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We came, we saw—and we (nearly) conquered. Otago, the 1953 winners of the Tournament Shield, gained 39 points. Victoria was a close second—only five points behind. This effort confounded the pessimists and holds great hope for the future. Congratulations and felicitations to all team members.
As far back as early July, our prophetic Editor had this to say in his editorial: "For this year we must be given an excellent chance at least in soccer, table tennis, miniature rifles, cross-country running and men's basketball while our chances in other sports are not so remote as they appear. If we were to win in these alone we could come back with the shield." As it happened, we gained the laurels in soccer, cross country running' and miniature rifles. The efforts of these three teams are to be especially applauded. Their victories were worth a total of exactly 26 points to V.U.C.
The motto of Auckland University appeared to be "Divide and conquer." As on apparent defense against the onslaught of more than 300 holiday-happy university students from the barbaric regions of the South, we were scattered over every suburb of Auckland, The result was that to the average Aucklander, Tournament was not a very fearful thing at all. Team members assembled at their various sports grounds, played their games, and went off home again to the far regions where they were billeted. Thus, the advice given by the Tournament Controller, Miss Marion Solly, in her "Welcome to Tournament" was completely superfluous, in the Tournament programme she said. "You are now in the staid, respectable city of Auckland, a city renowned for its toleration and restrained behaviour. For the week of Tournament it is at your mercy. Please leave it as you find it. We, your apprehensive hosts, have to live here after you have left." We think, in all modesty we left Auckland a nobler and better place for our presence, partly as a result of our own well-bred restraint and partly as a result of their billeting policy, which made it difficult for us to organise large scale riots.
However, one Incident which occurred, to quote the "Auckland Star," "between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m.," must be mentioned. On the night of the Tournament Ball five thermometers were stolen from the Meteorological Department's station in Albert Park situated just across the road from the University. The man on duty said that it was the first time in 17 years that the readings had not been taken, it was rumoured, though we are sure it is false, that varsity students were responsible.
But this appeared to be about the only incident of abiding interest that Tournament produced. Victoria seemed too busy covering themselves with honour to indulge in such unworthy activities.
Mention must be made of the fencing, it was the opinion of competent judges who watched this event that Vic had a reasonable chance of winning the fencing. But the team from Otago, which won the event, had a much higher standard than is normally encountered in varsity fencing. However Vic had no trouble in gaining second place.
It is a pity that Tournament points are not awarded for drama, for in this we gained first place with a play entitled "To Hell With You." produced by Gavin Yates. This production the Judge, Mr. Rex Savers, described as "brilliant and brittle." This year, badminton was included as an unofficial Tournament sport. No points were awarded, which is unfortunate for again Victoria wiped the floor with their opponents. And we are told that they feel that they can repeat this achievement next year. This surely is a good case for giving badminton the status of on official Tournament sport.
Although reports of all the events will be found in this issue it is fit to mention in this place of fitting prominence the most aristocratic and elevated sport of them all. I refer of course to the Drinking Horn. in this most solemn contest Victoria proved themselves to be neither aristocratic nor elevated, because in each trial Vic ended up at least two glasses behind their opponents.
These results indicate that, potentially at least, Victoria University has a winning chance at next year's Winter Tournament, in the men's basketball and the men's hockey Victoria should do better next year. As the next Winter Tournament is being held at Wellington, the men's hockey will be able to field a team which includes more senior players. And the table tennis team will be more at home playing on their own fast tables.
We are the optimists and the performances of our teams have made us so. Gaudeamus Igitur, Victoria!
Soccer: A. Preston.
Men's Basketball: S. Moral.
Shooting: B. Hardwick-Smith.
News for some lucky people—
The 1953 Salient Literary Issue on Sale Monday, 7th.
