WRESTLING

Auckland Star, Issue 17, 21 January 1932, Page 16

WRESTLING

UNION'S ANNUAL REPORT. TRc annual report of the Dominion of New Zealand Wrestling Union, just issued, states that the season of 1931 was the most successful to date. There were 22 associations affiliated. 16 professional wrestlers licensed, and 181 amateurs paid lees. During the season 100 professional matches were held as against 47 the previous year. Of these 22 were at Auckland and 17 at Wellington. The_ gross gate for all matches was X 19,259, as against £10,744 the previous year; £2095 was paid to the Government m tax, and £8767 to the wrestlers. The largest house for - a match was £544 for the Walker-Pinto match in August. In July the largest house in Wellington for the Walker-Pasha contest drew £533, and Walker's winning share was £192, the biggest purse of the season for an ordinary match, though Pinto got' £250 for winning the professional championship final. Walker had the biggest winnings for the season. Commenting generally on the season the report states that the professional championship matches had had the effect of sustaining interest until the end of the season, and the Wellington Association was to be commended for undertaking the responsibility of staging the final and providing a substantial sum from its own resources to cover the prizes. The amateur championships at Wellington had revealed a high standard for a country in which the sport was young. Regulation? giving full control to the police authorities were gazetted on October 22 last, and the union control had been satisfactory, though there was still the difficulty of providing attractions for the smaller towns, due to the fact that the union could not enforce compulsory matches, and the wrestlers naturally wanted to get the bigger returns from the larger towns • Negotiations with U.S.A. promoters inthat wrestlers likely to come f.o Xew Zealand next season were Bob Krusc. Billy Edwards. Sam Clapbam, Ted T'l.ve. .M Karasick. Count Zar.moff and Harry Alamos. In addition. .Toe Pesek Sonncnburg, Santcll, Sarpolis, Joe Malce-

witz, Henri de Glane, George Zaranoff and Dan Kaloff were likely to be booked for Australia, and some of them would be available later for New Zealand. The annual meeting of the union will be held at Wellington on February 23.