Hockey: Towns dynasty guiding hockey

By TERRY MADDAFORD

As kids, Simon and Robert Towns spent many idle hours around the kitchen table with their father, Kevin, watching as he shuffled pepper and salt shakers back and forth to explain the intricacies of hockey.

Twenty-something years on, little has changed, apart from now planning the moves at the highest level.

Kevin and Simon are the "Dad and Dave" of the national side - Kevin as coach again and Simon as his captain. While probably not a first for a major New Zealand sports team, it is indeed rare to see such family ties at the helm.

Handing his son the captaincy after being recalled to replace Robin Wilson, who quit as coach after the team failed to qualify for the Sydney Olympics, was not Kevin Towns' decision.

He stepped back when the issue arose and let the other three panel members - Peter Daji, Charlie Oscroft and former captain Scott Anderson - hand the responsibility where they felt best.

It was not the first time Kevin Towns has been torn with decisions involving his talented son.

"When I had the team at the time of the Barcelona Olympics, I stressed to the media that we needed a second centre-half," said Towns. "Simon was close to filling the position, but in the end, rightly or wrongly, I left him out."

Most close to the game at the time conceded that Simon Towns was the right choice, but saw the invidious position his father found himself in.

It was no surprise when his international call-up followed soon after and that the 27-year-old has gone on to play close to 130 internationals.

A stalwart of Auckland's Somerville club, Towns has returned to England for another stint of club hockey, but will be back for the planned February-March training camp and matches against Australian state sides as the build-up for next year's World Cup qualifiers in Edinburgh.

As one of two players who missed the cut for the gold-medal-winning Olympic team in 1976, Kevin Towns, who played four tests, sees his return to the top job as the means of again giving something back to the sport he loves.

"I guess [missing his Olympic dream] is why I'm doing what I'm doing," said Towns, who first cut his teeth as part of the international hierarchy as manager of the national side in 1986-87 before taking the coaching reins for the first time from 1989-92 and steering his charges to eighth place at the Barcelona Olympics.

"But really, it was watching the results at this year's Olympic qualifying tournament in Osaka which got me thinking. They played some good hockey, but didn't make it. I tossed my hat in the ring because I felt I could achieve something."

Simon Towns has stepped just as comfortably into the captaincy. "It hasn't been too difficult taking over," he said. "When Scott Anderson was captain, I had a lot of on-field responsibility that he, as goalkeeper, could not take."

The Towns are united in their aims.

"It is a long way to the World Cup but I love international hockey.

'It is physically demanding but I get a real buzz from playing at the highest level," said Simon Towns.

"Tactically, hockey has changed a lot, especially with the scrapping of the offside rule."

Beyond the World Cup, the 2004 Athens Olympics beckon.

Simon Towns has his sights firmly set there, and by then he could be close to 200 internationals, while his father must wait and see.

His contract ends with New Zealand's involvement at the next World Cup.

If the national side make it that far, there is little doubt the duo will be together again for the long haul.

And more sessions with the salt and pepper shakers.