Yes! Our congratulations go in advance to those people who buy the Salient Literary Issue of this year. For only 1/6 they will receive more certain pleasure than the usual art union ticket provides. The issue is intended for the discerning bargain hunter—thirty-two pages crammed with general articles, short stories and poetry by such writers as James K. Baxter, B. J. Cameron, Dennis Garrett, Louis Johnson, Susan Rhind. Only two of the poets represented have not been published before, five—James K. Baxter, Louis Johnson, Jocelyn Henrici, Charles Doyle, Alistair Patterson—having appeared in "Landfall." Three of the others. Jim Ryan, Barry Mitcalfe and Peter Dronke, have been printed in the "New Zealand Poetry Year Book." First appearances are made by W. S. Ramson, John Cody.
There are two unusual short stories—one by Barry Mitcalfe, the other by Pat Burns.
The issue is completed by an illustration by a young Varsity artist, and by two magnificent engravings in colour by E. Mervyn Taylor. New Zealand's foremost engraver.
To quote from the editorial, the issue is intended for the average reader, and is not a "Handbook to Kulchur." There are articles on "New Zealanders." "Films" and "Music in New Zealand" as well as on Poetry and Aesthetics. There are articles of major critical importance on these last subjects by Louis Johnson and James K. Baxter, both of whom are also well represented by poetry. Of the latter Allen Curnow has written recently:
"In the light of pure criticism or poetic gain, any general notions about New Zealand poetry may matter very little beside something which, at this very moment, Mr. Baxter may be scrawling on the back of an old envelope."
One feature, the comparative lack of direct love poems—undergraduates seem to be following Dennis Glover's advice—
has been partly repaired by a translation by Peter Dronke and an engraving by E. Mervyn Taylor.
A review of the issue will appear in this Saturday's "Evening Post" and the next issue of "Salient" will carry a full-length review by Professor I. A. Gordon of the English Department.
The standard of men's basketball at Tournament was high. A.U.C. has five in the Auckland reps: O.U. beat the Otago Reps 72-68; M.A.C. are leading the Palm. Nth. competition and V.U.C. finished third in W.M.B.A. senior competition. A lot of C.U.C. players were unavailable due to non-eligibility. C.U.C. can be considered the most unlucky team of the competition. They lost every match and yet there was only 17 points difference in the points for and points against. With one more player we would have won the tournament and thus Vic would have won the Winter Shield!!
V.U.C. led a long way against O.U. but faded when some bad passes gave baskets to O.U. J. McLevie and D. Francis both out jumped B. Bradley, the N.Z.U. centre, and N. Hayman was lucky with some shots. 52/42 to O.U.
M.A.C. v. V.U.C. from Vic's point of View was an outstanding game. V.U.C. avenged an earlier defeat by M.A.C but the edge was taken off the victory due to the fact that M.A.C. had two broken
A.U.C. only beat V.U.C. because they were tired. The earlier match against M.A.C. took so much out of them that although they led until halfway through the fourth quarter, A.U.C. went to the front and won 61/58. Some bad decisions cost us this match as McLevie and Francis were fouled off. R. Salt hit 20 points.
At the end of two quarters, O.U. led M.A.C. 31/19. A sensational effort by T. S. Chang and S. Alai saw, the score at the end of the 3rd quarter 38-37 to M.A.C. An exciting 4th saw the scores level at 48/48: Good team work by O.U. saw the score at the end of the over-time period 54/51 to O.U. Chang hit 27 points in this game.
V.U.C. Just managed to head off C.U.C. 48/46. The gap in the scores should have been much wider but a lapse in V.U.C.'s shooting during the 3rd and 4th quarters accounted for the small difference.
This was the last match and O.U. were the tournament standouts. They came from behind to win every match incidentally. Then came A.U.C., V.U.C, M.A.C., C.U.C.
S. Moral and R. Salt made the N.Z.U. "A" team, which played Auckland. J. McLevie made the N.Z.U. "B" team. Congratulations to Singi on his N.Z.U. Blue.
Some good guarding and bad shooting resulted in Auckland having a 20-polnt lead over N.Z.U. at one stage. With S. Moral and R. Salt in the line up, however. N.Z.U. settled down and slowly Auckland's lead diminished. Notwithstanding a basket tipped in from a tie-up. N.Z.U. decreased the lead into 56/52 when time was called. S. Moral was top-scorer for N.Z.U. with 12 points, while R. Salt scored 6.
