Wrestling In All Its Shades And Colours

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 14

Wrestling In All Its Shades And Colours

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

A crowd at Cardiff Arms Park might have displayed a little more polish, but certainly no more fervour, than the 2000 spectators at Canterbury Court last evening for wrestling promoted by the new Acropolis club.

The crowd, in magnificent voice, made abundantly clear its approval of a performance which covered the whole gamut of professional wrestling, from the matman’s Old Vic to the throwing of custard pies.

It was the biggest crowd at wrestling for many years, and it came through drenching rain to watch.■ tt had to wait 20 minutes after the appointed hpur, and then r 4t was able to observe sudo ' clouds of

dust arising from the ring as to suggest that Acropolis is not in pursuit of a good housekeeping prize. In the pattern of a cinema show, the evening began with tag wrestling, which is about

the equivalent of a cartoon. Then there was a light heavyweight bout, proclaimed as being for the New Zealand championship, and this was, in the context of wrestling, pure art. The main feature was stark drama, but per formed with distinction. Mixture Of Races Strange names and far-away places featured in the tag— Scoll von Nuemann, of Germany, with Bruno Bekkar, of New Zealand; Al Hobman, of New Zealand (cheered lustily), and Moe Sakata, of Samoa. And in the next bout, Tase Antipas, of Greece, and Cliff Condren, of New Zealand. And in the main bout, John Da Silva, of New Zealand, and Fank Lipanovich of Jugoslavia, it was a wonder they could get them all into the country, after the trouble with those peace talk people. The tag was delightful, with ; more bumps and thumps than even Cannon Crescent ever knew. Part of the fun comes from arguments whether an imioming wrestler has been legally tagged or not, and at times the shrill voices and waving arms suggest one of the less distinguished of our parliamentary debates. Coalition Collapood Von Neumann, whose ring career has been advanced by a goatee beard and no apparently unhappy disposition, and Bekkar, a sort of blond Adonis, had a rather unexpected victory over the truculent Hobman and the smiling and relaxed Sakata. There were some distinctively original moments, such as when Von Neumann, in conflict with all the rules, held Hobman from behind so Bekkar could hit him. as he did. twice. Third time unlucky; Hobman weaved, Bekkar hit Von Neumann, and never did a coalition come to grief so rapidly. In this second round, Hobman, in a madly impassioned spell of activity, threw his opponents about with tremendous verve, temporarily incapacitating both of them, and seeming to fill the ring with flying arms and legs and pained expres- . sions. It was a bizarre scene, with steam rising to suggest White Island, and the animated disputes of a Bagdad market place. In round five. Hobman and Sakata each achieved a headlock on an opponent, and charged into the middle with elan, bringing their opponents’ heads together with the sort of clash made by the armour at Cressy. Moments later, with Von Neumann and Bekkar on their backs, with their feet together. Hobman and Sakata seizer a leg apiece and indulged in a vigorous sculling exercise. This was particularly well received. Challenged For Title The psychology of banana-skin humour has a wide application in wrestling, and the villains had their pans foiled delightfully uritil the seventh, when they won. Flushed with triumph, Bekkar issued a challenge for Da Silva’s British Empire title, and such is the organising ability of the modern promoter, that it was possible to announce within a minute or so that the bout would take place on May 15. Antipas and Condren met for Condren’s national light heavyweight title, and Antipas won when Condren was disqualified for persistent use of the illegal sleeper hold. This was firstclass entertainment, however, with admirable speed in hold and counter. Da Silva, too. gave a superb display, for he is a first-class athlete. He and Lipanovich were to have had 10 rounds of 10 minutes each, which held a hint of a timeless test, but it was all over in time for the last buses. Da Silva has athetic grace, an astonishing repertoire: he combines the touch of an expert safe-breaker with a strong hint of the ballet. Lipanovich, a personable young man who made sure he w*as not too personable, gave a very good account of himself, although the gold lame jacket in which he appeared really did nothing for him. It is rarely indeed that Canterbury wrestling rings see a performer of Da Silva’s stature. Or it was; he is bound to be back, after the hero’s welcome and farewell he received last evening.

Gymnastics Officers Officers elected at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Gymnastics Association were:—President, Mr R. Buchanan; immediate past-president, Mr K. Plunkett; secretary. Miss F. Mangos: treasurer, Miss M. B. de Beer; committee, Mrs M. Duncan, Misses B. de Beer. J. Wright, B. Brosnan. S. Hilton, Messrs F. Ramage, K. Blakle, D. Goss, W. Duncan. H. Duncan, R. Greersly and J. Kennedy. Three-Set Win.—J. R. McDonald (New Zealand) won his way into the men’s singles second round of the Connaught invitation hard-court tennis tournament at Chtngford. Essex, yesterday. He beat J. Clifton (Scotland), 7-9. 6-0. 6-2.