HOCKEY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 107, 7 May 1936, Page 5

HOCKEY

NOTES AND COMMENTS The cricket pitch in the centre of No 1 ground was greasy, but otherwise the grounds were in fairly good condition. This factor affected the Wesley-Hine-moa game to a certain extent. The opening stages were rather ragged and scratchy and several good rushes by both sides were spoiled by lack .or finish and combination. As the game advanced the teams settled down to more serious play and brighter hockey, J some of it of a surprisingly good stan- ' dard for the beginning of tne season, •was seen. The second half was more in favour of Wesley. Hinemoa made I some line rushes an.l Stewart was prom- | inent on several occasions. Chisholm, 100, before going off the Held was play-I ing well. The concluding stages of the' game witnessed Wesley getting the i upper hand. The score was standing at J*- four ail when Tizard, leading a wellorganised attack, succeeded in finding •the net. with a hard drive. A few | ■minutes later the game ended in favour of Wesley. A ladies’ hockey team from Fiji will tour N.Z. this season. It wilt probably arrive about July 7 and leave the Dominion on August J 6. The question of a representative match with Wanganui was dealt with at the meeting of* the Wanganui Assoc'ation last night.! "No doubt such a match would prove a ' great draw as a curtainraiser for a! Rugby fixture. This will be the first • occasion that a ladies’ team from Fiji j has toured the Dominion. Last, season the Wellington Hockey | Association put aside £:U from its profits from the match against the India team as a fund to be used for the purpose of assisting and advancing hockey in the primary schools. The money was invested in the purchase of ; about 180 hockey sticks, and ?s an in- ! du com ent to the younger players to take up the game, the association has . offered a free stick to every member i of a new learn entering the primary! A’hools competition’. Following is an extract front a let- , ‘er received by an Aucklander from a ettor received by him from Paul Fernandez, of Karachi, Indie, who was a d left wing forward in the all-India " hockey team in »w Zealand last season : “I am glad to inform you’’ (writes Fernandez) “that 1 have been selected i, to tour to Berlin for the All-Ind-a side ] in the Olympic Games. Shouldn’t Ibe proud of it. Now 1 can say that 1 have ' peen practically the world. On our way back we are going to London. Only I ] nix of us that visited your country ere selected and the rest are new and some of the last Olympic side. The whole 1 side is composed of 17 men: IDhyan Chand, Rupsingh, Masud. Shabuddin, Hussein, Tapsell, Allen, Giibardy, Emmett, Phillips, Nirmal, Cullen, Ashan ! Khan, Carr. Jaffer. Gurcharan Singh ' and Fernandez. The first six, including me. are of the last tour. I pity 5 Tom Blake, who had every chance of eoming in the side. He was off colour ( the dav we played in Calcutta. It will 1 be a great trip provided this war ! Ac pi *» C come up, and we sail from 1 xidia on June 25, but before that we 1 trill be playing in all the big centres or ' India, i.e., practising together. Re- - member me to the Auckland playersj* fnd also give best wishes from Tom Bake and myself to Captain Eddie Mey.,- ou. Wp enjoyed every minute last I i yc-.r in Auckland and all throughout •Jv T ew Zealand.” i ‘ Had not each of the players included 11 fn the New Zealand team which visited I j [Australia last year been levied £l5 ash actual expenses, the tour would have ? ■ wV'Ppn financially impossible. From a t Abatement of accounts contained in ti»«*

New Zealand Association's balance sheet, the outgoings for the trip amounted to £572 6s 9d. These expenses were met by the appropriation of £2OO from the New Zealand Association’s travel fund of £220 12s sd. by the levy of £225 (15 players at £l5 apiece) and by the donations from affi hated associations and other enthusiasts. The twenty eighth report, of the. NewZealand Women’s Hockey Association presented to the annual meeting of that body last week, stated:—“The 11935 season will be regarded by us ah • as an outstanding one, as the cherished ambition of sending a team overseas | was realised. We are pleased to state ithat we feel that hockey will benefit considerably from the experience I gained by the team while in Australia. There, a I teams played a very clean ami sporting game, and the. umpiring j was efficient from every point of view. I A novel feature of the games, so far as the New Zealand team was concerned, was the absence of trophies in all competitions and the elimination of the reverse stroke. Another feat ire of the gam? was the positional play, parti cuI larly in the backs. Through the adoption of this diagonal formation in the defence, and owing to its superiority in speed and ball control, the team was able to achieve a very enviable record. Immediately on the. return of the team to New Zealand this association tendered to it a dinner at which it received well-deserved congratulations . from this and many other sporting bodies. This year there was a great increase in the number of candidates for the umpires’ examination. Fo rt y • three obtained passes in the theory i piper and the following passed both th? tleoiy and practical tests;—A j grade: W. Davies (Canterbury). W. { Hewitt (Central Otago), Mrs. Mudge (Central Otago), R. H. Thojnpson (Canterbury) M’ss A. Twiname (Auckland). B grade: Miss I’. Dawson (Auckland l . B. Harris (Wellington), J H. Mushett (North Otago). Miss P. jSrc'th (Auckland). In addition, two | candidates passed in practical only. ” ■ I ndoubtedly one of the most compreI hensive and useful articles seen in New Zealand for a long time is contained in a small publication entitled “How to Play Hockey.” by M. N. Masud, who, as h member of the Indian team which visited New Zealand last year, will be well remembered by all hockey players, i Mr. Masud s article, written at lhe I request of the New Zealand Association, has been published in booklet I form and it presents to both learners of the game and all others an authoritative outline which, if read carefully and remembered when on the field, should go a long way towards improving the game here. Mr. Masud has set himself out to enlarge upon the most important points. He emphasises the necessity for having the proper playing kit and the proper choice of a stick, and goes on to tell how to hold the stick, how to hit, and how to stop the ball, and devotes several paragraphs to the various types of shot exploited by the Indians. D..fabling, except ns a means to free oneself in order to pass be deprecates. Tre various forms of passing are described clearly and in detail and the writer passes on to deal with the subject r.f tactics. The duties of the var »u’ players are outlined end the value of team work and positional play is set out convincingly. In corclusion, Mr. Masud gives some ex’.ellen 4 advice on tow to become a high class plaver.