HOCKEY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 502, 8 May 1909, Page 12

HOCKEY.

(By Driver.) ' nS i We i U ? stoll Hooker Association's' 1 ohamptonsmp fixtures commence to-dar. ThrcA nf the senior matches are to bo played at Day's Bay and one-United v, Y.M.C.A;-at Karoti Wesley meet Karon on No. 1 Ground, and a fast and keen contest is oertain to result in pew of the duels between these teams last H interesting, match .may. be expected 'f"niw »' Vman play Victoria Collem. ■ Wellington meet Tliorndon on No. 3. Anting in the /Weekly Press,":"Cleft Ash" says:—Hie coming season promise) to be'an excellent one in every way for local, hockoyites, and judging by_ the number of teams entered, all the competitions should provo interesting; In the Saturday competitions there are• twentysix teams (seven senior, five junior, nine Presidents, and. five, fourth grade), while in' the Thursday .there aro eighteen teams engaged , (five seniors, • eight juniors, and five Presidents), making m all. a grand' total of forty-four.teams, representing 4M players.' The ottcers and executive of the Canterbury Hockey Association havo changed o good deal from last the first'place; I have, to note with regret _the absonoo of Mr. Hanson from the head of affairs, and I am sure his loss will bo SS i ty .'to 'ijlayers and his m i officers m the association.. ~ J-welve annual international matches,: says j 6 Auckland Herald's" London correspon--s'™ . vo now , been played between England and Wales, and'on overy occasion 'tho Wolshmen hare been vanquished, without muoh cfif iv S „ a ' urda ,y. a ' Swansea, Wales suffered defeat by 6 to ni , and on the run of the plav it cannot bo said that the least progress has been made by the principality in the prodiicf, 10 . 11 9 £ .® le ™ r forwards', which lias.always been this nation s most prominent weakness. : For the first timo in tho history of the fixture, which was instituted, in 1902. Scotland gained the victory over Ireland; on Saturday. , mateh was played at Gilmorehill, Glasgow, and after leading by 2 goals to 1 at the interval, the Scottish cloven gained a highly creditable victory by 3 goals to 2. The following letter was read at the annual' meeting of the New Zealand Association:— At a meeting of the Otago Ladies' Hookey Association, _it was decided to invite a British team to visit New Zealand lit the beginning of the season next year, provided that the other associations in tho Dominion would support the enterprise to the extent of arranging for one or two matches in their respective coutres—say, a matoh against the champion club, and one against a representative team—aad billetin® the visiting players if necessary. As largo gates could not be relied on, the visitors would havo to pay their own travelling expenses, but the different associations would, of oourse, boar the expenses of their respective matches. Tho scheme may sound a' rather ambitious one, but when the largo number of lady hookey playors at Home is taken into consideration, it does not seem so very much to expect that; out of tho wlioloUnited Kingdom, a team of 18 or 20 fairly representative players could'bo got together.—Alice Woodhouse, chairman Otago Association.". The matter was left to tho union's Management Committee. Page, a member, of last year's senior Southgate team (England), has joined the Auckland Clnb. He turned out to practice on Saturday, and created a very favourable impression. Southgato is one ot tho leading English club teams. Hookey in Otago will bo at its best this Mason (says a writer in tho "Otago Daily 'rimes"), and by tho time tho'interproviucial games aro played tho association will bo able to offer tho Duuedin public something attractive. It is understood that thero arc already two challenges in for tho challenge shield this year, ono from Thames and ouo from' Taranaki. It is to bo hoped that there will bo several more challenges in for this shield, but as' thoro is a likelihood of tho Auckland team going on tour this season, there may be some difficulty in arranging tho matches.