Petone rugby team suspended by club

Press, 1 June 1977, Page 6

Petone rugby team suspended by club

PA Wellington The Petone Rugby Club has voluntarily suspended a lower-grade team which was involved in a. violent aftermatch attack on opposing players on Saturday. The weekly meeting of the Wellington Rugby Union last evening was told that Petone would requite its junior fifthgrade team—consisting of Samoan players—to default further matches until the club had fully investigated the incident. , The union’s chairman (Mr G. Atkin) said he was in favour of Petone’s action, and that the club deserved to be applauded for taking such measures. The meeting decided that Mosogau, a Petone player cited in reports from both the club and the referee, Mr A. McPhee, would be asked to appear before the union on June 7.

Mr McPhee would also be required to attend, and the results of Petone’s investigations should be available for discussion. Mr McPhee’s written report said that he did not see the outbreak of the fighting after the match. He noted though that

Mosogau appeared to be “in the centre of the trouble.” He saw him strike two players for no apparent reason, and said that one was struck from behind “in what could only be termed a cowardly blow delivered by Mosogau.” The after-match fighting quietened down only after considerable effort on the part of the Petone coach and captain, he said. Mr McPhee said that during the match the Petone team had shown a complete lack of basic skills, but over-all had entered into the game in an acceptable manner. Mosogau, a prop, was “spoken to and penalised many times” for late charging and the manner in which he scrummaged. “But it was deemed by me to be a question of ignorance rather than malicious practice and did not, in my opinion, warrant ordering off,” Mr McPhee said. The same player was ac= cused by members of the Wellington team to have kicked a player lying on the ground, late in the match, he said. However, he did not see the incident. A report from Petone said that its team said that only one player — Mosogau ■ — land one supporter, were in-

volved in the incident.- No other member of the team had taken part. A report from the Wellington team said that “Petone players and supporters” had attacked their players without provocation. The report suggested that the Wellington union, while having said that ethnic teams were to be discouraged, seemed to have “turned a blind eye” to the matter. As a result of Saturday’s incident, several of the Wellington team had intimated they were no longer interested in playing rugby. The report continued: “If this so-called social grade is not improved by some permanent solution, the Wellington club will have no surfies’ team in 1978.” T he club has for 13 years had a team made up of surf life savers. Mr T. Cunningham, a member of the union’s management committee, said he took exception to the suggestion that the union had turned a blind eye to the question of ethnic teams. “The union tries to encourage and help clubs in these matters but it is up to them. We cannot dictate who they put in their teams,” he said. Such a statement from the Wellington club was not correct, he said.