Disorderly behaviour brings $l50 fine

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 4

Disorderly behaviour brings $l50 fine

An unemployed man who threw a tennis ball containing tacks on to the playing field at Lancaster Park on the day of the New Zealand v. England test match on June 1 said in the District Court yesterday that he did not regret his actions. The defendant, Francis John Simmonds, aged 35, admitted a charge of behaving in a disorderly manner, and was convicted and fined $l5O by Judge Fraser.

Sergeant M. P. Caldwell said that at 2.35 p.m. the defendant threw a tennis ball, which had been cut in two to hold tacks, on to the playing field area. He attempted to run on to the field but was prevented from doing so. Three tacks were found inside the ball when it was recovered from the field. The defendant said he had no regrets about his actions and that the “guilty party”

were the 15 All Blacks and the New Zealand Rugby Union’s council involved in the planned tour of South Africa. He referred to a “racist, terrorist regime” there. Asked by the Judge his financial circumstances, relative to the imposition of a fine, the defendant said he was “unemployed, and that speaks for itself. I’ve got no money.”