Hockey

and whereabouts of the ship their children were on and of its convoy.

No praise can be too high for the Captain of the s.s. Ashcrest and its crew. Willingly they gave up their berths to invalids and children and did their utmost for us all. The Captain never once went to bed—he is reported to have lain down on deck for two hours each night, but certainly no one ever saw the bridge without the Captain and his telescope eagerly scanning the sea and the sky.

With no coach and only three old colours, prospects for the season were not very promising. But the team got down to the task of coaching themselves and so well did they do it that they went through the season unbeaten.

The Gods of the Weather seem determined to keep the grounds covered in snow for the first few weeks of every Easter Term, with the result that we lost some valuable practice and had to cancel most of our matches, in the end only playing three.

The team was one of the best for several years. Hanson, in goal, only had to deal with about six shots ; the backs were almost unbeatable, and when someone did get past them there was always a half-back in defence. The halves linked up well with the forwards and their positioning was good. We were blessed with two clever and energetic insides, who engineered movement after movemnt.

Perhaps the most outstanding characteristic of the team was the way in which they interchanged positions. The forwards developed this into a fine art and at the end of the season were doing it automatically. Halves were often taking part in a passing movement with forwards dropping back in defence, and the covering up in defence by halves and backs was always excellent.

The usual fault of the forwards, a fault which past coaches have always decried, has this year never put in an appearance. The forwards, when they got into the circle, instead of dilly-dallying with the ball, as has been the custom, hit it hard at goal.

HOCKEY CHARACTERS, 1941.

F. F. Steele (Captain) 1939*-40*-41*. Centre Half. Was responsible for most of the team's movements. Possesses a keen sense of positioning and could be relied upon to come back in defence to assist the backs. It is mainly due to his play and coaching that the team had such a successful season.

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H. C. Belchamber (Vice-Captain) 1939-40*-41*. Left Back.

His tackling and positioning were excellent, a forward rarely beating the Belchamber-Denison combination. He controls the ball as well as anyone in the team. F. N. Buckler. 1940-41*. Inside Right. A very hardworking forward who gave his wing many beautifullyjudged passes. Controls the ball well. Both he and

Broadhurst should use more often the pass to their opposite wing. A. Broadhurst. 1941*. Inside Left. A very hard shot in the circle. He tackled back in defence and was the " brains " of the forward line. J. A. Denison. 1941*. Right Back. One of the season's finds. Very safe in defence, never losing his head. An excellent tackler. J. P. Pulleyn. 1941. Right Half. Possessed of an amazing eye, he stopped almost everything within reach. Fed his own wing well but rather neglected the cross pass to the left. D. Cole. 1941. Right Wing. Starting the season as left wing, he was changed over to the right to make a powerful combination with Buckler. A good dribbler and a dangerous hard-centring wing, but tended to hang on to the ball too long. Gives " sticks " rather a lot. P. McD. Steele. 1941. Left Half. Inclined to be slow in passing. A good tackler who positioned himself well.

A young player who will go far. J. R. Frost. 1941. Centre Forward. A dashing centre who hit first time in the circle. Had some good movements with his inside forwards, changing positions well. R. H. Hanson. 1941. Goalkeeper. A converted right back who has the makings of a good goalkeeper. Not much to do, but what he did he did well. E. P. Davison. 1941. Left Wing. Filled a difficult position adequately. He practised constantly on his own and improved as the season progressed. Rather slow in centring.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOL v. YORK. Played at Home, Saturday, February 1st. Result : St. Peter's School 4, York 2.

From the start of the match play quickly went from one end of the field to the other, and the School backs, Belchamber and Denison, were forced to clear hurriedly on 36

several occasions. The first goal of the match was scored about fifteen minutes after the bully-off when Broadhurst, the School inside left, rounded off a clever forward movement by putting the ball successfully past the York goalkeeper, whose brilliant keeping was an outstanding feature of the game. He was apparently a goalkeeper who believed in liberty of action, for he often marched right out of his circle, and proceeded to use his hockey-stick to good effect. The School forwards soon noticed this, however, and made profitable use of their opponent's susceptibility.

The School, however, were not able to maintain their lead for very long. Play had been confined to mid-field after the bully-off, but a strong and persistent attack developed on the York right wing, the ball was centred, and A. T. H. Wright, finding himself unmarked in the School circle, had plenty of time in which to crash the ball past Hanson, the School goalkeeper. The School immediately made a determined attempt to resume the lead which, after a period of fast and furious play, was done shortly before half-time. The three School inside forwards, by means of an excellent piece of combination, took the ball right into the York circle, where Broadhurst directed the ball hard and true into the York goal. A few minutes later the whistle was blown for half-time, the School leading by two goals to one.

