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Diminishing membership
has meant that the Wildcats Ice
Hockey club will not be competing in 2006.
Most players have been absorbed into other West
Australian clubs and are playing in different colours this season. The
Wildcats SuperLeague team have kept their name and now play out of Mirrabooka
under the West Coast Ice Hockey Club.
Thanks to the Wildcats
Committee members for their attempts to keep the Club together and to WAIHA and
the West Coast Ice Hockey Club for their assistance in ensuring that most
players have somewhere to play.
We hope that the Wildcats Ice Hockey Club will
be functioning normally again in 2007.
  
Go
to photo page for photos
Hockey
in Perth
Perth has great
weather and a Mediterranean- type climate and is fortunate in having two
fine ice rinks, Cockburn Ice Arena in Cockburn, south of the Swan River and Skaters on Ice in Mirrabooka, one of the northern
suburbs of Perth, where the Wildcats players are based. There are
four hockey leagues:
| Junior B |
Under 13s non-contact |
| Junior A |
Under 18s |
| Senior A |
Open age |
| SuperLeague |
Open age (higher standard than Senior
A) |
Girls can play in the Junior B
league. Non-contact women's teams also play in the Junior A league and an old
timers' team plays in the Senior A league.
If
you want to play Ice Hockey in Perth, please email us on postmaster@wihc.freeservers.com
or contact the West Coast Ice Hockey Club
for further details. We need players who can help us improve our teams'
position and also
those who just want to play for fun.
Please note, there are NO professional
or semi-professional teams in Western Australia.
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Comment
Keeping things in proportion
After the debacle at Mirrabooka on Sunday
19th March, players, officials and parents should be considering several
points.
Firstly, the referee is right even when he
is wrong. On a ship, a captain wields undemocratic command and any refusal to
obey meets with instant punishment. Otherwise, in an emergency, time is
wasted, control of the situation is lost and damage is increased. It is
similar on the rink. Maybe some calls are not what one team wants, maybe some
calls are misjudgements and maybe some calls are even errors, but the ref has
absolute power, his decisions stand and have to be followed. If there is
objection – apart from disgruntled faces and comments under the breath –
then there can be no action. The only avenue is to appeal after the match.
Secondly, the adults have a responsibility to the
kids to set standards of behaviour. Parents bring their children to the club
with the hope that they will not only get fit and learn hockey skills but also
adopt behaviours from their elders – leadership, cooperation and tolerance.
It can only damage the morale of the team and disturb the development of the
players if these officials forget that they should be models to their charges.
Lastly, let’s get things in proportion.
It doesn’t really matter who wins. Yes, it’s great to beat the other guys
– there’s a feeling of achievement, belonging and elation. But where are
we? In some countries, players who lose soccer matches are tortured in prison
and in others Olympic medallists are given a house and car or a multi-million
advertising contract. Here, we are in a country where hockey is not a national
sport, we are playing in a small amateur league and if we lose, nothing is
going to happen. Let’s prioritise what is really the goal of these matches
– to gain from the enjoyment of playing itself more than from an overriding
need to win that denies pleasure if we lose.
PN
This comment is not endorsed by nor
necessarily reflects the opinions and policies of the WAIHA or any Western
Australian ice hockey club.
If you need hockey equipment, we have
some used gear available. (see Swapmeet).
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