BASKETBALL SINCE 1925

Southland Times, Issue 23544, 25 June 1938, Page 15

BASKETBALL SINCE 1925

(Continued from lit week)

During 1931 a change was made and all matches were played on Saturday, the competition being run in four grades, at' first called senior A, senior B, intermediate and junior, and later altered to first, second, third and fourth grades. Kennington and Exhibition clubs were affiliated. There was no New Zealand tournament held this year, as the council meeting the previous August had decided on biennial tournaments. A council meeting of New Zealand delegates, however, took place in Invercargill and 182 players were present at a dinner given in their honour.

In 1932, 30 teams were playing weekly competitions in four grades and McKenzies, Waianiwa, Wallacetown and Waihopai were granted affiliation. A scorers’ committee was formed with Mrs T. Noble as convener. The New Zealand tournament was held in Invercargill for the first time and the excellent courts and pleasant surroundings received great commendation. Teams came from Auckland, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Ashburton, Otago, Canterbury and South Canterbury and all were billeted. Southland again took third place. This year, however, the Southland team drew with Otago in the annual fixture and so held the Southland Cup for six months.

The annual June 3 tournament which had till then been played as a seven-a-side was changed to a nine-a-side and the number of teams competing had increased from 18 teams in 1927 to 52 teams in 1932. Of these nine teams came from Eastern District, 11 from Central and 32 from the Invercargill 1933 Greenhills Club was granted affiliation and there were 36 teams playing in the weekly competitions in five grades. The New Zealand tournament was held in Gisborne and because of the expense, Southland sent only 10 players who performed creditably largely owing to the fitness of the players and the excellent care they received from Mrs Challis who accompanied the team as manager. Still Southland could not defeat either Wellington or Auckland being beaten by the former 14-11 and by the latter 13-7, but having decisive victories over Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay and Otago. Though Southland defeated Otago at the tournament they were unable to repeat the Performance when playing for the Southland Cup, in which game, played at Dunedin, they were beaten by 13 goals to 11. In this year it was decided that the second grade representative team to play Otago be the best from Invercargill or any of the three subassociations. Southland was represented by Town second grade and defeated Otago by 14 goals to eight. Western District Sub-association was granted affiliation. PRIMARY SCHOOLS’ TOURNAMENT

The annual primary schools’ tournament for town and country schools will be held on July 1G on the Southland Basketball Association’s courts, Duke street. Entries close on July 4. Entries will be received from senior, junior (under 4ft 9in in height) and intermediate teams. The intermediate grade is really a mixed grade, and intermediate teams may have up to four senior players. This section was introduced for the sake of giving games to the smaller country schools, who cannot field a full senior team. Entries, together with entrance fee of one shilling, should be sent to the secretary, Miss K. Cutt, Middle School.