WRESTLING FARCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 203, 28 August 1934, Page 12

WRESTLING FARCE.

MEYER AND FELICE. BOTH MEN COUNTED OUT. SMALL CROWD DISGUSTED. Sheer ftmi foolery, mislabelled wrestling. was inflicted on a small attendance by Fred Meyer and Tony Felice at the Town Hall last night. It was undoubtedly the worst match of any importance yet seen in Auckland, and the crowd —what little there was of one—expressed its disgust by hoots, jeers and countings out. Meyer won a miserable affair by the odd tail in three.

Although the match'was allowed to proceed for six rounds, it produced less real I wrestling than the poorest of the amateur bouts that preceded it. The principals failed dismally in- an apparent attempt to give the impression that each was out to win at any cost. Time and again Felice crashed to the mat as if to impress the onlookers with the weight of his opponent's elbow jolts, but this sideline of liis acting was spoilt by the fact that he fell in exactly the same way was not struck at all. Kicking, slapping with the open hand, hair tugging and face pulling were indulged in • throughout, and the crowd called in vain for some real wrestling. Even the youngsters, who by some mysterious means, always find their way to the ringside, piped their disapproval and called for the amateurs to be brought back. A few pennies were thrown on to the mat from the galleries, and the men were twice count fid out. the hostile demonstration reaching its climax when Meyer registered his winning fall.

Officials Not Satisfied. The wrestling game in Auckland —aud, incidentally, the attendances at the last four or five matches have made it clear that bettor matches will have to be provided if it is to retain its popularity— would have been best served last night if the referee, Mr. C. Pollard, had ordered the men to their corners and declared the match "no contest." If he had dona so he would have pleased a number of tiio officials, at least some of whom openly showed their disgust. The referee, however, saw fit. to allow the nonsense to continue until Meyer scored the deciding fall. Buffoonery such as that provided by Meyer and Felice'last night is little short of an insult to the intelligence of the public. To describe the sorry affair in detail would be farcical. Meyer (15.0) took a fall in the third round with a press, after a lot of wild waving with his elbows, and Felice (15.10) equalised in the fifth with a headlock, following a series of throws with headlocks and cross buttocks. In the sixth round Felice went down to a weak flying tackle and Mever lay on top of him to take the odd fall. There were several occasions during the match when Felice temporarily turned his attentions to the referee, and there were also tiiiics when the pair exchanged harmless kicks after the gong had signalled them to their corners.

The Amateurs. A. Waueh (9.13) beat C. Curtice (9.7). A hard, but not spectacular, bout, in which neither could score a fall, Waugii being awarded the decision on points. T. Pierce (13.0) beat L. Godfrey U3.0) by one fall scored with a body press in the third round. A hard and even bov.t. A. Conning (9.8), H.M.s. Diomede, beat C. Sheath (9.1) on points. An interesting bout between two newcomers. Conning scored the more points in the first and second rounds, but Sheath made it lively in the third. J. Young (8.5) beat L. Holland (S.B) on points in a bout in which neither could score a fall.