Hockey and its Players

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17029, 1 May 1923, Page 8

Hockey and its Players

| Notes by “Centre-Half” |]

Following a showery morning the sun shone highly during the afternoon and but for the grounds being somewhat heavy, conditions were excellent for the playing of the second round on Saturday last. At its meeting on Tuesday night last the committee decided to allow the matches played on the opening day to stand and to play those matches which were postponed at the earliest convenient date. The Primary Schools matches were commenced at Hagley Park. The following table gives the positions of the senior J teams : | SELWYN (6) v. ST ALBANS (2). I St Albans and Selwyn met at Lan- ! caster Park where it was soon evident ! that the latter were the superior team. ! The Saints were handicapped by the ! absence of H. Luxton from the goal. ! a place which was filled by F. Faulk- ! ner, who had not fully recovered from i a severe cold. Although it was FaulkI ner’s first experience in the position he ! gave a very creditable performance, j and but- for his fielding the score { against St. Albans would have been conI siderably increased. | Both Rattray and Templeton played good games. The latter is the more 1 certain of the. two and can generally be relied upon to play a satisfactory defensive game. Rattray fielded well, but is not so clean in getting the ball The half line was very fair. Marnier doing more than his fair share- of work, M’Far lane swept too far back and allowed the attack to get too near the circle before tackling. Small was playing his first' game and has not yet settled down. The St Albans front line has not yet formed any solid combination, but this should come when the members get to ; know one another’s play. D. Woodfield j an old Selwyn player, filled the vacancy I caused by Faulkner’s absence from tin j right, wing. Woodfield at circle left [ failed to feed his left wing and Hale. : who was left unmarked, rarely secured I the ball in the first spell and his rare ! passes were too far npfield to be of any j use. In the second spell Woodfield i went into the centre and Franklin played left inside and the attack was much improved. Holland and Hill played on the right* but neither possess the necessary stick play to overcome a solid defence such as Selwyn put up. With a few mere games together. however, the St Albans team will extend any of their opponents. • The Selwyn forwards played excel- | lentlv to a man. Hid was the weakest. , perhaps, but he is not so accustomed to j his position as the others and may be excused. Tn the first spell Richmond on the right wing could have had more work, but I think the fault lay in the natural tendency to hit to the left. The Bell brothers and Squires played remarkably well, the latter’s centres being well placed and aocurate. At times ho was inclined to carry the ball too far 'down, but otherwise his play was ? correct. ! The half line is a splendid one. Mor- ! ris was sure and got through a lot of 1 i work. Mahoney on the right completej ly beat the St Albans left wingers and ; got his ball well away. His only fa-ult | lay in the neglect of Richmond, woh j deserved the ball more often than he igo it. Hore at left half is very ccol j and rarely failed to achieve his purt pose. The two weak men in the team were I j Killoh at left back and M’Caffrey in ! goal. The latter, however, is only a junior player, and totally unaccustomed to the position. Killoh, who is new to the team, is a poor field and slow to get his hit, in. Possibly he will improve as he goes/ on. Grose had his work cut out as frequently he had to J cover Killoh, which left his own posi- , tion open to attack. With a stronger » left back and goalkeeper Selwyn should have no difficulty in retaining the shield s for another season. i

SYDENHAM (3) V. TECHNICAL (2). The match between Sydenham and Technical whs more even than was expected. The college team consists mostly of young players who have plenty of pace and stamina. Their forward line is somewhat different from last season, Gracie being the only one of last season’s players in the line. His work was very good, and both goals were the result of splendid solo efforts on his part. In both cases he took the ball single-handed from halfway, and. defeating all opposition, scored easily. The rest of the forwards were fair, but need coaching in combined methods. The halves are promising. Pearce being easily the best of the three. Both- Morris and Locke defended well in the backs, and worked hard against a good set of forwards while Line in goal stopped a number of shots. Sydenham were out in full strength, a- Taylor was in position in the left wing and French went back to left half. Taylor put in a few useful runs, but the pick of the line were Sheriffs and Pragnell, the formed showing plenty of pace and centring nicely. Butterfield was weak in fielding, and missed one or two excellent chances. Ward played a very fine game as centre-half and promises to turn out a top-notcher. Cummins was also good as left-half, and stopped some verydangerous rushes. French has hardlyhad time to accustom himself to his new position, and was inclined to get out of place. A. Mather played a great game in the backs, and is turning out a very solid defence. Gay was better than on the previous Saturday, and with the exception of two mistakes Snooks performed well in goal. JOTTINGS. The annual meeting of the New ZeaLand Association was held on Thursday night, and was attended by a large number of delegates, in fact the attendance was the largest that has been recorded for many years. It is a long time since the full executive was elected at the annual meeting, and on Thursday a ballot was necessary. The secretary, Mr Quartermain. definitely declined to continue in the office, and it will be hard to find one equally energetic- to fill the position. The matter of a visit by an English team was gone into, and the pros and cons discussed at great length. At a low estimate the Affiliated Associations would he required to find a total sum of £3.000 before the team would leave England, say in March next, so that if the trip ia to eventuate, schemes for raising the necessary guarantees will have to be put- in hand at once. Extracts from the London “ Sportsman ” show that a move is being made in England towards sending a team, and it practically only relies upon the New- Zealand bodies to find the funds to ensure the trip being undertaken. Organised thoroughly, there is no reason why the trip should not be as successful as the visit of the ladies’ English team some years ago. That visit gave a great lift to the game amongst the ladies. An endeavour is being made to have the tour made under the combined auspices of the New Zealand and Atistralian authorities. but uothing definite has been done * * The Canterbury Association has decided to challenge for the Shield this season. Manawatu are the present holders, and it was from them that Canterbury won the Shield in 1919. only to lose it- to Aucklnd in the same season, after successfully defending it against Nelson, Hawkes Bay and Otago.