ALL ORDERED OFF!

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 205, 13 August 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

ALL ORDERED OFF!

WIN FOR HASTINGS ORPHANS ONE PLAYER SERIOUSLY INJURED. LEG AMPUTATED ON SIDELINE! Roars of laughter greeted the Napier and Hastings Orphans’ football teams as they marched on to the field at McLean Park, Napier, this afternoon, accompanied by Red Cross nurses, doctors, stretchers, splints and all necessaries in the event of emergencies. The fancy costumes worn Here varied and original. The players represented parsons, ladies of fashion, country gentlemen, beach paraders, etc.

The match was played in true holiday spirit. Play was held up on countless occasions when the Red Cross nurses were summoned to attend to injuries. One player was so seriously hurt, indeed, that it was necessary to carry him off the field on a stretcher and to amputate a leg on the side-line, this being done expeditiously with a cross-cut saw, the severed limb being held up for the inspection of the crowd by the triumphant doctor. There seems to have been no doubt that the match would have been won by the Napier Orphans, except for the unfortunate but necessary action of referee, Mr A. E. Renouf, who had to deal physically with every member of the team for failing to throw the ball in straight at a line-out. There being no one left to play the Hastings team, and' no replacements being allowed, the referee was forced to play the opposing team himself. Being both team and referee, he had no difficulty in turning the match to good account for Hastings, who won by 10 points to nil.