LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 August 1936, Page 12

LEAGUE FOOTBALL

ROUGH GAME AT HUNTLY. [PEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] HAMILTON, August 6. In a game which was fast in the first half. England defeated South Auckland at Rugby League to-day, at Huntly. England lost three men through injuries, and Hodgson was ordered off. the side finishing with nine men.

A sensation was created when Hodgson was ordered off for striking O’Brien, ten minutes after half time. Hodgson previously had been reprimanded by the referee for disputing his decisions. Hodgson refused to go off. and J.' Brough, the captain of the English team, threatened to take them off the field. Hodgson was hostile to the referee, and was held back by his team mates. The referee was adamant, however, so Hodgson went off reluctantly.

The game was rough from then on, finishing with a win for England by 21 points to 6.

ENGLISHMEN’S DENIAL.

AUCKLAND, August 6

Any suggestion of roughness or foul play was flatly denied by Mr. W. Poppelwell. co-manager of the English team, in an interview, to-night, regarding the match against South Auckland. He said that he was very surprised to hear there had been any ill feeling in the match. He had seen the game, and there was no untoward incident. The statement that Brough would take his team off the field was absurd. In England both captain and team would be suspended sine die if they walked off the field. Several players of the English team supported Mr. Poppelwell’s views. They said Brough had no intention of taking his team off the field. He merely questioned the referee >ver a decision.

Brough expressed surprise that there had been comment on rough play the game. He said the matim was one of the cleanest of the tour. It was unfortunate that injuries were suffer? ed by English players, but that was liable to happen in any game of football. As to the ordering-off of Hodgson. nobody was more surprised than the opposing players. He asked the referee why Hodgson was sent off. The referee replied that he saw Hodgson strike a player. When asked who was the player Hodgson had struck, nobody seemed to know. “I asked the referee to reverse his decision. We are here to give a good display of football, and we already then had two players off the field injured. We are here to play football, win or lose,” said the English captain.

NO MATCH WITH MAORIS.

AUCKLAND, August 7.

The business manager of the English Rugby League team received a cablegram from the English Rugby League, stating it was impossible, owing to shipping arrangements, to delay the sailing time of the return to England, consequently the proposal to play a match against a representative Maori team has been abandoned.

Marist juniors -v. Barrytown, at Barrytown: P. Behan, Morel, Crase, McGirr, Price, Hopkins, O’Brien, Dargan, Knapp, Malone, Blanchfield, Hay, Power, Grogan, Gough.

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