GROWTH OF HOCKEY IN SUVA

Southland Times, Issue 23227, 16 June 1937, Page 14

GROWTH OF HOCKEY IN SUVA

PROPOSED VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND The suggestion by the Suva Men’s Hockey Association that a team visit New Zealand in the near future is one that should be readily acceptable to the New Zealand Hockey Association, states The Evening Post. The Suva Association suggested that the tour be organized for 1938, but, unfortunately, the N.Z.H.A. is negotiating with India for a visit in that year. It would be out of the question for the parent body to entertain a team from Suva on the same occasion, and the Suva Association has been asked to submit some idea of what financial arrangements might be made for a tour if it could be arranged for some other time. The last time that New Zealanders had experience of the hockey ability of players in Suva was a year or two ago, when a New Zealand. University hockey team toured Fiji. The tour was a highly successful one and the New Zealanders benefited greatly by their experience. Likewise, the players in Fiji added to their knowledge of the game as a result of the visit. It is twenty years since the game of hockey was introduced to Fiji, when in 1915 two ladies’ teams were formed. They were known as “The Vitis” and “Service.” The following year three men’s clubs were formed, the Service, Cadets and Star (now the Wanderers).

Regular competitions were started under the Suva'Men’s Hockey Association the following year. The first competition was won by the Cadets Club, and the Star Club, subsequently renamed the Imperials, won the competition the second year, and for the following nine years. In recent years it has been won by the Grammar Old Boys, and for the last three years by the Marist Old Boys, both clubs being of recent formation. The present Wanderers Club is the only remaining club of the three original clubs affiliated to the Suva Men’s Hockey Association. During the war a representative team of the Suva Men’s Hockey Association played many games against teams from visiting warships, and most of these games were won by Suva. After the war the first important game,was played against a team from the Special Service Squadron which visited Suva in 1924, under the command of Admiral Field. The squadron team contained three English international hockey players, and the team as a whole was considered a strong combination, having defeated New South Wales and Victorian teams and most of the New Zealand teams. The game in Suva, after a fast and exciting struggle, was won by Suva by four goals to two. Two members of the team selected to play against the New Zealand University players were members of the team which played the squadron team and have represented Suva in tall subsequent matches. It is creditable that in the course of 19 years, up to the visit of the University team, Suva’s representative- eleven had suffered but one defeat.