ASSAULT ON A REFEREE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2433, 25 May 1922, Page 2

ASSAULT ON A REFEREE.

DRASTIC ACTION URGED.

X The assault on a referee during a football match at Shannon on Saturday afternoon was brought to the notice of the Wellington Rugby Referees’ Association and the following motions were passed: — ' (1) “That the Wellington Rugby Referees’ Association convey to the Manawatu branch an expression of indignation at the unwarranted and cowardly assault made on Mr Claridge during the execution of his duties as referee at Shannon on Saturday last and,a sincere hope that the offenders will be punished with the utmost rigour of the law.” (2) “That the attention of the N.Z.R.U. he drawn to the report of the cowardly assault- made on Mr Claridge during the execution of his duties as a referee in a match at Shannon on the 20th May, and that if be respectfully urged to recommend the N.Z.R.U. to deal drastically With the offenders, even to the extent of disqualification, and ordering off all grounds for life.”

A Shannon resident, who was a' spectator at the football match in that township on Saturday last inforin the Palm -rston Standard 1 hat rite statements that have been published a some quarters a to what occurred have been exaggerated, He says that the star**menf.. > ~ that a Shannon player, who when ordered off the field was told to “come back and hit him (the referee) if you do six months for it,” i> altogether wrong, as also is the statement that the player in question went back. The informant said that the player in question did not go on to the ground again. The referee, he states, did not collapse as has been reported, and it is also in- i correct that he lay unconscious on the ground. As a matter of fact, be continued to officiate .until the conclusion of the game 15 minutes later. It was, however, quite true that he was hit. The spectator's did not crowd rOuud the players and urge them to assault the referee. The informant also stated that Mr Claridge was not the official referee, but 1 is the coach of the Levin Club, and the referee who had been appointed not arriving on the ground, he volunteered to take the whistle. I