OLYMPIC LEGENDS - SAMPLE EDITORIAL

At this stage, Spain looked likely to join Pakistan as a semifinalist. It was level on points with West Germany and New Zealand and had only to beat Belgium, which had not scored a point in the tournament. Even a draw would have got Spain through. But Belgium, up 2-nil at halftime, won 2-1.

The result meant the three teams were still level on points in Group B. A countback eliminated West Germany and the outcome was decided with a play-off game between New Zealand and Spain. The dour encounter went scoreless into three periods of extra time before Patel got the winner. A factor to emerge from the tournament was that teams that had to play games on consecutive days struggled. That was evident in the Spaniards’ loss to the Belgians.

New Zealand was now pitted against the Netherlands in its semifinal. The Dutchmen had impressed throughout the tournament and were unbeaten.

Parkin recalled the bus ride to the stadium. “I had never seen a New Zealand team approach a game with such intense determination. The trip was in stony silence all the way. The dressing room was electrically intense.”

But although New Zealand strove hard from the opening whistle and forced three penalty corners in the first 15 minutes, the Netherlands got the first goal when Coen Kranenburg scored.

Dutchborn Borren almost immediately replied with a hard, angled shot that defeated the Netherlands keeper, Maarten Sikking.

In sudden-death extra time, coach Gillespie suffered the agony of watching his side’s chances apparently disappear. Dutchman Paul Litjens – so famous for his powerful, accurate shooting he was called “The Machine” – had put the ball past goalie Trevor Manning. But the rising shot was disallowed by officials, who said it was dangerous.

New Zealand had been giving as good as it got by mounting attacks during extra time. But it took until the third period of extra time for it to break the stalemate. Ineson scored from a penalty corner and New Zealand found itself in the final.

It was a strange final in many ways. The unfancied Australians had battled their way through Pool A and into a semifinal, where they beat Pakistan. In pool play, Australia had thrashed India 6-1 in what Parkin described as “one of the finest performances I have seen.” But the following day, it lost to lowly Argentina.

The Aussies then beat India on penalty strokes, 5-4, in their replay. While the New Zealand and Australian players felt under pressure to perform, back in India, the fans burned down the houses of the players who had missed their strokes.

Unlikely as it may seem to younger readers, Australia had suffered a drought of gold medals in Montreal. The match between the Anzacs would be the Aussies’ final opportunity – as they were mockingly reminded in the Olympic village and at the media centre on the eve of the final.

Patel failed to convert a penalty stroke early in the final, amidst a period when New Zealand produced many attacking movements that were somehow repulsed. Australia’s goalie, Bob Proctor, remonstrated with his defenders to provide more support. Then Australia responded, looking the stronger side up to the interval.

It was just after the resumption of play that Ineson managed to latch onto another penalty corner and blast it past Proctor. One-nil to New Zealand.

In this early part of the second half, New Zealand was strongly outplaying their rivals. They could easily have been 4-1 up. Later, play surged back and forth as they continued their ferocious contest.

However, in the last 10 minutes, Manning underwent a heavy trial by fire from the Aussies. The ramparts were continually threatened to be breached. One shot smashed into the New Zealander’s pads and he went down with what was later diagnosed as a broken kneecap. But Manning stoically rose again, unflinching as ever. The final few minutes ticked over with agonising slowness, but somehow the defences held.

Manning recalled to the author that in the final 13 minutes, there were four penalty corners by Australia. Gillespie considered a replacement (two were allowed and New Zealand had made none) but thought Manning was fit to continue. He was also reluctant to bring on a new, “cold” player in such circumstances.

“We were defending the goal area all the time. Australia scored from one of the penalty corners, but it was disallowed,” said Manning, recalling he was in extreme pain as he continued to go out and cut down the Australians’ attacking angles or defend the goal itself.

“We were not to know how bad the injury was and, of course, our medical back-up was extremely limited,” coach Gillespie recalled to the author.

It is doubtful if there were any canny Kiwi punters around who backed their countrymen to win. They would have made a fortune. Against all the odds, the New Zealand hockey team had taken the gold medal.

Neither Gillespie or Neil McLeod and Les Wilson, two squad members who did not get game time, received an Olympic gold medal. Nowadays, all squad members of medal-winning teams are entitled to a medal.

The final placings were: New Zealand 1, Australia 2, Pakistan 3, Netherlands 4, West Germany 5, Spain 6, India 7, Malaysia 8, Belgium 9, Canada 10 and Argentina 11.

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What you can expect. Here's a sample editorial in 'Olympic Legends':

Unlikely Lads

The remarkable story of how New Zealand’s hockey team won the gold in ’76.

If John Walker’s gold medal was a “foregone conclusion” to many Kiwis, the success of the New Zealand hockey team was far from that.

