Country Week Hockey Tourney

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 96, 14 July 1927, Page 8

Country Week Hockey Tourney

GAME MAKING PROGRESS NEED FOR COACHES Looking back over the White Horse Cup hockey tournament of a week ago, one is impressed by two outstanding features of the competitions. They are good hockey and bad weather. Anyone who followed the course of play in the two sections must have been agreeably surprised at the remarkably high degree of science exhibited by the majority of the country players. Four teams out of the eight competing, Waipa, Whangarei, Rodney and Piako, gave a convincing display and showed conclusively that the game of the hooked stick in the districts whose names they bear is making rapid strides along the road of science. King Countrv, which made its bow last week, in White Horse hockey, merits commendation for its promising initial effort. Success will come with experience and hard practice and if their enthusiasm is maintained, the red jerseys will certainly climb higher when next year’s competitions are waged. Tauranga’s exhibition was disappointing and the trouble lay largely in the forward line, which was a ragged quintette. As individuals the units of the van were quite good, but combination there was none. The halves were mediocre and the backs passingly good, while the goalie did his best. The team rallied fairly well against Whangarei, but it was a flash in the pan. Whakatane and Franklin made a good start, then passed out of the picture. Rodney was a good side and its strength was found in the forward line. Goertz and Grimmer were the leading lights of a resourceful vanguard, but the right wing man the least capable of the five. He was weak at stopping and his centring lacked power. The half line was a little disappointing and its propensity to rove or plav too far up near the line of attack resulted in the fullback division having to bear more than its share of the defence. In view of the fact that the Rodney representatives were gathered from one of the most scattered hockey districts of the North Island, the wonder is that the game in North Auckland has attained the high standard revealed nearly every year since the inauguration of the competition. Whangarei’s position is very similar to that of Rodney. The various clubs are situated in many cases miles apart and the townsman does not usually realise the difficulties of conductine hockey in these parts. Of course, as the population up North increases, the game will attain a higher standard by the advent of more clubs and keener competition. In the more populous parts of the Waikato and further South hockey is making rapid strides and flourishing along sound lines. INFLUENCE OF INDIAN ARMY The visit of the Indian Army team probably has done more than any other visiting side during the history of hockey in New Zealand to give the game an impetus in the country districts. Already in one short season a marked improvement in players’ stickwork and field tactics is noticeable as the result of lessons learned from contact with the Indians. But there is room for a great improvement in all departments even now, and such improvement can only come about through the services of efficient coaches. There are some of them about, but they are hard to get hold of and it is a fortunate club which can command the assistance of an old hand who knows what he is talking about. Two sides of enthusiasts can learn to play hockey by reading up a few rules and methods from a book, and they will get along quite nicely—up to a point. Then along comes another team which contains men perhaps not clever individually, but coached in the fine points and possessing just that degree of finish which enables them to run all over their uncoached opponents. So it is with many of the country teams to-day—and some town ones as well. They play a fast and bustling game of hockey, and can toss the ball