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The Spike: or, Victoria University College Review, June 1929

Men's Hockey Club

Men's Hockey Club.

The Club this year promises to have an extremely successful season. Most of last year's players enrolled again this season, and so many new recruits joined the Club that we were able to enter six teams in the Competition, which represents a record for the Club. Two Senior A teams have been entered, and at the time of writing the First VI. is leading in the grade, being unbeaten. The other Senior A team, though not so successful, has justified the action of the Committee in entering it in the Senior A Grade, by showing itself to be well up to the necessary standard. The Senior B team, most of the members of which played Junior last year, have so far not met with much success, but have won both the last two matches played. They have showed excellent form in the field, but poor shooting has caused the loss of the first four matches.

The Junior team is performing well, and are more than holding their own in their grade. After a bad defeat at the hands of Huia, they have improved out of sight, and in each game they show better form. In the Third Grade we have been able to enter two teams. The A team met Karori in the first match and were beaten 10—0. Since then, they have done better, and have won two matches. The Third B team, composed almost wholly of men who have never played before, has shown much promise, and is looking forward to meeting (and beating) the A team, at the end of the first round.

The Tournament.

The Annual Inter-'Varsity Hockey Tournament was held at Christchurch this year on 31st May and 1st June. Victoria, after drawing with Otago in the first game, in which they were unlucky not to win, met and defeated Canterbury in their second game. Otago also defeated Canterbury, and accordingly Victoria and Otago were declared joint winners, and each Club will hold the Seddon Stick for six months. This is the first time the Club has won the tournament, and we trust that we shall be able to win outright next year, when the matches will be played in Wellington. Owing to the fact that Auckland could not get a team away, the tournament was this year a triangular affair.

The V.U.C. team which played in the tournament was as follows:—Goal, L. H. page 63 Davis; full-backs, W. F. Vietmeyer and H. B. Massey; halves, C. S. Plank, P. D. Wilson and W. P. Cumming; forwards, H. C. Read, A. J. Ferris, G. S. Simpson (captain), J. L. MacDuff and N. J. Lewis.

On Monday, 3rd June, a team picked from the three Colleges played a Canterbury representative team, and was defeated 2—0 after a good game. V.U.C. players who were selected for the New Zealand 'Varsity team were:—H. B. Massey (full-back), P. D. Wilson (centre-half and captain), G. S. Simpson (centre-forward), and G. J. Ferris (right wing). We wish to congratulate these players on their inclusion.

We wish to remind members that the Club has the use of the Gymnasium on Tuesday evenings, from 8 p.m., for training purposes. All members are asked to turn up and endeavour to reach that standard of physical fitness which is necessary before the game can be played properly. A pleasing feature is that the new players are turning up every Tuesday. They will soon begin to realise the benefit gained from this regular training.

The main weakness in the Club, as in the past, is the weakness in shooting. All the teams possess forwards who are good in the field, but far too many scoring chances are lost in the circle. This weakness is, of course, primarily due to the lack of field practice, which is more or less unavoidable. If all the Club's forwards would follow the example of one of their number, this weakness would soon disappear. His idea is to obtain the help of a small brother or sister to roll the ball hard at him, so that he can practice quick stopping and hitting. The amount of success achieved may be gauged by the fact that the summerhouse (which is used as a goal in this system of manoeuvres) has several slates broken and cracked off the back. We regret that, owing to family opposition, this scheme cannot be exercised more frequently, but even occasional use will make it valuable. We recommend other players to this scheme.

Inter-University Tournament.

This year the Inter-University Tournament was contested at Christchurch from May 31st to June 3rd, in beautifully fine weather. We were able to send a strong team, although not our best, as McLeod and Paul were unable to travel, and were really optimistic about being able to bring back to Victoria that much-prized trophy, the Seddon Stick, for which we had been runners-up for the three seasons. This year, Canterbury College, Otago University and Victoria competed, Auckland being unable to send a team. This necessitated a three-cornered contest.

The following team represented Victoria:—L. Davis, W. Veitmeyer, H. B. Massey, C. Plank, P. D. Wilson, W. A. Cumming, H. Read, A. J. Ferris, G. L. Simpson, J. L. MacDuff and N. J. Lewis.

On Friday, Victoria played Otago. This was a very fast, though unsatisfactory, game, and ended in a drawn, 2—2. Scorers for us were Read and Simpson.

On Saturday morning, Otago palyed Canterbury, and won, 3—1.

In the afternoon, Victoria and Canterbury tried conclusions. Canterbury, playing a superior game to their morning one, made us extend ourselves fully to defeat them by 2—1. A draw would have been a fairer indication. Scorers for us were MacDuff and Simpson.

The result of the Tournament was that Otago and we each had 1½ points, so Otago and Victoria each hold the Seddon Stick for six months.

Canterbury College entertained the visiting teams with a dinner, followed by an entertainment at Fullers'.

On the Monday, a New Zealand University team played a Canterbury provincial team, and after a very fast and even game, the Canterbury representatives won by 2—0.

We wish to congratulate Ferris, Wilson, Simpson and Massey on gaining places in the New Zealand University team, and especially congratulate P. D. Wilson on being captain of that team.