Assault on referee costs $200

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 4

Assault on referee costs $200

PA Palmerston North A Feilding Old Boys rugby player who went “crazy” after being kicked and hit a referee has been fined $2OO in the District Court at Feilding. George Edinburgh Davis, aged 30, an unemployed freezing worker, of Sanson, pleaded guilty to assaulting the referee in a senior fourth grade game at Feilding on August 11. A management committee meeting of the Manawatu Rugby Football Union on Tuesday evening banned Davis from the game for life. In the District Court at Feilding, the police prosecutor, Sergeant B. A. Amphlett, said the assault took place after Davis was sinbinned. Davis threatened the referee and was ordered from the field. He then punched the referee. The referee suffered facial injuries and the game was abandoned. Davis told the Court he had become upset when kicked in a ruck. He said he had gone “mental, crazy” at the tene and had recognised the feson he hit as the

referee when he hit him. The Feilding Old Boys club vice-captain, Arthur Henry Rolls, said that Davis had been kicked in a maul. He did not have the ball Davis had become wild: “He just about hit me.” Judge Toomey said that it was the type of unfortunate incident which happened from time to time on the rugby field. It was clear that provocation had led to Davis losing control, the Judge said. The management committee of the Manawatu Rugby Football Union later imposed the life ban on Davis after hearing a report on the match. The chairman of the judicial committee, Mr Mike Cross, told the meeting that the referee saw Davis fighting after the whistle and threatening a Feilding player. “The referee sinbinned Davis, who in turn threatened him. Davis was ordered off, but then struck the referee in the face,” said Mr Cross. The same was then called: i. . ?