Player Without A Team Suspended

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32035, 9 July 1969, Page 19

Player Without A Team Suspended

An under-20 footballer whose club has withdrawn from its competition because of insufficient numbers was suspended for four playing Saturdays for fighting by the management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union last evening.

The player, O. Broomhall, the Suburbs centre, was one of two players ordered off for fighting at South Hagley Park last Saturday. Broomhall admitted the offence, but claimed that an earlier warning for foul play was unjustified, as he had been tripped. The other player, D. Birdling, the Shirley full-back, went to Wellington on transfer after the game, and the committee resolved to hold his case in abeyance. He will be met by the union’s emergency committee on his return. The referee (Mr T. K. Armstrong) said he had ordered the two players from the field for fighting—“and I really mean fighting.” The two players, he said, had exchanged punches and had rolled on the ground.

They had been separated by other players after the whistle had been blown three times, without effect. Mr Armstrong said he warned Broomhall earlier for foul play and had appealed to both captains to help quench foul language and rough play. In a letter to the union, Birdling denied striking the other player. He claimed that he had been ejected from a ruck and then set upon and struck. He had merely defended himself. Mr A. K. Torrance said the referee had stated clearly that both players had been fighting. Shortly after the case had been heard, the chairman of the competitions committee (Mr J. Storey) announced that the Suburbs under-20 team had withdrawn from the competition.