The best previous Olympic performances by New Zealand was fifth in Rome in 1960 and sixth in Melbourne in 1956.

While the New Zealand contingent was quietly confident it had built the experience to better any previous ranking by the end of the Games, there was little talk from the rival teams or their national media that things were going to be different from the usual.

Few if any realised they were about to witness one of the Olympic movement’s great moments as this group of unheralded true-blue amateurs doggedly fought their way through a series of extra-time matches and play-offs to eventually mount the victory dais.

As Arthur Parkin, one of the team, described to the author, it was a classic tale of faith and dedication and of a vision that became a reality. Lady Luck also seemed to be on the New Zealanders’ shoulders to a remarkable degree throughout the tough tournament, especially compared to the hard, luckless years previously.

The sporting gods indeed smiled down on the New Zealanders, who continued to receive the “rub of the green.” An example was Kenya, to be New Zealand’s second opponent, which withdrew amidst the African boycott over New Zealand’s presence following the All Black rugby tour of South Africa earlier that year. Kenya’s defection, rather than punish New Zealand, meant a game less in its pool.

The Belgian coach’s gaffe in a key game [see details below] was another lucky break for New Zealand.

But in the end, as Parkin said, “Nobody ever won an Olympic gold on luck alone. It wasn’t the favours of Zeus, but the application of sound, basic hockey” that won the day.

Parkin was typical of the rugged determination this team had in great quantities. He was an Otago player and recalled the early-morning training runs alone, clad in woollen cap and full tracksuit, up Dunedin’s Opoho Hill in midwinter. Then it was back down to the city and skills sessions each day, for month after month. The memory of the 5-nil drubbing the Australians had handed the Kiwis only months before in the heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur at the 1975 World Cup still hurt tremendously.

The Games hockey was played on the handsome Molsom Stadium artificial grass surface, on Mont Royal, overlooking downtown Montreal. The New Zealanders had never played on astroturf. That seemed like a major handicap.

However, while most of the other teams used the perfect surface to display their individual skills, New Zealand coach Ross Gillespie had other ideas. He did not have particularly fast, elusive players at his disposal. So he devised a plan whereby his players moved the ball by quick, short passes – “making the ball do the work” but also minimising the chance of lost possession and building a sounder defence.

What New Zealand possessed in abundance was the depth of strength and confidence bred from many team members having experienced one, two and even three Olympics and other international tournaments. Other factors in their favour were organisation, understanding and superb fitness and stamina.

John McBryde, the former Australian captain, wrote later of how the New Zealanders displayed “determination, cool minds and confidence in their ability to win.”

Despite being housed nine to a room in the Olympic Village, the team’s morale throughout the campaign was always high. A factor in this was manager Tony Palmer.

“We had the best possible manager,” Parkin recalled. “He was our safety valve, the butt of our jokes, the target of our bets … and the basis of our team unity.”

The cancer that would claim Palmer a few short years later robbed the sport of a great contributor.

New Zealand got its campaign off to a cracking beginning by beating Pakistan, one of the favourites, 1-nil, in a practice match before the tournament proper.

“Coaches inspire the players. They sow the mental seeds and reap the physical harvest,” explained Parkin about coach Gillespie’s task.

“That result against Pakistan eased his [Gillespie’s] burden. You could see the growing confidence in the players’ faces. Bold verses were added to the team’s songs and the gusto of the singing was increasing.”

The competing teams were in pools of six and five, with each team having to play the others in their pool. Two points were gained for a win and one for a draw.

Pool B, New Zealand’s pool, lost one participant when Kenya pulled out. The 11 teams included India, the world champion and a regular Olympic hockey medallist, and West Germany, the gold medallist in Munich.

New Zealand gave fair warning that it did not intend to be among the also-rans when it shocked West Germany in its opening pool match – played on July 18, the first day of overall Olympic competition.

After the teams were locked at nil-all at the interval, New Zealand took it to the Germans. Ramesh Patel scored with a penalty stroke. Wolfgang Stroedter equalised later but it took until the final few minutes for the Olympic champions to manage to wrest some control from the spirited Kiwis.

Another 1-all draw followed two days later against Spain, with Patel again the scorer after the Spaniards had led 1-nil at halftime.

New Zealand made its breakthrough the next day when it beat Belgium, 2-1, after leading 1-nil at the interval. Barry Maister got the first goal. The winning goal came after the Belgian coach, Ernst Willig, had replaced goalkeeper Frank Smisseart with a field player, Armand Solie. This meant the Belgians had no proper goalkeeper when Tony Ineson controlled a penalty corner and then smashed the ball past Solie.

However, New Zealand had a major setback when it was badly beaten by powerful Pakistan in the following match. It lost 2-5 after trailing 1-3 at the interval. Thur Borren and Ineson got the New Zealand goals.