STRUCK FROM BEHIND

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1937, Page 7

STRUCK FROM BEHIND

FOOTBALL REFEREE

BASIN RESERVE INCIDENT

As the referee, Mr. J. Graham, was leaving the Basin Reserve pluying lield at tho finish of the HospitalWaterside game last Saturday, he was struck violently in the back by a spectator, said Mr. E. J. McQueen, representing the Wellington Referees' Association, at last night's nieetiuf of the management committee of the Wellington Football Association. It was the second time Mr. Graham had been hit while coming oil that ground.

"Does he know who struck him?' asked the chairman (Mr. W. B. Hicks'

Mr. McQueen: No. These "cows" will not strike you in front; they always come behind you.

Mr. Graham was hit as he was coming through the crowd, said Mr. McQueen, and for a moment everything went black. The referees thought something should be done to prevent that sort of thing, and if ever they could identify a man who struck a referee they would not hesitate to take legal proceedings. "I was expecting something like that," said Mr. C. Ballard, "and I made it my business to go down to protect the referee, but I saw nothing."

Mr.-Hicks suggested that the polico constables who were always present at the games on the Basin Reserve should be asked to take up their positions near the field exit at the end of the game. The players should assist in looking after the referee if some of the crowd seemed hostile, said Mr. McQueen.