FOOTBALL TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 259, 2 November 1931, Page 8

FOOTBALL TRAGEDY.

LEAGUE « PLAYER COLLAPSES

DEATH AT CARLAW, PARK,

Mr. Samuel Harris, aged 26, single, of 10,. Sunnyvale Road, Green Lane, collapsed and died while playing for - the Newton Rugby League seniors at Carlaw Park about 5.20 on Saturday afternoon. The game, which was played between Newton and Devonport, was the final of a seven-a-side tournament conducted with a series of athletic events-as :a; charity day programme. It was the conclusion of the Rugby League season. In a match against. Ponsonby earlier in the afternoon Mr. Harris, who was playing wing three-quarter for his dub, had performed -well, scoring a try and kicking a goal. He ran in the 100 yards club championship, but was reported to have said that lie did not feel equal to running in the inter-club relay race. A few minutes before time in the fdotball final Mr. Harris received the ball near his own goal-line, and wa3 running toward the centre of the field when he collapsed. Dr. F. J. Gwynne and members of the St. John Ambulance attended him, but he died almost immediately. The Auckland Rugby League forthwith cancelled all play, and no result was given for the tournament final. :. The body was taken, to-day to Whangarei, where the fiineral took place. Football ygajuaaiions-yyg-^fljff'fjgtitiEd,;