SOCCER RUMPUS HAS UNPRECEDENTED OUTCOME

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 489, 19 October 1928, Page 6

SOCCER RUMPUS HAS UNPRECEDENTED OUTCOME

GIRL SPECTATOR WHO HORSEWHIPS MAN IS BARRED FROM GROUND “THINKS IT VERY UNFAIR” Unprecedented action has been taken by the Bedfordshire Football Association, says the “Daily Chronicle.” A girl is not to be allowed to attend any match in the county this season. The ban is a sequel to scenes at a Bedford and District League match between Arlesey Town and Kempston Rovers, on Good Friday. In a circular, the Bedfordshire Football Association stated that after hearing the representatives of the teams they camo to the following decisions: 1. That the ground of the Arlesey Town Club be closed for two months from September 3, and that the club be prohibited from playing within three miles of the ground during the same period. 2 The club to place notices round the ground during November and December warning spectators as to their conduct. 3. The club to pay the expenses of the committee, 30s. 4. That Miss Dora Monk, a spectator at the match, be prohibited from attending any match in Bedfordshire during the whole of the season 1928j 1929. I At the match on Good Friday Kemp- ! ston Rovers were leading at half-time by 4 —l. In the second half fouls were plentiful, and players were cautioned. Girl’s Story Miss Monk, who is 20, said that she had not decided whether she would take any definite action. “I had not been to more than two or three matches during the season,” she said, “and I am not a very enthusiastic football fan. “What happened was this. There was a disagreement between the Arlesey and Kempston players. My young sister Gwen, aged 16. said, ‘Play the game!’ Then one of the players insulted her.” After the match, according to Miss Monk, blows were struck, and she admitted hitting round the face with a horsewhip a man she alleges had pinched her sister’s face. “I think the decision of the committee very unfair. Not that I mind so much myself, but because the club cannot play as well.” A football authority in London stated that he doubted whether there was any case on record of a woman being barred from football grounds, although there had been cases where men had been so treated.