HOCKEY Umpiring Standards In N.Z. Supported

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28265, 1 May 1957, Page 5

HOCKEY Umpiring Standards In N.Z. Supported

Whether the present standard of hockey umpiring in New Zealand is as good as that in other countries was the subject of a vigorous debate at the annual meeting of the New Zealand I Hockey Association yesterday, i Mr L. G. Taylor (North Otago) said he felt New Zealand was too complacent about its standard of hockey. "We seem to have made up our minds that we have the correct style of hockey, yet at the Olympic Games at Melbourne we saw a very different type of play. Are we right, or is the rest ol the world wrong in its interpretation of hockey rules?” asked Mr Taylor. The president (Mr L. Howard Norton) asked whether Mr Taylor thought the umpires at Melbourne were right. Mr Taylor: No, but I am alone against the rest of the world. Mr Norton: There are a lot of us who agree with you. Just because we interpret hockey differently does not mean to say that we are wrong. The chairman of the New Zealand Hockey Umpires’ Association (Mr H. D. Kelly) said that moves for improvement were often begun by minorities. “I hope New Zealand is that minority in the case of hockey. As long as I am chairman of the umpires association we will retain the present standard, and if that standard is not acceptable I will resign immediately,’’ said Mr Kelly. Mr Keith Hamilton (Waikato), who was an umpire at the Olympic Games, said he had heard nany persons at Melbourne say hat if a team had to play the style of hockey adopted by one particular team, they would sooner not win a gold medal. “At the same time, I feel we must adapt ourselves more to the style of play adopted by overseas teams,” he said. No action was taken on the matter. Interest in Hatch Cup A request that other associations should take more interest in the i Hatch Cup for primary schools’ hockey was made by a Canterbury delegate, Mr R. Jenkins. "Canterbury has now held this cup for several years, and in order to gain more interest, we have even made efforts to lose it in the last few years,” Mr Jenkins said. “This season we would like to hold a tournament or take a team on tour—even as far north as Auckland.” Mr Norton asked delegates to give serious consideration to attracting more competition for the cup. A large number of challenges was made for the Nordon Cup for sub-associations, said the Manawatu delegate (Mr C. A. Rogers). “Year after year too many challenges are being received,” he said. “Several challenges are being held over at the end of the season. No defending subassociation should be expected to meet more than five or six challenges in a season, and my association suggests that regional play-offs be conducted to decide who challenges for the cup. Tf neighbouring sub - associations played off in this way, the number of challenges to the defending association would be reduced and no team would have a claim that it had no opportunity to challenge ” The meeting decided it would be up to individual associations to arrange such play-offs. Representation Changed A new system of representation was adopted by the meeting. Whereas associations have, in the past, had voting power at an annual meeting dictated by the number of clubs in their area, delegates will be now entitled to vote according to the number of graded players they represent. The new system allows two votes for 100 graded players; four votes for 101 to 300; six votes or 301 to 600; eight votes for 91 to 1000; 10 votes for 1000 to 1500, and a maximum of 12 votes for more than 1500. When a New Zealand Hockey Umpires’ Association representative (Mr H. D. Kelly) asked for clarification of this association’s voting power, the meeting discussed for more than an hour the umpires’ position. Mr Kelly claimed that because he represented 450 umpires, he was entitled to six votes. The chairman ruled that Mr Kelly’s claim was out of order, and would have to be dealt with at a later date. A definition of “graded” play-

ers as being any other than those attending primary, intermediate, and secondary schools, will be written into the association’s rules to define the new system. Secondary Schools Four inter-secondary school hockey tournaments will be held in New Zealand this season. This information was given to the meeting by the secondary schools’ delegate (Mr A. V. Barley). The tournaments will be held at Christchurch, Masterton, Whangarei and Stratford (combined with Hawera).