The Victoria Miniature Rifles team went to Auckland with the one purpose (so Brian Frankpitt, who accompained them, informs us) of ridding themselves of the Plonket Shield. But they did better than that, for they returned home with the I.C.I. Shield in its stead, to give Vic six valuable points.
This is an especially commendable effort as only two members had had previous Tournament experience, R. Hardwick-Smith and X. D. Blackburn.
At the end of the second round, A.U.C.. Massey and C.U.C. led with 23 points down, while V.U.C. Lincoln and Otago followed. But in the third round, which was really the deciding round of the competition, D. Myers, of Massey, dropped ten points. The reason was that his back aperture had slightly shifted. This shook his apparently imperturable calm, and in the remaining cards he dropped a total of seven points.
V.U.C. now looked like having a chance of winning the Shield, because in the last two cards, B. Bradburn, W. Iles and Miss R. Hair all struck form, and shot consistently well. Bradburn, a first-season shot, and Miss Hair—the only woman participating in this event—both shot possibles. On the final tally of points, the results were:—
Otago therefore won the Plunket Shield, much to the delight of R. Hardwick-Smith, who was an Otago Blue of
Miss Hair. Brian Bradburn and Robin Hardwick-Smith must be congratulated in making the North Island team, which duly beat the South Island and Bradburn and Hardwick-Smith were chosen for the N.Z.U. shoot against Auckland. This was won by the Universities by 17 points—one of the few events in which N.Z.U. defeated an Auckland representative team. Hardwick-Smith got the best score of both teams and also was awarded an N.Z.U. Blue.
W. Iles shooting improved as the shield contest progressed, and his last two cards as emergency for the North Island team were both possibles. D. Roy. another first-season shot, who had throughout the season maintained a consistently high standard, was unlucky in the I.C.I. Shield. This was his first Tournament shoot, and it is probable that the strain affected his shooting.
The individual scores in the I.C.I. Shield for V.U.C's competitors were:
Although Badminton was included in this year's winter tournament merely as a trial sport It is probable that the standard reached during the competitions was among the highest in the tournament. The N.Z.U. team defeated Auckland 6-4, one of the few N.Z.U. teams to do so. The Victoria team distinguished itself by defeating Auckland 0-7, Otago 9-7 and winning by default from Canterbury who made the mistake of including in their team people competing in other sports. However, Canterbury were defeated 14-2 by Auckland, so that Victoria's superiority was unquestioned. The men's team was really the outstanding factor, although the women played well and provided useful points.
Victoria's three top men. Jim Thomson. Bruce Grover and Larry O'Neill, and the top lady. Pauline Woods, were all chosen to represent N.Z.U. against Auckland. The scheme, which was put forward to reduce the number of women in a team to two because of the lower standard of play seems ridiculous in view of the fact that in the N.Z.U. v. Auckland match the majority of the points gained by N.Z.U. were obtained by women's victories. Taken all round the inclusion of Badminton in this year's tournament was an outstanding success, and with the facilities available in Wellington should be one of the highlights of next Winter Tournament.
Tournament fencing, held on the Monday arid Tuesday, was won by Otago, Victoria was second, A.U.C. third and Massey fourth. Both in the men's event (fought as a teams' competition) and the women's (fought individually). Otago was clearly superior. The whole of their men's team was selected to fight for N.Z.U. against Auckland, and Allan Simance, their No. 1 man, received the only Fencing Blue awarded. The standard reached by the remaining teams was generally sound.
On the Monday the men's bouts were held. V.U.C. first fought Auckland and then Massey, and won both events quite comfortably, 11-5 against Auckland and 10-2 against Massey, who could only field a three-man team, in the afternoon in what was, in effect, the final. Otago had to produce their best fencing to beat us. Many of the fights were much closer than the score, 14-2. suggests. With the exception of Tim Beagle-hole, who harnessed his intellect to his long reach, with great effect, our fencers did not fight either as neatly or as fast as they are capable of doing, mainly owing to tournament fatigue. Ian Free, however, fought well also, and with Tim Beaglehole, nearly made the N.Z.U. team.
