EMBYRO JOCKEY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 10

EMBYRO JOCKEY.

early Ambition.

TAKAPUNA SCHOOL BOY.

If draught, horses had raced at Ellerslie, Meynell ("Lofty") Blomfield might never have become a successful wrestler and a contender for tft» world's championship. A« ft lad he attended the Takapuna primary school, and one of his early hop*a was t6 be a jockey. He first worked in a grocer's shop at Takapuna, .and then on farms, round Aticklaiid. 1 "tie'drove an electric'winch during the construction of the Arapuni plant, and then became a service car driver between Wairoa and Waikaremoana. Returning to Auckland he showed promise as a Rugby footballer as a member, of-the College Rifles Club. He tok up amateur wrestling in 1930, and the progress he made took his thoughts off football just at a time when there appeared to be Rugby honours in store for him. Working at George Walker's gymnasium, Blomfield soon picked up*a knowledge of the finer points of wrestling. He then went to Sydney. His first professional match was against Lurich, one of the most powerful men seen in the ring in New Zealand, and the Aucklander was injured in a fall and taken to the hospital. In Sydney Blomfield continued to meet the best men. He made rapid 'progress, and had a fair share of success. The 1034 season saw the Aucklander back in the Dominion, and he then went to the United States, where in six months he engaged in 80 contests, losing eight, drawing 10, and winning the rest. Blomfield came back to New Zealand in 1935, and won many matches in all parts of the Dominion. He made another trip to Australia, where he was a big draw, and then returned. During the past two wrestling seasons in Ne.w Zealand Blomfield lias been a very popular figure, and has been called upon to meet some of the best wrestlers in the world. He has all the physical attributes for the top class, his height, great strength, and weight (close on 17st) enabling him to meet practically anycomer on even terms or better. Followers of the sport in New Zealand know Blomfield as a wrestler who can mix it with the roughest of opponents'-, but he could always do his share of solid wrestli.ng. In his early matches he depended largely on the Boston crab, but he has since invented an octopus clamp, and that is a hold that the strongest of opponents cannot break when it is accurately and firmly applied. When a. series of bouts were held in the Dominion last season to decide who should challenge for the world championship, Blomfield was the winner, and thus he set out on his present mission.