Hockey: Bay player has rare taste of gold against Aussies

Massive Achievement: Malcolm Sutherland was the sole Hawke's Bay player in the New Zealand 50plus men's team which won gold. Photo/Supplied

Gold medals don't come easy if you happen to be a Kiwi bloke taking on your Aussie counterparts in Transtasman Masters hockey series.

So it wasn't a surprise when a decent fuss was made of the New Zealand 50plus men's team which included Hawke's Bay centre half Malcolm Sutherland after they won gold at last week's Whangarei-hosted series. They were the only one of six Kiwi men's teams to win gold.

"It was pretty pleasing. We not only won our series, we won all three games and kept the Aussies scoreless in the process," Sutherland said.

"We won the first game 5-0 and we knew they would come back strong with the aim of forcing the decider. We won the second 1-0 and the third 2-0."

Sutherland, 52, said one of the keys to their success was the fact the bulk of the team, which was coached by North Habour's Allan Binks, played for "The Classics" team which finished second in the same age group at the World Masters Games in Auckland the previous week. They drew 3-all with another Kiwi team, One Up, but lost in a shootout.

"A lot of us played together for New Zealand when we won gold at a masters tournament in Singapore in 2011. Next year's World Cup for Masters is in Spain and the aim is for all of us to stay together for that," Sutherland explained.

"If I can stay fit it would be good to play at the next Transtasman which will be on the Gold Coast in 2019."

While Sutherland was the only Bay player in the team he said Northland-based striker Paul Snelling, who has played as a draft player for Hawke's Bay Masters teams in the past, was one of their kingpins. Sutherland keeps in shape for play at this level by playing for the Te Awa Pass Masters in Hawke's Bay's premier men's competition.

"Basically we're a team of former Hawke's Bay rep players who still want to play at a reasonable level but we don't train. But if we beat Central Hawke's Bay this weekend we will qualify for the Top Six."

Sutherland, who works as an engineer at Pan Pac, also coaches the Te Awa Scinde premier men's team.