The women's bouts were held on Tuesday. Both our women. Jocelyn Pyne and Mary Ellis, fenced their best, but found the more vigorous, not to say vicious, style of many of the other women hard to handle. Jocelyn just missed the final pool.
The fencing concluded in the evening with the men's and women's bouts—N.Z.U. v. Auckland, which was won convincingly by Auckland.
At a Council meeting the decision was made that the standard of women's fencing warranted a team's competition. At future tournaments teams of four men and three women will compete.
This year's Winter Tournament Drama Festival was won by the Victoria group for their very able presentation of the one-act fantasy, "To Hell With You." This play is suited admirably to Tournament conditions, and the Victoria players made good use of their choice. The Judge, Mr. Rex Sayers, commenting on the production, said that the effect on the audience was "excellent, brilliant, brittle"; apart from tis merit as a play, the acting in general, and of Bernadette Canty (who played Linda) in particular, was "far above expected standards for an amateur performance." Simple backgrounds, effective use of stage lighting and costumes all contributed to an excellent overall production. A good deal of the merit for the presentation lies with the producer, Gavin Yates, who devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to ensure the success of the play. Gavin, it may be said emphatically and without fear of contradiction, has stage acumen.
Faults with this play, although minor, did tend to diminish certain effects which would have enhanced the overall standard even more. An over-use of music was unfortunate; with a little less of it, the result on the audience would have been more pronounced and less tending to monotony. Ian Rich, presenting his rich (no pun intended), vibrant baritone as the Voice of the Unseen Angel, was disappointing. Ho spoke too fast, and seemed to be in either a trance or a stupor, incapable of differentiating between tones, with the expected result of sounding like a wound-down commercial traveller selling "Awake" in Tarnnaki Street.
Bill Sheat as Beezlebub sported a cane (reminiscent of Waiouru) which he flourished after the manner of a leader of a pipe band. He pointed it everywhere, which wasn't so wrong, but at times to no purpose, and thus as a "prop" it was all but useless. Over-use of manual movements on the stage is to be avoided at all costs; it would have been better to have used it sparingly to accentuate some point.
Bill also often over-pointed his lines—he had apparently forgotten that university students are very quick to see a joke (how silly of him).
Ross Gilbertson as the assistant demon was also good, as were John Marchant as John and Pauline Kermode as Miss Arbuthnot. With Bernadette Canty, try as I might. I could find no fault, which means either of two things, and I must concede that as an actress she has few betters within my acquaintance. A word must also be said for Rosemary Lovegrove, who, although not appearing on the stage, nevertheless did a vast amount of work backstage and elsewhere in preparation for the Play.
Fast tempo was maintained from beginning to end, but the first scene was spoilt by a lack of movement around the stage. The characters did not move very much and the interest of the audience was not held as well as it might have been.
This year, for the first lime, a Drama Cup was presented to the winning team, and it should prove an added Incentive for the Drama Club next year to maintain the consistently high standard of their productions. The Drama Club are presenting the prize-winning play, together with a number of other one-act plays, in the Little Theatre on Friday and Saturday nights of this week, at 8 o'clock. If the cast have borne in mind the remarks of the Judge, these two performances should surpass even their tournament efforts All drama lovers, and, indeed, everyone who enjoys two and a half hours of solid escapism, should be along at one or other of
One of the cultural highlights of the Tournament was the Bledisloe Medal, a three-yearly oratory contest, which attracts the cream of student orators. A copy of the winning speech is sent to Lord Bledisloe, with an account of the speakers.
