HOCKEY NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10273, 28 June 1911, Page 6

HOCKEY NOTES.

(By "WaUHower.") The fixtures for to-morrow's matches under the auspices of the Wairarapa. Hockey Association are as follow: Senior.—Carterton v. Excelsior at * Carterton, referee Mr Rossom. St. Matthew's v. Master ton, referee Mr J. Gray. Post and Telegraph a "bye. Junior.—' Martinborough v. Carterton at Carterton, referee Mr Dry- i deoi. Dalefield v. St. Matthew's at Masterton, referee Mr Q'Meara. Excelsior a bye. i A good contest lis promised between the Carterton and Excelsior teams. Should Excelsior win, they will foe oai a- level with, Carterton in the .diampionship ipoints. Masterton ] followers of hockey would welcome the championship to a local team this year, for Carterton have held tile honour quite long enough. Masterton seniors gave St. Matthew's .a great run on the occation of their last meeting, and it is expected tluat another interesting i match will result to-morrow. A good match will -be witnessed at Lansdowne between St. Mattliew'is and Dalefield juniors to-mor-row afternoon. In the first round Dialefield defeated St. Matthew's, but the latter 'have improved considerably since then, and intend putting up a great fight. A certain.writer, who, it appears, delights in finding fault -with others, has thought fit to • question my statement made last week to .the effect that hookey in thiis district had taken, a turn for tlhe .better. iThe waiter goes on, to compare .the present day standard with that of 1903. He may or (may mot he right, but the ifact that .tilie 1903 teams were better does not say that the teams of the intervening years were also ' better. He does mention the Rerewiai and Kia Kaha teams of 1905 and 1906, but, with all his arguments, it cannot be. gainsaid that compared with the (past year or two hockey has taken a turn for the better, i There are at present more teams in the competitions, and the closeness of four of the .senior teams is ample evidence of the standard the game is at. The writer in question asks whether Wairarapa could draw with Auckland, as it did in 1906. The wrS/ter isayis he has .an experience covering the whole period of hookey in the Wiairarapa. Well, I, venture to istate that he is a very unobservant individual. If he had watched thie Wiairarapa-Auckland match, he would remember how the latter, besides playing against a (full team, had to ,play against the referee. Perhaps he as not aware of the "row" which occurred concerning ■that referee, and how Auckland stated that they would never return to tlie Wiairarapa, and how .they wired to another team which was to play Wairarapa, advising them not to play lunder the same referee. The Wairarapa players, to a man, admitted at the time that they were • completely outclassed by the northern team, ibut every time Hie latter gained the drole the whistle sounded. Apparently thiis writer, who criticised my notes, is doing Jhis utmost to weaken the interest of the puiblio in the game of hockey. If he were to devote his space to hockey notes, instead .of persistently finding fault with other writers, he would be doing much 'more for the .benefit lof .the game. Wairarapia's' next match in the Nordecrn Cup competition will be against 1 the winners of the Maniawatu-Hbro-whenna imiatch. Wairarapa are to be congratulated on defeating Poverty Bay wafifi a team in which was included no leas than five emergencies, and it is to be hoped they will be succesfisul in their next match. fUhe departure of the Rev. W. Raihe from Masiterton will be a severe Joss to hockey circles. Mi 1 Raine 1 took a keen interest in the sport, and has always done his best in its interests.