Booing At Rugby

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32395, 7 September 1970, Page 1

Booing At Rugby

Some of the glow of Canterbury’s successful defence of the Ranfurly Shield at Lancaster Park on Saturday was taken away by two outbursts of booing from spectators. Both occurred when the referee (Dr H. Rainey, of Wellington) awarded kickable penalties to Taranaki after Canterbury infringements. The first was against R. W. Norton, who dealt with an opposition forward on the wrong side of a ruck; the second was against A. Matheson for blocking the ball after Taranaki had screwed a scrum.

Both incidents took place near the Canterbury 25-yard, line and on the grandstand' side of the field and it was, from spectators almost directly in line with the play that the loudest booing came.. There was, however, plenty of support from other parts' of the grounds. The dissenters quietened a little after their initial out-, burst, but then rose to fullvoice again when the Taranaki full-back, K. P. Hurley, was preparing to kick and when he was actually kicking.

On one of the occasions Hurley’s concentration was obviously broken and after a word with Dr Rainey he waited a few seconds before beginning his run-up in the hope that the noise would subside. Both the kicks were unsuccessful. At the time Canterbury was leading 5-3.