First speaker was Kevin O'Connor of Maasey. His subject was a religious one—Mother Mary Joseph Aubert. He was a slower speaker than the other contestants, and his voice had a dreamy, melancholy, almost dirge-like quality, which was certainly effective for his subject, but almost produced coma. Had he appeared at a later stage in the evening he would have reduced his audience to slumber. His speech compared Mother Mary to Joan of Arc. because of the "charity" each possessed, apparently. Mother Mary had aroused the "chivalry of Wellington"—miraculous feat! He made more of this than of her founding of the Home of Compassion. Towards the end he became a little more enthusiastic, a little more moved, but his techniques were a trifle too obvious.
O. S. Robinson of Olago (the winner) spoke on the coming of the Maori. He is an accomplished speaker, perhaps a little fast in his delivery, but memorable for his way of fitting the rhythm of his speech to the theme. He started a little pompously . . . "We British people are proud of our seafaring heritage, and rightly so ... " Then he went on to detail the dimensions of the canoes. At this stage he was speaking a little too quickly, and sounded like a traveloguo commentary. Then we were subjected to a heart-rending account of the farewell to Hawaikl and an account of the rigours of the voyage. The body of the speech was woven round the canoe-song of the Aolea, and was a fine dramatic effort, effortlessly controlled, with a powerful and changing rhythm.
Victoria's Conrad Bollinger was third speaker, on Samuel Duncan Parnell. His speech was carefully
A. C. Coulam, of Auckland, spoke on "Mr. Justice Alpers"; his speech was clearly spoken, in an accent which contrasted rather vividly with that of the other speakers. The speech sounded rather like a condensation of Judge Alpers autobiography, "Cheerful Yesterdays." One slip was his mention of "semi-cloistral sequestration," a phrase which effectively drew the attention of his audience away from the speech. His best work was put into plugging the phrase "a man of cheerful yesterdays and confident tomorrows." Easy to listen to, he had an excellent style but his material was not really very interesting.
Otago'a second speaker, R. S. Orator, chose Bishop Selwyn as his subject. He has not a strong voice, but a pleasant one, with good variation in pitch. His stance also was not as confident as that of the other speakers. Only occasionally was his speech impediment noticeable. He gave a good survey of the Bishop's life, using balanced sentences and some neat epithets. He was appealing, but not moving. He improved in his peroration.
J. C. Chamley of Auckland opened his speech on Samuel Marsden by quoting Scriptures. He has an effective stage presence but his voice seems a little incongruous with his general appearance, though it is very telling in places. Sometimes too high-pitched and reedy at beginnings of sentences, he spoke of Marsden's courage in coming to primitive New Zealand and its dangers.
Miss M. O'Reilly spoke on 'Men of Conscience." dealing with conscientious object on. She started off a little coldly, and then began to infuse feeling into what was at first a factual speech. She made a good case for the "conchies," a veritable historical record. Then she became specific and dealt with the worst case. Mark Briggs, and the inhumanity to which he was subjected. Her peroration, delivered with spirit, went a long way towards winning a possibly hostile audience towards her own view on a controversial subject.
The winner was O. S. Robinson, of Otago, by the unanimous decision of the judges, K. H. Melvin, Dr. R. G. McElroy and Dr. T. R. Vernon, who commented on the high standard and well-prepared addresses. The medal was presented by Professor Davis.
The biggest surprise for the V.U.C. table tennis team was the condition of the tables. Compared with those they play on at Victoria, which are very fast and well salted for a hard, attacking game, the tables at Auckland Tournament were dead, with very little life in them at all. This fact was probably the main reason why Vic did not do as well as was predicted, because all our team, with the possible exception, at times, of Miss E. Lesser, are strong attacking players. Especially does this apply to Allan Robinson and Bernie Galvin, who score most of their points, not by wearing their opponents down in defensive play, but by strong, accurate smashes.
In defeating: Loretz and Wright, Otago's two top men. Allan Robinson showed himself to be probably the beat player in the Table Tennis Tournament, and a certainty for a N.Z.U. blue. His singles match against O. Tate, No. 1 player for A.C.U., was an epic of endurance on both sides, and a remarkable demonstration of how well Allen had adapted himself to a new style of play. The game involved about 250 rallies in all, with both players smashing rarely. Tate excelled in this style of play, but Allen beat him at his own game and won in three straight sets. However, in the Men's Finals, he was matched against Wright, an N.Z.U. blue, whom he had defeated earlier, and after winning the first two games, had the bad luck to lose 21-18. 21-19. 19-21. 18-21. 16-21. Wright's greater experience and endurance assisted him in this match as both men had played over 60 nets in the three preceding days.
