THE NEW WRESTLING

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1932, Page 6

THE NEW WRESTLING

EvNTEETAINMENT for SPECTATORS.

SYDNEY, November 5,

; It is generally understood that people ; go to a wrestling match to be amused. | and the combatants can hardly be ! blamed -.for ‘‘playing’ (o’ the gallery’ ! when they know that' “showmanship” I makes all the difference to the “gate” nowadays. This may hfelp to explain i what happened at the Kurri Stadium the other nigiht wfifen a wrestling match i which started' tamely ended as a “freer | for-all,” with the referee taking an i active share in the fracas.

\ The South African, George Unholz, ; met- “Farmer” Roibinson in what is ' described as ! ‘one of the wildest con- ; tests staged since the introduction of wrestling on, the coalfields.” The men frequently followed each other out of I the ring and became, miked up in wild

| melees among the spectator?, arid the [ referee, while conscientiously endeavouring to- straighten matters out, sus- | tainqd some personal damage, j; In the fourth round Robinson '.charged the referee, put on a headlock, i and relieved the official of a consider- ; able portion of his .shirt.. The referee himself and having no 1 means of defence handy, promptly took ■ off a boot and tapped the offending wrestler vigorously on the head. Robini son .seems to have resented this,* and i by the time he had finished expressing i his feelings, the ' eferee's shirt had en--1 tirely disappeared. ■ After the last bell Unholz and Robin- ' son furiously charged • each other and : declined to be separated', until the resourceful referee, seizing the leg of a chair which, had been dismantled during the -fray, in the graphic language of the -reporter, “belted them into submission.’’

•It is rather a disappointment to learn that the referee’s verdict was a draw. But considering how much people- feet for their money when they pay to see a wrestling match here, I ■don’t woncle r that the sport is popular and that the stadium' at Ktffii- or Leichhardt or The Bay is generally “packed to the doors."