HOCKEY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13948, 1 May 1909, Page 4

HOCKEY.

■ (By "Sport.") lne annual mter-chib competition under the Taranaki Hockey Association commences next Week, when the Hawera-Inglewooa A match is set down for decision on Wednesday at IngloWO 9S; Other fixtures will be played on Thursday. Hockeyists at this end of the dis- ! met would welcome a curtailment of the travelling necessary in the prettmt* arranged competition, which embraces the clubs between Now Plymouth and llawera, 48 miles distant. From private word received from the southern end I learn that there is yet a faint possibility of a south competition beine revived. The Hawera Club, 1 uhderstund, is m communication with OpuBako and Eltham on thtt subject. Should their efforts be successful and a southern division competition started scon the fixtures as already drawn up would not be materially affected, as the team with the bye could take up the Hawera Club's fixtures. May it be so!

Camngton Road 'has not yet a full complement of players this season, but the Club, with the exertion of a little .energy on the part of its present members, should have little difficulty fn tilling up the vacancies even from the ranks of the uninitiated. One new member obtained for the Club by each present memoer would more than make up the deficiency, and should certainly n b-S,vei?b -S, vei ? <Mf»cult of attainment. °« Thursday afternoon the New Plymouth Club had a good muster at practice on the racecourse ground. An h S air' meeting was held, when the boundary line defining East and West End players was decided on and other ■matters arranged for the season. Afterwards the teams opposed each other, an interesting and evenly contested ffiT" 6 - Mr i Grater con\t lv t Jj 8 \ gam< V -, A «*J had charge of the East ami Crawford the West r ntier i' ,* Among the new active members of the Club this season, with past experience^ are Welham (Auckland, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki representative^ Taylor (Hawke's Bay). Nixon (Wairarapa), Robson (St. Paul's Wa[Tiganui) Marks (Wesley, Wellington), "Rnb° n ?t P? rt) ' P^ 1 <SJarton> and Bob CutfieM and J. C. Sumner, former members of the Club. Amongst the new 'mu' ; 'there is good material, !W C? rmßh > Emery and Pearce! At back, Cutfteld will be an acquisition to East. A formidable forward line i ™ Wood, Cornish, Sumner, Nixon and Taylor, while for the West, Welham, Addison, Marks and Reid .wiir be bfirang will probably play goal for East. Mr. , Goldwater, formerly of the Auckland Referees' Association, has thrown in his lot with the T.H.A. / <« to new £ ule under the heading of 1 enalty Corner," which is being brought m this season, is not yet very generally known. It reads :— "A player of the attacking team shall have a hit from any point on the goal-lino he may choose, and at the moment of such hit all the defending team (their sticks, and feet) must be behind their owu goal-line; also all the attacking team must be outside the striking circle m the field of play." Hitherto, any breach of a rule by the defending team inside their own circle has been penalised by either an ordinary bully or a penalty bully. In future there will be no ordinary bujlies inside the circle, but in their place will be awarded penalty goal-line hits. That is, the attacking side will be entitled to a free hit from anywhere on the defenders' goal-line. The penalty for a breach is' thus made much more real than under the old rule The Whakatika Ladies' Club held i their opening practice on Thursday at the racecourse. There was a good muster of members, and useful practice was indulged in. The Club intends to return the visit of the Hawera ladies shortly. •The Taranaki Ladies' Hockey Association will be resuscitated this season "Millionaires' Daughters at Play Indoor Hockey for Girls," is the title line over which appears a picture in this week's Weekly Press. The picture shows the interior of a famous school near New York which' (says the footnote) is attended by the daughters of many wealthy Americans — girls of such families as the Vanderbilts, the Goulds, the Rockefellers, and the Harrimans, and the Illustrated London News, in reproducing the photograph, frames it in dollars. The majority of the girls are good athletes. No men are al- ] lowed to watch the sport. America leads again !