Of the remainder of the men's team Grubi and Cullingford performed up to expectations, but again they too were put off by their un-familiarity with the tables. Grubi did especially well in narrowly defeating both Loretz and Wright of Otago. Galvin played an erratic game, with periods of brilliance, but because of the strangeness of the tables and his commitments an Tournament delegate, did not hit best form, in the men's doubles, Robinson, partnered by Galvin, reached the semi-finals, but Grubin and Culling-ford met with only moderate success.
Mary Willament played good table tennis at times but did not reach the semi-finals. Elizabeth Lesser was prophesied as a possible winner of the women's singles. Last year, both she and Miss Fleming, also from Victoria, were finalists in this event, with Miss Fleming defeating Miss Lesser. However, this year, the two met in the semi-finals as opponents, for Miss Fleming now attends Auckland University, and again she wan the victor, defeating Miss Lessor 21-8. 21-17.
Results: A.U.C.. 1; O.U., 2; V.U.C, 3; C.U.C., 4.
Vic's placings were: Women's singles—A.U.C., 1; V.U.C-, 2. Men's singles—O.U., 1: V.U.C, 2.
The three fundamentals let Vic down at Tournament—handling, passing and shooting. The lack of hard match practice meant poor positional play.
It is rather unfortunate that in a college of thin size there is enough support for only one team, whereas Massey can support two teams. However, even with these shortcomings the team did some amazing things-like the men they controlled the rebounds very well and on occasions looked like beating leading teams.
Although M.A.C. overhauled an early lead by V.U.C, some magnificent Jumping by E. Foote and J. Kilsby saved Vic. Everybody scored some points but J. Lee got the most. The shooting in general was only fair and passing indifferent. 19-16 to V.U.C
C.U.C. had a surprisingly easy victory over O.U., who looked the strongest team. O.U.'s shooting packed up in this match and their zone defence broke down.
While J. Young scored all V.U.C.'s 8 points against A.U.C., the rest of the team proceeded, by bad passing, to throw the match away. Their handling was quite good but positional play bad. 8-22 to A.U.C.
The girls very nearly beat O.U. in a sensational match wherein the scores were tied late in the fourth quarter. O.U. went to "panic stations" and their better team work told. V.U.C's passing was better in thin match. 10-19 to O.U.
C.U.C made no race of its match against V.U.C The fundamentals let V.U.C down but this was due to the fact that C.U.C. were a better team and pressed the girls closely. 10-37 to C.U.C.
The teams finished: C.U.C, O.U., A.U.C. V.U.C. M.A.C
Our congratulations are extended to Elaine Foote, who was our first representative in a N.Z.U. women's indoor basketball team which played Auckland.
Until late in the second quarter, N.Z.U. held Auckland, but in the last half Auckland showed what they were worth and ran away to an easy victory. 40-16.
It may be safely said that expecting a group of individuals selected at 3.30 p.m. to play as a team at 9 p.m. is ridiculous. The Auckland team's (and It was a team) handling and passing was exemplary. Y. Williams was well to the fore in this respect and she shot some nice baskets.
"That compulsory military train-should be abolished." Cruden of Victoria "rose before us" to open the affirmative case. Their attitude was not one of support for pacifism, but rather that given modern warfare C.M.T. did nothing to prevent war and little to help defence. Citing the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance, the situation in
C.M.T. he argued destroyed self discipline. The essence of the freedom which we are attempting to defend is freedom of choice: C.M.T. engenders blind loyalty and excludes the higher loyalties to truth and goodness. As well as being economically unsound it destroys individuality and provides a government with a tool against its own people—in short it engenders totalitarianism, encourages hatred, and fosters a disregard of the scanctity of life.
