HOCKEY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10269, 22 June 1911, Page 7

HOCKEY NOTES.

(By " Wallflower.' : ) The donors of the Nicoi-Pragnell Cup (Messrs L. Nacoi and A. C. Piragnell), which wa'j to the Wairarapa Hockey Association for competition among third-class taaimis, have decided, owing to there i being no third-class teams, to a-sk ' Mi© Association to use the cup for a j junior challenge cup. Masterton j teams only will he permitted, to play « for the troohy. ■ The Wairarapa selectors ha.ve carried out an arduous duty dn a very creditable manner. To pick a representative team, ifirom. the five jsenior teams playing in the competitions is by no means an easy thing. The , duty is made difficult by the fact that the class of players has im--proved remarkably during/the past year or two. Hockey in this, dds- : tiiot,has feken & turn for the better'. The - competitions in both grade® have become very, . ! thlm in •larger-Aismlbeiss every- week.* ! In all probability Carterton wilTwimthe senior championship, 'but there are three teams in the competition I which will make it very hard for the i Mack and whites., Excelsior and ! Post and Telegraph are on the same I level, and St. Matthew's, .who are two- points behind, are coming, on very 'fast, as was seen by the grand performance 'they put up against Carterton last .Thursday. It is unfortunate that several of those picked for the team to play Poverty Bay «-will mot be able to travel to Hastings «Mfc--the match to-morrow, but good substitutes have been obtained, and Wairarapa onghfcto-hold its own against the northern t«am. In the original team there are a §w weak points, 'but the selectors can «&ver please everybody. me author of 'Some aiockey motes puWdshed a dav or two ago suggests that a good joke has been "sprung upon" rtfhe individual responsible for the .statement in a report of the Excelsior—Post and Telegraph match last Thursday, that the players were out of form," and the -game was con- ) spquently slow. Surely the joke was i "sprung upon" the writer of the notes, and mot the writer of the report. Why, practically every player admits that the game was a very poor display, ai«g'' : ttoaA.*hey were,ail in bad .farm, or, as the report stored, "thev were shaving a day oft. ' The report compared the match with the two previous meetings of the same teams, and it is certainly right j in the assertion that the third match was not a "patch." on the first two. The other senior match at Lamsdowine on that day wias undoubtedly , a brilliant exhibition, and interesting to watch, but the Excelsior and Post and Telegraph teams were far behind their usual excellent dorm. To rail such a match a good one is apt to make the 'spectators discontinue taking any interest in the and f if the winter of those notes wishes to foster the- sport 'he wil* require to ; ' adopt 'entirely different of good and bad. St Matthew's senior* -have challenged Excelsior, ,fje Jiolders of the Pearson Shield. Sb» challengers ■ have a very «a# 'pack of forwards, v and, in spite of .a weaker back see-. • tion, the'v-are exbected to give the j reds a- jgraat go for the coveted 1 shield. -Post and Telegraph wiJJ also '\ raojge -an attempt to recover tlie ■ shield, and it is probable that Mas- -.: tertan will issue a challenge. 4 Post iamd Telegraph- are sending their full team to Wellington todav to inky their first annual match with the staff of the Wellington Post Office. The Masterton players I aro confident that a good contest v will be the result. , . t •' ,An (interesting junior match will I be playfed '"at liansdowne this moraI;.- iiig," between St. M,atth:ew'«,and Exi; ceteibr. It is understood that the I losers, will entertain their opponents | ; at a supper in the evening.