HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 84, 10 June 1946, Page 4

HOCKEY TOURNAMENT

SEVEN ASIDE GAMES LADIES’ AND MEN’S SECTIONS On Monday (King’s Birthday) a seven aside men’s and women’s hockey tournament was held in the Whakatane Showgrounds. Ten women’s and seven men’s teams took part, an excellent augury for so early in the season when so, many of the players are not really fit enough for the gruelling game of seven aside. It was a perfect day for hodkey and thanks to the Whakatane and Wairaka Clubs the fields were in good order and conducive to some very fast and exciting hockey. The event was the first tournament of its kind to be held in Whakatane for a number of years and the committee was disappointed that the local public did not take the opportunity of witnessing hockey at its best.

The teams are to be congratulated on the many fine performances and the sporting spirit which prevailed throughout the whole tournament. Men’s Section In the men’s i section it was decided to play two divisions and the Ahuwhenua and Ruatoki teams in No. 1 division ended up with equal points so had to play off the semifinal. This proved one of the most exciting matches of the day for the men and at the end of the stipulated time the score was o—o. In accordance with the rules extra time was played and after 2 minutes Ruatoki was able to hit the ball over the back line from inside the circle and so won the game.

This meant that Rqatoki and Tuhoe (the winners of Division 2) were to play the final which once again provided a very spectacular and fast game. Although Tuhoe were the victors by one goal to nil, they were pressed hard until the final whistle by the Ruatoki team and as far as the run of play went the teams were very evenly matched. Keen Ladies’ Play In the women’s section it was necessary to play 3 divisions and unfortunately an error in teams cropped up with Poroporo B playing instead of Poroporo A in one game a fact which was not noticed until after the tournament.

Actually Poroporo A should have played a semi-final with Wairaka and the winners of this match should have played the winners of the other two divisions. However only one semi-final was played and this was between Tuhoe and Ahwhenua which resulted in a win for Tuhoe. This was a very closely matched game and was the best exhibition of the day for positional play as it should be played. The Tuhoe women | were particulai'ly good. It was sup- , erior positional play and speed which carried them through to victory. The final was played between Wairaka and Tuhoe and resulted in a win for Tuhoe by 4 goals to 1.

This once again was an exceptionally good game and swept from one end to the other, but as in the previous game the Tuhoe team with their positional play and combination proved too much for Wairaka.

One point which arose from the play generally was the lack of combination and team work of some of the teams and it is to be hoped that Jail players took particular notice of Jthe way the Tuhoe ladies combined and will try to emulate their example. The President of the Association (Mr B; A. Johnson) presented the I Tuhoe team with the Matetahuna Memorial Cup, and expressed his regret that the Association was not able to procure a trophy for the women’s competition on such short no-

tice. He stated that there was a cup for tournament competition, but that it was for an 11 aside knock- ! out and the secretary had not been able to contact the donor to see if he would agree to having it changed to a seven aside tournament.

j The . Association desires to thank j all who made the day so successful and also to apologise to the Poroporo A team for the error which occur- | red. At an impromptu meeting of the committee it was decided that Tuhoe and Poroporo A should share the honours in the ladies section.