He spoke in a clear style, with a peculiarly accentuated and rather clipped diction. After an initial attempt at humour and a tendency to waggle a finger at his audience he settled into a good speech without gestures and exhibiting an easy flow of thought.
Whitta who then continued the attack for Victoria gave us the first surprise of the evening—an unpleasant surprise for those who had left their hankies at home His description—with a catch in his voice—of the "poor boys" in ramp, and the dire results there met with almost brought his audience to tears (?).
He did make one or two sounder points, however. Do we really believe that the state ran take, life? Are we Justified in spending £40m each year on C.M.T.? Can we call a referendum passed on mob hysteria democratic? Could we ever defend New Zealand's coastline? Will foot-aloggera be of any use in a future scientific war?
He then attempted to argue that New Zealand has led the world in some social reforms—without examples however we must presume that he was talking of our "penny-postage" or our abolition of white slave traffic—or perhaps he was Just thinking of our prison system.
The last point from this speaker, who had he discarded the sob stuff and developed a stronger voice would have created a more favourable impression, was that no youth of 18 years could be expected to have either a sufficiently developed social conscience or the moral courage to declare himself, if he so thought fit, as a conscientious objector.
Victoria's finale was more in keeping with that university's usual style although we welcomed the absence of the accustomed speed and objectionable "audience hammering" we have met with in the past. Cruden's opening sentence—obviously prepared—was a masterpiece of prose. Then declaring that C.M.T. took all initiative from the trainees, and that coming as it did before the last elections was little more than a political expedient, he carried his hearers to an exciting finish, which although grossly exceeding the time limit was good indeed.
The Judges decision in favour of Canterbury came as a surprise for Cruden had held his audience and impressed them with good argument. Canterburys success hers is definitely to be attributed to good team work by Lament and Thachwell.
Making the nineteenth speech of the evening the Judges pointed out that independently they had reached the same conclusion in each of the debates, and in declaring the Otago team the winners of the Joynt Scroll for
History repeated itself in the intervarsity Soccer matches. It was the same this year as last year—Victoria needed only a draw in the final game to win the competition. The team proved the general over-all superiority of their Soccer by achieving that draw against Auckland, who stood to win the competition if they won this final game.
Vic. had no trouble in defeating Otago on the first day, 5-1, at the Inner Domain. On the second day they decisively beat Maguey, the score bring 7-1. Then on the Wednesday came this deriding match against Auckland, who had been previously set back by a one-all draw with Otago.
Vic's team for this match was: Lea (goalie), Lawn. Aldridge. Reddy (capt.). Millward. Mandel. Brown. Preston, Jackson. Watson and Tichbon on left wing. The game was closely contested, and because of the almost equal standard of play shown by both trams, provided us with the best exhibition of Tournament Soccer we had seen.
In the first half both sides were out to score quickly and Vic. was often forced on to the defensive Here the experience of Reddy, the right-half, was valuable But after thirty minutes of play Auckland sent a fast, deceptive corner shot which took the goalie by surprise. Vic. wan down one goal to nil. Play was cautious for the rest of this half, and there was no further score.
In the second half Vic. was out to equalise This they did in the first twenty-five minutes of play but in a manner which surprised everyone Aldridge, the left full-back, who was playing a steady defensive game against determined attacks of the Aucklanders, took the ball at his feet and began to dribble it upfield with the ostensible purpose of clearing it to one of the forwards But he kept possession of the ball despite the efforts of the other side to relieve him of it and continued on his
Congratulations to A. Preston, who gained an N.Z.U. Blue. The final results were: V.U.C, 1; A.U.C, 2; O.U., 3.
Although rain had fallen during the previous day and during the morning, the track at famed Cornwall Park apparently favoured V.U.C, for our team made the most of it. The track, however, was not boggy—the rain was enough to soften the top-soil and make the going slightly tougher.
