GIRLS IN BATTLE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9185, 7 September 1908, Page 6

GIRLS IN BATTLE.

AT DAY'S BAY. STRENUOUS FIGHTERS. VARIOUS ASPECTS OF HOCKEY. A generation ago the average respectable girl might have preferred to smoke a clay pipe in church rather than play hockey in a skirt which allowed a stockinged ankle to be visible in public for more than a fraction of a second at a time; but a generation ago—so it is said—the young ladies were old maids, even in their 'teens, and now they are "bachelor gi-ls,"' with sensible waiscs and solid biceps—girls able to make their own running and fend for themselves in the field of play, the shop, or the office. Mere managain so it is said—is destined to become more and more mere. THE GAME HAD TO COME. It was said not long ago that the male inventors of feminine fashions had decreed a revival of crinoline, but electric cars and 'buses are more powerful than even the Napoleons of Paris and Bond Street. If no other good reason had proved sufficient for a sentence of death on the inflated crinoline skirt, the electric car—especially the "Palace"—would have set the formidable hoops to the scrapheap, and for the same reason—the electric car—girls find hockey a unseful pastime. In this hustling record-breaking "are, in which people have a frenzy to save the seconds and to kill the hours, the woman who can sprint a little, and do a hop, step and jump in about a fifth of a second has much cause for jubilation. • Whatever casual man may think about it, woman does take her hockey seriously. < She talks glibly and technically about the qualities of an ideal centre-forward and the retirements of an outside half. It is on record that some of the girls here fight out desperate encounters on a cuess-board, with imaginary players, and then take tne field to rout the enemy by superhuman subtlety. GIRLS OF ALL KINDS. Proof of this seriouness is demonstrated by the mesence of a hundred girls from outride districts to whirl a stick in the tournament at Day's Bay. All the way across the harbour on Saturday "altcrnoon, and all the way bade, they talked hockey, and thuir voices made a pretty hubbub. there are girls of ail sorts and sizes, blondes and brunettes, and all tne shades between tall arid short; some are chubby ;£ some are pretty and others are prtuuer, and they are all enthusiastic. A PRETTY COLOUR SCHEME. The sky was curtained with grey, sadly in need of a wash, biit the drab-n-as or' the heavens was forgotten in the terrestrial would it be too much to say angelic?-brightness at the Buy. The lovely wooded hills echoed anu re-echoed wi'/i merry chatter and laughter, and choruse of "Gu it, r/ollv," "Pu:-.d Katie," and other

injunctions. Now and then a makomako, a thrush or a blackbird deferentially added a note to the concert. On three or four squares of emerald athletic figures, daintily bloused and neatly skirted, flitted about rapidly, and hit out lustily. A girl may still te more or less unhandy at driving a nail, but she makes a fair fistat driving a hockey ball. Unthinking man might have expected the players to run to gorgeous raiment, but most of the uniforms were subdued in hue. Wellington's representatives,in yellow silk blouses, made the most pretentious splashes on tne green, and there was plenty of Wellington about, which is a grievance to some of the visiting teams. They have just enough players to complete the teams, but Wellington has abundance ot fresh material when it is necessary to put some aside for repairs. Apart from Wellington, no teams attempted anything more startling than a blue blouse or a wisp of red. The most pleasing regalia of the day graced the elect of Canterbury (red and black), dark skirt, white blouse, red belt, red tie, black peakless cap, ringed with thin bands of red.

A STRENUOUS BOUT. The sticks clicked and the skirts swished, and the cheeks grew redder and redder with the running when champions met. Hawke's Bay and Canterbury had a combat in which the pace was hot enough to roast even a fairly wtll-groomed man. The fighters asked for no quarter, and gave none. The> banged with a vehemence which sent shudders through the bosoms of masculine spectators, and the hitt was done as much with brains as with arms. At halftime the were glad to squat upon the ground—in Australian aboriginal fashion —to recover their breath, but rns • lightly for the fray as soon as the whistle Dlew. Generally the girls are very glad of the interval. They play all-out in the first half, and the much-welcome whistle acts on them like a knock-out blow on a prize-ring; they go to the ground without delay. Nearly all the teams have men , "coaches," and these trainers were very conspicuous on the lines on i Saturday. They ran up and down in a pitiable flurry, like hens whose ducklings had taken to the water, and filled the air with exhortations, which the girls were too busy to heed. Barrackers of botti sexes gave the l atmosphere plenty of vibration. i Groups of ladies would begin mildly, - with soft, scarcely audible, wisps of advice., but their voices gathered ■ loudness as the play grew faster, r and in the excitement of one or two i intense moments several strayed inj to- slang, and it came very drolly , from their lips—"a cert, a cert," I cried one, when she saw a mate - shooting at goal. "A bird, a bird," shouted another, when she saw one r of her colour hitting for an almost ; certain score. If there are any, girls I who do not know what "a bird" I means, they may be told that it is an , abbreviation of "a dead bird," , which means "a soft snap." And it is evn reported that one ejaculated "Gone a million" when she , saw the ball whizzing towards the : net. BANDAGED. There was one accident, and one "might have been." The accident came to a girl who, unfortunately for 5 herself, and luckily for her side, j shopped a hot shot at goal with her forehqad. The brow was cut, and the girl was dazed, but the wound was skilfully bandaged, and the .patient was able to move about, and laugh after a while. The bandage made her a heroine, the centre of admiring throngs. The "might-have-been" just missed a couple of camera fiends. With the Antarctic coolness, which seems to come to snap-shotters, they invaded a field while a game was in full " swirl, and planted their tripoded . machines to take a group of nonstarters. The players went on with their business, and one rush gave the camera persons the scare of their ' lives. —"Evening Post."