“I left Gisborne Boys’ High School at the end of 1965 and when Ken asked me if I would play for the new club I jumped at the chance to have another team in the competition.
“There was a High School Old Boys team then, made up mostly of former Gisborne Boys’ High players, and they were a strong club.”
To say Lytton had it tough in their early days would be putting it mildly.
“Had it tough? We didn’t win a game for the first three years. We got whipped every week, 13, 14, 15 goals. But there was never a time when players wanted to leave because of the whippings.
“Looking back, we must have been mad but it was fun. Then, in our fourth season, Hori Underdown came along to coach us and that was huge.
“Hori came from a strong sporting background and had played hockey for Canterbury. I was a centre-half then (which was regarded as a pivotal position) but the real story is Hori, who used to play rugby in those days. We’d be listening to the radio commentary (for rugby) and, sure enough, towards the end of the first half the commentator would say: ‘yes, it looks like Hori Underdown is injured and will have to leave the field’. We knew that was code for Hori is coming to play hockey.
“Can you imagine that happening today?”
Despite the addition of Underdown, LOB continued to be the competition whipping boys.
“We won the odd game over the next three years but then you’ll never believe what happened. In Hori’s fourth season as coach we won the competition.”
By now, Hurne, who nowadays sees himself as a dashing centre-forward “without the dash”, had moved to fullback, where he was picked for the Poverty Bay team to play Wairoa.
Looking for someone to take over“That was the beginning of the end of my career as an outfield player for many years. Before the game our coach, Melvie McKelvie, told us the keeper had pulled out and that he was looking for someone to take over.
“The other buggers all moved to the left and I was left standing on my own. It was the first time I’d played in goal and I’m proud to say I kept a clean sheet, and we won. Mind you, I thought I was the bee’s knees back then. Most goalkeepers were guys who couldn’t play outfield but because of my skills as an outfield player (cue for another laugh), I fancied myself as the new breed of keeper.
“We did OK. One of the highlights was drawing with Hawke’s Bay, who back then were a top side. It was the first time Poverty Bay had held them to a draw and I saved two penalty strokes. But to be honest, drawing with them was more down to our defenders that day.”
Lytton Old Boys continued their resurgence with the arrival of Gisborne-born Graham Sligo, who played goalkeeper for the New Zealand hockey team at the 1984 Olympics.
“Graham was still playing goalie then so I went back to playing outfield . . . I was happy to get back out on to the field.”
Under Sligo’s coaching LOB were unbeaten for six consecutive years.
Training as torture“Graham brought a whole new approach to training, or should I say torture. He hired the gym at Te Karaka because he knew a guy there and could get it cheap, but remember, we were a bunch of guys who trained after work.
“I remember one guy, Graham Coulter, who used to eat his tea before training — a roast as it was back then. You can imagine the state he was in after Sligo put us through a session. It was easy to see what Coulter had for tea that night.”
When Sligo moved to Tauranga, Hurne took over as coach and continued the team’s success.
“My training was more relaxed but we stretched the unbeaten run to seven years, and it was beginning to tell on some players. We were relieved when we lost a game to YMP the following year. It meant the players could relax and we went on to win the championship.”
In 2002, the LOB Masters team was formed and more rather unusual highlights followed.
“When you get to 40 in sport, that’s usually the sign that you play in the masters team. We had more players in the 50s so we thought it appropriate that we should start a masters side. It’s great when we meet after a game and we can tell lies about the games we played when we were young before bringing it back to how good we were in the latest game.”
Being one of the senior players (Jim Conning at 70 is the eldest) and the longest consecutive playing member — “I started when I was eight and beat Jim because he moved away from the district” — Hurne has some rules that must be adhered to.
“The main one is that the ball must be passed directly to my stick. Otherwise, I’m not interested. I’ve just come back from my fifth knee operation and Saturday was my first game since I had a knee replacement in July, so I told the boys there was no point in putting through through-balls and expecting me to get to it, and then looking disappointed when I don’t run for it.”
Hurne forgot to stick to the rule on Saturday when he attempted to get to a ball not passed straight to him, as per instructions.
“Like a bloody old fool I dived and got my stick on it only to put the ball over the sideline. To make matters worse I grazed my hand and blood came pouring out, so that was me. The boys said they had never seen anything so comical but I blame the guy who didn’t pass to my stick.”
Hurne’s reply to the question “do you train” started with another raucous roar.
“Are you kidding? If I trained I wouldn’t be able to play with a great bunch of mates on Saturdays.”
One such mate, Mike Tallott, gave Hurne another memorable moment.
“It was about seven years ago but I’ll never forget it,” Hurne said. “I came on at centre-forward. Mike, who has legs that must be six-foot-long and a thunderous hit, was flying down the wing when he let rip with a pass into the top of the circle.
“I managed to get a touch to deflect the ball into the goal. I’d only been on for a few seconds so decided that I had done my bit and left the field, telling everyone if they needed me to come on and score again to just give me a shout . . . I don’t know why but they didn’t. It could have something to do with the total age of the bench that day — Jim, me and Mark Cockburn, about 180 years.”
Allen has “absolutely no thoughts of retiring” and in either a courageous or outrageous statement, sounded a warning to young guns THC.
“We’re just getting used to this new turf. Once we’ve mastered it, they’d better look out.”
Then he headed back to reality.
“Actually, they’re a great team with a lot of skill and can run like whippets. Our problem is they’ve scored five or six goals before we’ve done up our laces.”
Congratulations on 50 years, Allen.
