Ernie Barnes

Hockey career

Player Barnes was a member of the High School Old Boys' hockey club in Christchurch, and played senior hockey for the club until at least 1977. A centre or left-half known for close control and tenacity, he represented Canterbury for 10 years from 1959, and played for the New Zealand national team from 1961 to 1964.

In 1960, Barnes was on the fringe of national selection, taking part in a 28-man training camp in Palmerston North ahead of the naming of the New Zealand team to compete at the 1960 Olympic Games; ultimately, however, he was not selected for those Games.

The following year, Barnes was a member of the New Zealand side that toured Australia, and made his international debut in the drawn second test against Australia at Perth, where he was reported to be "playing at his top form and fought many duels with the Australian vice-captain" Donald Currie. He then played in the first test against the touring Japanese national team at Christchurch, won 2–0 by the home side, two days after arriving back from the Australian tour. Barnes played at centre-half in that match, in which he was reportedly "frequently out of position, often passed without looking and was totally absent when his opponents raced through the middle in the second spell", and "his efforts to evade tacklers with stickwork were seldom successful".

Barnes was part of the New Zealand team that took travelled to India and took part in an international hockey tournament at Ahmedabad early in 1962. In a hard-fought match against Australia at the tournament, Barnes closely marked the "dashing" Australian centre-forward Eric Pearce, keeping the scoreline to 1–0 in favour of Australia. Barnes scored a goal for New Zealand in their 6–0 victory over Indonesia later in the tournament.

In 1963, Barnes was named in the reserves for the first test against the touring Australian team, but returned to the starting line-up for the second test in Hamilton, won 4–2 by Australia.

Barnes was selected for to represent New Zealand at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

Coach and administrator Barnes coached hockey at Christchurch Boys' High School, and alongside former New Zealand international Alan Patterson was coach of the High School Old Boys' senior team until 1971.

Barnes also served on the New Zealand Hockey Association's management committee. He resigned from that role in December 1976, to concentrate on his business interests.

Working life Barnes owned and managed a poultry farm for six years, selling the business in 1971 shortly before taking up the position of national hockey coach. In about 1977, he went into business with Bruce Ullrich, forming Ullrich Barnes Group, which had interests in plastics manufacturing, the textile industry, and travel.

Later life Barnes' wife, Virginia, died in Christchurch in 2022, after over 57 years of marriage.