Hockey: New Zealanders not welcome

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Australian hockey bosses have banned New Zealand players from their national league next year.

Internationals Ryan Archibald, Phil Burrows and Hayden Shaw turned out in the Australian NHL this year and were keen to return.

"The coaches of the national league sides all work closely with their national coach, Barry Dancer, and feel they do not want to disclose anything which might help us," New Zealand men's coach Kevin Towns said yesterday.

"Our players will be allowed back in 2003 and every second year after that, but for the years in which we have to play Australia in qualifying tournaments for the World Cup or Olympics, they won't let them in."

But transtasman relationships have not turned completely sour.

Towns plans to take 20 players to the Victorian Institute of Sport for 10 days in February.

During that time they are scheduled to play three or four games against NHL side Melbourne Redbacks.

"Our time there will be invaluable. It will be a perfect lead-in to the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in March. We have been given that opportunity because the Australians turned it down. They did not want to disrupt their national league."

Towns has named a 25-strong national squad as the first step towards the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The players, with the exception of his son, and team captain Simon, who is still in England, will have a training weekend in Auckland early next month which will include fitness testing and some sports science.

The team for the Azlan Shah tournament will be named either late next month or in early December.

After the Malaysian tournament, the players in the national and academy squads will be in Auckland for a series of trials from which the team to play the Champions Challenge tournament will be named.

That tournament, originally scheduled for Zimbabwe, is now likely to be played in South Africa in either July or December.

The international body favours the earlier date which would suit New Zealand and give them a lead-in to the crucial Oceania Olympic qualifiers against Australia.

"We are keen to play those in September," Towns said. "After that we have a four-test series against England in November."

Of the players named in the national squad, only Bryce Collins, Russell Gear, Shaun Barnett and Casey Henwood have yet to play at senior level for New Zealand.

Also named yesterday were the national and academy women's squads, with the 18 players who will play in next month's World Cup in Perth included in the 24-strong national squad.

Both academy squads are expected to tour Australia in late May/early June.