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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1931

Men's Hockey Club

page 85

Men's Hockey Club

Assembling wolves in raging troups descend.

Thomson

This year the Men's Hockey Club commenced the season with even greater numbers and was enabled to enter eight teams in the Grade Competitions. Unfortunately, right from the commencement of the season casualties have been rife among players in all grades, and this has impaired the strength of the different teams to a great extent. Besides this, one or two players have left the district, so it is not surprising that, although V.U.C. has the largest club in Australasia, only one team, the First Senior B, is champion in its grade. In spite of the season's misfortunes, however, the Club has some very keen and able exponents of hockey in its ranks.

On 3rd June a Five-a-side Tournament was held by the Wellington Hockey Association at Karori for Senior, Junior and Third Grade teams. The Club's Senior A team was absent in Christchurch on this occasion, so that a "scratch" team in the Senior grade had to be gleaned from the two Senior B teams. The team which finally turned out was very proud of the fact that it reached the grade final, where a crack Wellington five defeated it by three goals to nil. The five composed of Junior B players also had the satisfaction of reaching the final, having defeated Kingi Tahiwi's Junior A five in the semi-finals. The Third Grade teams played well, but found their opponents too strong for them.

On the night of 30th May the Senior A team sailed for Christchurch, where they took part in the Annual Inter-University Hockey Tournament, losing to Canterbury College after a very keenly contested game. The Club's Annual Dance was held on 30th May and was voted by all present one of the year's brightest 'Varsity functions.

Team Notes.

Senior A Team.

This team made a good start in its club matches, but at the end of the first two rounds had fallen well towards the bottom of the ladder. The team would fare much worse were it not for McIntosh, who has proved himself very reliable in goal.

Senior B A Team.

This team was handicapped at the commencement of the season by having only five of its previous team playing. After the first two matches, however, the team settled down and has now made up for the loss and the draw with which it commenced the season. At the end of the first round the team led the Senior B Championship with a game against the 'Varsity B team in hand, and finished up champions. Its record was as follows:

Played. Won. Lost Drawn. Goals for. Goals Against.
11 9 1 1 36 16

The new members of the team are to be congratulated on the fine showing they have displayed. Struthers (centre forward), Stewart (right wing), Sandlant (half), Foster and Petherick (full-backs) deserve special mention.

The results of the matches in the first round are as follows:—

v. Karori—Lost 2—6. A very scratchy game, the forwards showing no combination.

v. Huia—Draw, 2—2. The Capping Ball and the absence of our goalie accounted for this display.

v. Hutt—Won 3—1. A good open game, both backs and forwards playing well.

v. Wesley—Won 3—0. A good game, although the forwards missed numerous opportunities.

v. Petone—Won 2—0. The backs played a wonderful game and allowed our opponents no chances.

v. Training College—Won 5—1. Played on a very muddy ground, with little chance to play decent hockey.

v. Wellington—Won 1—0. The team was much weakened by injuries and promotions to the Senior A's. Struthers scored in the last few minutes.

v. Y.M.C.A.—Won 3—0. The forwards missed many opportunities, but the backs kept Y.M. out.

v. University B—Postponed.

v. Karori—Won 5—4. This game, by which we went to the top of the competition, although played on a heavy ground, provided the best display of hockey this year. The forwards played like champions, Struthers, who scored four of the goals, playing a great game.

v. Y.M.C.A.—Won 8—1. An easy win.

v. Hutt—Won 2—1. Winning this game, the team achieved the distinction of being champions in the grade. The 'Varsity Club has won this championship in the years 1928-30-31.

Senior B B Team.

The Senior B B team has had very little success in its grade, accidents and replacements being so frequent that it has seldom fielded the same team on two successive occasions. The team comprises most of last year's Junior players, who find themselves page 86 at a disadvantage against the superior tactics of more experienced opponents. The games, however, have all been hard fought, fast and enjoyable, and with one exception our opponents have had to work hard for their success. The team was successful in drawing with Training College, 3 goals all, and Y.M.C.A., 4 goals apiece, but have been unable to register a win. The members of the team during the season have been drawn from Benjamin, Dowling, J. Foster, Rothwell, A. G. Clark (captain), Bertram, Shield, H. V. Clark, Camp, Cahill, Sheppard, Withers, Wilson, Buxton, Burrow, Thompson, Struthers, Olphert, Warburton, Bryan and Stewart.

Junior A.

At the beginning of the season the side was a very strong one and would have enjoyed a much more successful season had it been possible to keep it intact throughout.

The regular members of the team comprised:—Arlow, Bryan, Burrows, Buxton, Camp, Dickens, Kennard, Capes, Riske, Tahiwi (captain), Thompson, Warburton, and in the later games Withers and Foden.

Junior B.

With a record of five wins and six losses to date, the Junior B team may be said to have had a fair share of success. At one stage the team was favourably placed in the championships in fourth position, but has since been displaced to the sixth position. Close games have been the rule generally, particularly so early in the season, when the A's were narrowly defeated by 1—0.

Though combination rather than individualism has been the strong point of the team, it would not be invidious to call attention to the useful work of Stace at centre forward, the well-directed and abundant energy of Wilson at centre half, the hard, sure hitting of Kinder and Foden (a convert from Rugby), as respective right and left full-backs, and the rapidly improving form in goal of Duff, who is having his first season in this position and promises well.

Junior C.

Although, as far as the results to date go, the Junior C's cannot be said to have had a very successful first round, the position is really much better than it appears. The main reason for the number of losses has been the fact that there has been no combination in the team, due to the fact that whenever there has been a shortage or a change desired in the A's or B's (and this has been frequently), the C's have had to stand the loss. Only three of us have played every week for the C's.

No comment on this team would be appropriate without some reference to our stalwart goalkeeper. He has turned out for us regularly, and has earned the unstinted admiration of our most critical opponents.

Third Grade A Team.

The form displayed by this team as a whole has been disappointing. Owing to many injuries throughout the season in Senior teams, a regular team was not together the whole season, and this greatly affected the team combination. The team consisted mainly of new players, of whom the most promising was K. J. Duff, who played centre forward during the latter half of the season. Mouat, formerly wing, is a recent discovery as an excellent goalkeeper. The regular team was as follows:—Sutherland, O'Sullivan, Hosie, K. J. Duff, Palmer, Corcoran, K. Scott, Etherington, F. W. O. Jones, Rockell, Stevenson and Mouat. Others who played at one time or another during the season were:—W. H. Scott, I. Duff, Joseph, Lamb, McClelland, C. Read, Sanson, Kirkcaldie, and Olliver.

This team, having won 2 matches and lost 10, is runner up to B team for the wooden spoon in the Third Grade Championship.

Third Grade B Team.

We commenced the season rather encouragingly for a new team, losing only by a narrow margin of points, but in subsequent matches the superior combination of our opponents was decidedly marked.

The team consisted of.—Rollings, Paul, Purdie, Woodford, McClelland, J. Etherington, Sanson, Chisholm (captain), Jackson, Brooker, Lamb.