W BUZZER BLUES"

A number of Buzzer hockey players have expressed in- dignation at the treatment they.are‘collectivelyprec- eiving at the hands of UPEI!s athletic dept. I am one of that collective; I, too, feel a mistreatment has been committed.

When the money men at UPEI take their cut at registra- tion time each semester, I often wonder just where and (to whOm the capital is dis- tributed? It certainly isn't spent at maintaining a deg cently supplied sportS‘sto- ckroom for amateur, i.e.‘ non-varsity athletes. Ah! the old "beef" is coming back, (just as I thought it would).

‘And man, I mean this camp- us does not have a decent stock of equipment. The last time I was in looking fOr a hockey stick, to use for practice, there wasn't even a toothpick to bite on to help suppress the anger th- at ruptured within me.

Probably most of the money is being spent on inter-cog llegiate leagues, and I suppose that is somewhat justified. The interesting aspect of the aforesaid pr— oposition is the element of probability. Probability I say, because in my years at this university I have never seen a reprint of the audit report of that dept. (Athletics). This is not unusual because I don't think I saw an audit report from any of the multivario- us departments of UPEI sin- ce arriving here.

However, since every stud- ent makes a direct payment towards the maintainence “ of the athletic facilities on campus, a yearly fiscal .statement ought to be prl- nted in the cadre. This would help put an end to the mumblings of those who at present, feel snub— rbed by the jock manage— ment at UPEI. ’

The reason I personally feel some adjustments in priorities may be in order

is that other universities are beginning to shift em- phasis away from the varsi- ty level towards the more popular (in the sense of participants) intramural and Buzzer levels of com— petition. These universi-

ties, St. F.X. and St. Mary's

are cases in point, actua- lly are able to supply thi- rty or more hockey players with a complete set of equ- ipment for each game. This university, as I noted bef- orehand, does not even sup-‘ ply decent sticks.

Another problem is the di— rect increase in the rate of.injury with the decline in rate of well outfitted hockey players. For example,

’ one of the goalies playing

this season in the Buzzer League may be injhred for life around his knee area

bccvuse of a goalie pad, too

small in all respects to

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be used. But what else cou- ld the result be, the goal- ie was forced to take what he could get — and what he got was ? rip-off. ‘ H‘ An immediate measure I feel justified in calling for

to end the rip-off, is the permanent maintainence of top-quality goalie equip- ment and decent hockey sticks for all. This is, after all, a bare minimum; the expense of supplying sticks and two sets of

high standard goalie equip- ment is not inflationary

to the Athletics Department's I

The proposition is this: If UPEI wishes to promote intramural levels of com— petition among the student body then UPEI has a res- ponsibility to help keep, to some measuse, that body equipped. ’

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