Method Of Selection Of N.Z. Hockey Teams Under Criticism

Wanganui Chronicle, 9 June 1948, Page 6

Method Of Selection Of N.Z. Hockey Teams Under Criticism

(P.A.) Palmerston North, June 8 “The reply of the president of the New Zealand, Hockey Association to my recent criticism of the haphazard method of selection of test hockey teams as adopted in New Zealand, is most unconvincing,’’ said the senior selector to the Manawatu Hockey Assocition (Mr. A. C. Watts) in a further statement. The explanation that the selectors will “cover the whole Dominion tb see the nominated players in action’’ only bears out my contention that New Zealand is never represented by the best side. “To judge players on one or two games is utterly impossible, and the method of selection only confirms my previous statement that the players in the main centres get the most consideration. They can be regularly seen in action by one or more of the selectors. That the present method of selection is unsound is borne out further by the fact that players selected have to meet their own expenses to the point of assembly, this year Dunedin. The only fair and equitable method of selection of the best possible team is by a process of elimination trials with the New Zealand Hockey Association undertaking the full cost of getting the side together.

“The construction Mr. Goodman placed on my earlier statement regarding umpires is quite wrong. I did not say or infer that umpires were physically unfit and unable to keep up with play. I asked that the New Zealand Hockey Umpires’ Association ' should see that only umpires who are physically fit, as a virile fully-trained player taking part in representative games should be allocated to such games. Far too often do we see the older and less physically fit class of umpire allocated to the better-class games with consequential undetected off-sides and. other breaches of rules which have a definite bearing on the | results.”