Exhibition matches at tournaments of this kind are a mistake, this occasion was no exception. The game between Rata and Collegiate was poor basketball, perhaps due to the wooden floor, to which neither team is accustomed. A wooden floor is difficult to play on at any time and more so for a speedy team, as it is impossible for players to stop suddenly and turn. However nothing about this match was good, handling, position, or passing. Collegiate have promoted E. Neame from third grade to their forward third, where she is going to be most valuable. Rata had J. McNee and M. Rodger in place of J. Kelly and N. Rodger. Both did well but combination and confidence in the team suffered. Winton fielded a team of young players who show considerable promise, which was shown again on Monday. Ryal Bush were defeated in the first round by Rata and had no further game. It was a pity that the draw wasn’t arranged to have the bye in the first round and not in the final. The organization was good, but might I suggest that in future tournaments of the kind, teams in the district should keep to the draw and times? Ryal Bush were to play Rata at 6.30 p.m. The town team hurried out without tea to be punctual and Ryal Bush were not ready until more than an hour later, even although the majority of them live in Winton. Last Week. I really took notes on several matches last week, but as I have taken up so much space with the other two tournaments, and want to add a little more about interpretations I will leave criticisms of our own teams until next week when the table of points will be published again. I would however like to congratulate St. Mary’s first grade on the very fine game they played against Collegiate last week. They vere unlucky not to have it a draw. Here are two points I noticed particularly which I quote as examples of how players must play the whble of the game and not make mistakes which will give the game to their opponents, Just on half time the game was 9-9. Collegiate had a throw-in from St. Mary’s goal third and after the bell went, the ball travelled right up to Collegiate’s forwards and a score

resulted. St. Mary’s should have made an extra effort to intercept and put the .ball out. With three minutes to go the score wift again even and St Mary’s had the “throw off,” and the ball went into the hands, of E. Crowe. She let it drop, the defence caught it and Collegiate scored, and scored again in the last minute for a two point win. This instance really won that match. Of course I could find instances where St. Mary’s won from Collegiate’s mistakes, but those were two occasions when the game was within St. Mary’s grasp and was lost. You do not realize that often a game is lost from mistakes made at a critical moment. At the same time I would state again that St. Mary’s played a very fine game against more experienced players. Rulings.

Here is a list of all the things you may not do: No player shall (a) overguard, (b) hold (c) block (d) push (e) trip an opponent. No player shall come into personal contact with an opponent in such a manner as to interfere with the play.

By over guarding is meant guarding with one or both hands over the bah when it is in possession of an opponent. To guard an opponent, the arms can be raised only in the vertical plane. The arms cannot come over the ball or round an opponent. Also a' defender must stand or jump square on to her opponent. This happens often under the goal post, where players are crowded together and the defender stands side on, often with only .one hand raised.

Holding an opponent by her dress or her belt is very common and very difficult to detect. A player will get away with this for many matches and is very aggrieved when a referee is lucky enough to notice it and penalize. Blocking is impeding the progress of a player not in possession of the ball. It is often done by putting a hand in front of an opponent and those foolish cat and mouse tactics come under this heading. Pushing and tripping are quite obvious. I used to wonder once why a good forward who scored consistently always seemed to be “off” when she played against one particular defence. It was a long time before I discovered that this particular defender had a nasty little habit of nudging the forward's elbow just as the ball was about to leave her hand. It was no wonder she could not score. Of course that type of player should be ordered off, but the difficulty is to catch her as the referee is usually watching feet and the ball.

Personal contact causes more heart bum than any other infringement. Players and spectators must remember that the rule definitely states “as to interfere with the play.” Therefore a referee who considers that such tactics are not altering the play must not penalize. A forward is aiming at goal and a defender presses up closely, to the annoyance of the side liner. The referee blows his whistle and gives tire player an unguarded throw at goal, which she misses. Had she been left alone, she would probably have scored. One very good referee stated that he allowed the ball to leave the forward’s hands and then blew his whistle. If a goal resulted, he allowed it, if not the player had another chance. 'Diis seems a reasonable solution to a difficulty which is always confronting referees.

The Southland Referees’ Association held a meeting last week when several sent in their names for the theoretical examination to be held this month. Mr A. Kinross and Miss G. Basstian having passed their theoretical are candidates for the practical examination. Miss E. B. Pay is the examiner for the southern part of the South Island. The question of the penalty of ordering off for rough play etc came up for discussion. Referees felt that this was an extreme penalty, and that these referees put up with much roughness because they hated to order a player off the field. After some discussion it was decided for a month to try making a player or players stand at the side of the court for some minutes, to be allowed to resume vzhen the referee thought fit. It is not necessary to report such occurrences so that the procedure will be in the nature of a warning to players that their conduct will not be tolerated. If two opponents are at fault, they will both be stood off. If the referee seems to have forgotten the player, the captain may ask if the player may resume. If this works as it does in other sports, the ruling will be referred to the N.Z.B.A. in . August with the recommendation that it be included in the Rule Book.

Evening Tournament. The first evening tournament will 1 held on Wednesday and St. Mary s will have a stall. The entries are considerably smaller than usual, but yze hope it will be successful. Late entries will be received until this afternoon and we would welcome some from other men’s teams. So far there are 13 entries for senior sections, 24 for junior and 10 from men.