WRESTLING Fed Devil Of France Makes His Debut

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31729, 12 July 1968, Page 12

WRESTLING Fed Devil Of France Makes His Debut

It needed only a roll of the tumbrils to transform the stage of the Civic Theatre into the execution block of the French Revolution last evening. Making his dreaded first appearance in the ring of the Acropolis Wrestling Club was Gaston La Farge —the Red Devil of France.

Attired from head to toe in red—jersey, tights, boots and stocking mask —he achieved the awesome anonymity of Madame Guillotine’s chief attendant.

Only his roly-poly figure and nervous, finger-twitching disposition spoiled the picture. In certain poses he more closely resembled an over-weight Baby Bunting. Teamed with the Red Devil in a four-way tag bout was the tousle-headed Bruno Bekkar, a man upon whom injustice hangs heavily. His Joblike patience and wounded bearing were to no avail. Like the Virgins of the Roman amphitheatre, the crown relentlessly turned thumbs down on his appeals for their support. To them, the former Mr New Zealand, Al Hobman, and his frequently aggrieved partner, Clem Lakis, were the unrecognised (by the ref.) heroes of the arena. Friendship Broken The La-Farge-Bekkar team spirit soon disintegrated, practically from the moment when Bekkar's elbow jolt intended for Hobman misfired and caught the Red Devil on the chin.

The action moved outside the ring to the front of the stage, and in doing so took on an air of pantomime, with all four gesturing in dumb

show—at each other, at the referee and at the crowd. In round five, France’s finest was reduced to a trembling raspberry jelly by the simple expedient of ensnaring his head in the ropes and the jumping on his rotundity.

Similar treatment for Bekkar soon brought into focus the enmity between him and Lakis which, it was promised will culminate in a "Texas Death Match” at Canterbury Court on July 25, in which the pair will be secured to each other—wrist to wrist—by a 4ft length of rope.

Perhaps they will use the one with which the Red Devil of France tried to introduce to New Zealand the French pastime of garotting last evening. Lakis’s face was positively puce before the referee persuaded La Farge to let go. As retribution, La Farge was subjected to the old head in-the-ropes trick—with Lakis bouncing on the top rope and Hobman beating time. After a few well-chosen head butts in the stomach from Lakis in the sixth round, the Red Devil subsided with all the grace of a florid hippo. With falls equal in the seventh round. Bekkar and Lakis forced

a change of pace by clutching hands and dancing the flamingo stomp on tippy-toes.

Drummed his Heels Then Hobman and Lakis put another well-oiled plan into action and crashed their opponents heads together, whereupon all four descended to the mat for a little rowing practice with each others legs. The Red Devil countered with his secret weapon—judo chops to Lakis's throat, obviously designed to reduce his Adam's apple to cider pulp; For that, Lakis threw him through the ropes, and the terror of the French ring drummed his little heels on the floor in a paddy.

Finally, the crowd was treated to the spectacle of Bekkar imprisoned in the ropes as target practice for the horizontal La Farge, whom the others used as a battering ram. The bout was declared a draw.

In a preliminary event, the gold-caped Michael Fio Mercury of Samoa was beaten two falls to one, by Tase Antipas. In amateur bouts, G. Stewart (Crichton Cobbers) beat D. Collins (Chrichton Cobbers), J. Tyler (Crichton Cobbers) beat I. Tuta (Linwood Toc-H), H. Stewart (Lfnwood Toc-H) beat K. Richardson (Linwood Toc-H) and K. McLaughlin (Chrichton Cobbers) and R. Williams (TocH) drew.