John Mahan having completely recovered from a troublesome ankle which has hindered his performances during the early portion of the season, won the contest for Victoria with a good time of 38min. 44sec. for the 6½ mile course, nine seconds faster than A.U.C.'s D. Dow.
Although A.U.C. also gained second place, fifth, sixth and seventh places went to V.U.C. with the result that V.U.C. wan awarded the Dixon Trophy for teams placing (first tour men home) and also the Shackleford Cup for the North Island teams race.
The winner impressed most with his seemingly effortless pace, and only in the last few yards was any strain evident. Dick Gilberd, fifth man home, was also nearing exhaustion. Colin Candy, sixth, ran as well as could be expected. His form of late has been steadily improving, although he in not yet in a position to give his previous high standard
Tim Beaglehole, finishing twelfth,
In general, an excellent team combination paid dividends by gaining for Victoria not only the trophies, but an additional 8 points in the shield, which made Otago think twice.
In contrast to the men's hockey, the women's team was composed wholly of Vic's senior players. However, the standard of play was high, especially from Otago, who fielded what was really a provincial representative team. They won the Pember-Reeves Stick decisively, without losing a match.
Conditions for play were atrocious. The ground was a sea of mud, which made it well-nigh impossible to turn on good hockey for any length of time, and the Vic. team had some difficulty in aadpting themselves to the short passing game necessary on such occasions.
They began well by defeating Auckland 3-1 on the first day, but wore beaten by Otago in the afternoon 8 goals to 1, Pam Mackenzie scoring Vic's only goal in the face of some determined opposition. Play was slowed up considerably, however, by the rain and mud and good stick work was difficult.
Conditions were even worse on the Tuesday, when V.U.C. lost to Canterbury, who gained second place in the competition. The score was 5-0.
Victoria fielded a fairly sound combination, but the standard of the two top teams was belter. Ruth Kings-ford played a good game, though she was a little slow at times on the defence. Coleen Leslie, the goalie, performed as well as could be expected against the determined onslaughts of the opposing forwards. Rosemary Baird, one of Vic's goal scorers against Auckland, played consistently good hockey, as did Pam Mackenzie, the centre. Rosemary and Myrna Betrand, the right half, were selected for the New Zealand Universities team against Auckland.
Placings were:—
O.U., 1: C.U.C. 2: V.U.C. 3: A.U.C., 4.
The V.U.C. team was unlucky in this event in that it included only two seniors, Oaks and Calkin. There were three members of the senior reserve grade in the team but the remainder were all second grade players. As a result Victoria was perhaps not as strong in this sport as the other colleges.
Auckland on the other hand had six provincial reps, in their team, making it really first class. Even so, the Vic. men gave a very good account of themselves under the circumstances. They defeated Massey on the first day without any trouble, the score being 5-0. in the second game they had to play on that same day, however, they lost to Otago 3-1.
In the game against the strong Auckland team. V.U.C. surprised everyone by leading at the end of the first half 1-0. the goal being scored by N. Learning early in the spell. But in the second half the inevitable happened—Auckland equalised, then scored another goal, winning 2-1. The closeness of the score was by no means due to any failure on Auckland's part to play their best. Full credit must be given to V.U.C for the team-work they produced. It was excellent—in this game and in others. Seen from the sideline, Vic's combination appeared first class, and the general standard of play was much better than a comparable team would reach in their ordinary games about Wellington.
The loss to Canterbury, with the final score being 5-0, was therefore no disgrace to our team. They played their best under difficult conditions, and Canterbury, who won the Seddon Stick, had to play their hardest at all times. The goalie, F. Little, was always steady, though he had no opportunity to shine in a game where the ball was often hidden under two or three inches of mud, in the Otago game. Calkin, Victoria's right-half, was opposed by an Otago provincial rep., but even so our player often managed to get the better of him in their encounters.
As the next Winter Tournament is at Wellington, V.U.C should be able to field a much stronger team, and there is every hope that a win in this sport will give us those extra points towards gaining the Tournament Shield.
Team's placings were:—
C.U.C. 1; A.U.C, 2; O.U., 3; V.U.C. 4.