WANGANUI WOMEN’S HOCKEY; ELEVEN-ASIDE TOURNAMENT

Wanganui Chronicle, 2 May 1949, Page 7

WANGANUI WOMEN’S HOCKEY; ELEVEN-A-SIDE TOURNAMENT

The 1949 Wanganui women’s hockey season opened on Saturday when an 11-a-side tournament was played on the Gonville Domain for the Gifford Moore Cup. Twelve teams took part: Aotea, College A, B, and C, Collegians, Kiwi, Stewart, Technical A and B, Technical Old Girls, and Y M.C.A. Playing conditions were ideal for a successful tournament, which resulted in a scoreless draw between College A and Collegians in the final. The outstanding feature of the day was the determined play of the junior and more inexperienced teams in all their matches. They used their superior fitness to advantage in pressing their more experienced opponents in both defence and attack.

Some of the best play was seen in Section 1 between College X, College B, Stewart, and Technical Old Girls. College A drew with Technical Old Girls and College B. An exciting match between College B and T.O.G. resulted in T.O.G. and College finishing with equal points. In the resulting play-off College A defeated T.O.G. 2-1 in a fast and even game. For College A R. Firmin, on the right wihg, made some fine runs and scored two good goals. For TO.G. G. Schneider, as centrehalf, formed a sound link between the defence and attack. Collegians had an easy win in Section 2. Technical A had good combination and hit hard. With more practice they will develop into a team to be watched. Aotea has some promising players but will need to develop better understanding between the individual players. In winning Section 3 from more experienced teams, College C caused a surprise and fully deserved their success. In post-section play Collegians beat College C and entered the final against College A. This game was marred by injuries in, the first half, causing Collegians to lose two players and College A one. Prior to this Collegians held a territorial advantage but were prevented from scoring by the sound College defence. Collegians continued to hold the advantage in the second spell but were still unable to penetrate and no goals were scored. In the Collegian forward line 1, Bartrum and B. Bignell made the most of their knowledge of each others play and were the mainstay of the forward line. Details of the games are as follows: Section 1: College A 1 (R. Firmin), T.O.G. 1 (B Spicer); College B 0, Stewart 0; College A 0, College B 0; College A 5 (R. Baird 3, ,Y. Ellis, G. Speedy), Stewart 0; College B 0, T.O. G. 0; T.O.G. 2 (P. Gibson, E. Bidlake), Stewart 0. Play-off: College A 2, T.O.G. 1. Section 2: Collegians 5 (B. Bignell 3, I. Bartrum 1, J. Barnett 1), College D 0; Technical A 2 (B. Bott 2), Aotea 0; Collegians 3 (B. Bignell 2, I. Bartrum 1), Technical A 0; College D 2 (P. Clarke, L. Smith). Aotea 0; Collegians 4 (B. Bignell 3, I. Bartrum 1), Aotea 0; Technical A 0, College D 0. Section 3: Kiwi 1 (K. Tume), Y.W.C.A. 1 (L. Puklowski); College C 2 (T. Heise, J. Cheer), Technical B 0; Kiwi (K. Tume), Technical B 0; College C 1 (T. Heise), Y.W.CA. 0; Kiwi 1 (L. Martin), Colllege C 1 (B. Wilson); Y,W.C.A. 3 (J. Sutherland, S. Humphreys, L. Puklowski), Technical B 0. Semi-final: Collegians 2, College C 0. Final: Collegians 0, Technical A 0. The umpires were Misses Hadden, Liddell, Ellis, Bignell, Myers, Bartrum, Goff, Schneider, Tume; Messrs. O’Keeffe and Thompson.