The excellent play of the School half-backs contributed largely to this lead. They fed their forwards with accurate passes and, in defence, rendered valuable assistance to the School full backs. The School took the initiative immediately after the resumption of play, and managed to score another goal before the York defence had been able to settle down. This goal, scored by Buckler, was the result of a series of passes in which all the forwards took part. York were not long in replying to this latest goal, and they began to press soon after the bully-off, The School backs were hard put to frustrate the designs of the opposing forwards, who were ably led by the York captain, Harper, a very experienced player. Play became confined to the School 25 and eventually, after a long tussle in the circle in which many shots were saved by Hanson, Harper was able to push the ball into an empty goal and thus to raise the York score.

The School immediately attacked, and the forwards soon found themselves in the York 25. There, after another prolonged scramble, Broadhurst scored for the third time, raising the score to 4-2 in the School's favour. No more goals were scored before the end of the game, but this was only due to the incessant tackling of the School backs and half- 37

backs, who successfully withstood a desperate last-minute attack by York, which taxed the School defence to its utmost.

Team :—R. H. Hanson ; H. C. Belchamber, J. A. Denison ; P. M. Steele, F. F. Steele, J. P. Pulleyn ; D. Cole, A. Broadhurst, J. R. Frost, F. N. Buckler, A. A. Short.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOL v. WEST YORKS. REGIMENT. Played at Home, Wednesday, February 12th.

Result ; St. Peter's School 11, West Yorks. Regiment 0.

The second match of the season was played on the School ground against a team selected from men of the West Yorkshire Regiment. Although the weather was fine and the sun shone brilliantly throughout the whole afternoon, the ground was wet and muddy and a really fast game was impossible. The School were too much for the opposing side, which had had little opportunity for practice and had been forced to include several men who had never played hockey before. This overwhelming advantage, however, should not detract anything from the excellence of the School team's performance, the members of which, particularly the forwards, played much faster and much better than they had done in their first match.

After the bully-off the School team took the initiative straight away and the game soon became confined almost entirely to the opposing side's half of the field. The first goal was scored after about ten minutes' play, when Steele, F. F., whose play was up to its usual excellent standard, flicked the ball into the Army net after a long struggle in the circle. The extent to which the School team dominated play during the first half can be realised from the fact that the opposing side were able to claim only one bully in the School 25 during this period of the game. The School continued to score at regular intervals throughout the first half of the game, and at half-time the score stood at 5-0 in the School's favour, goals having been scored by Broadhurst (2), Buckler, Frost and Steele, F. F.

The School played even better during the second half. The forwards showed that they developed into a sound combination and their passing and method of interchange was, at times, worthy of considerable praise. It would be a weary repetition of phrases and names if one were to recount, in chronological order, the facts concerning the buMper crop of goals which were scored by the School during the second 38

half. It is sufficient to say that the School's score was raised by another six goals, which were scored by Buckler (2), Broadhurst, Steele, F. F., Frost and Cole. This score (11-0) would have been even higher but for the great efforts of the diminutive West Yorkshire goalkeeper, who brought off many fine saves.

This match was a forwards' match, as far as the School were concerned, and they rightly deserve the most praise. The half-backs, however, played just as well, but in a less spectacular way, and their falling back in defence, which was seldom necessary, showed a marked improvement. The full backs had very little to do indeed, and for the greater part of the game they stood out as cold and solitary figures in their own half and wished in vain for the ball to come their way. Hanson, the goalkeeper, had even less to do, and he spent most of the match leaning up against the goalpost with an expression of abject boredom upon his face.

Team :—R. H. Hanson ; H. C. Belchamber, J. A. Denison ; P. M. Steele, F. F. Steele, J. P. Pulleyn ; E. P. Davison, A. Broadhurst, J. R. Frost, F. N. Buckler, D. Cole.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOL v. BOOTHAM SCHOOL.

Played at Home, Saturday, March 1st. Result : St. Peter's School 4, Bootham School 0.

The sun was shining brightly and the ground was in very fine condition when Bootham won the toss and elected to defend the Railway Station end of the field.

The first quarter of the game passed without incident and play was confined to mid-field. The School forwards took some, time to settle down and, in fact, it was a halfback, Steele, F. F., who scored the first goal. The ball came into his possession, just inside the Bootham half, he skilfully evaded the Bootham centre-half, managed, by means of some very good stick-work, to get past the two full backs, and successfully completed an outstanding individual effort by putting the ball into the Bootham goal. Bootham replied vigorously to this initial setback, and on one occasion the Bootham centre-forwards eluded the School full backs, who had suddenly developed the alarming tendency of standing square, and his onward progress was stopped only at the edge of the School circle by Pulleyn, who was one of the prominent players in the match. 39