WRESTLING IN SYDNEY

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 223, 16 August 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

WRESTLING IN SYDNEY

THYE AND EDWARDS DRAW. Ted Thye, the American wrestler, who was in Australia last year, was awarded a draw with Canadian Billy Edwards at Rushcutter Bay Stadium, Sydney on the night of August 4. Each man secured a fail. Thye opened the season’s engagements by defeating Charlie Strack at Newcastle on the previous Saturday nighty and in his Sydney match Edwards, last month, lost . to George Kotsonaros on a foul. Edwards’s weight was announced as 13st and Tliyo was 81b heavier. The contest was marked by fierce work from the opening round. Thye was first to score, bringing Edwards down by tho legs, but the latter rolled outside the ring.. Again Tliye floored the Canadian, but Edwards obtained a head scissors. Edwards frequently adopted his customary method of evasion by crawling under the ropes. Upon many occasions Edwards was cautioned for punching. Ho rushed his opponent in the second round and Thye failed in an attempt to impose a Boston crab. Edwards kicked his apponent under the chin to escape from a wrist lock, but later, Thye had him in a reverse wrist lock and body press. He persevered and eventually forced Edwards’s shoulders down, being awarded a fall in 6min 30sec. Edwards expressed his displeasure by attempting to strike the referee, but was forced back to his corner by his seconds and ring attendants. Kicking and punching marked the early stages of the third term, then Thye sent Edwards staggering to the ropes, and Edwards was hooted for endeavouring to strangle his opponent by drawing the rope under Thye’s chin. Edwards gained his fall in 4min 55sec of tho fifth round. Thye appeared dazed after being thrown by a couple of head locks during which Edwards gouged liis opponent’s eyes. Two further head locks brought Thye down, and the referee awarded the fall. In the fifth session there were some exciting happenings that are referred to below. When Tliye returned to the ring and Tom Lurich took Mr Banner’s place as referee, the wrestling became fiercer. As the men rolled outside Lurich dragged them backhand he was frequently engaged in altercations with Edwards, and to separate them once he slapped Edwards’s face and forced Thye’s chin back. As Thye fell outside Edwards awaited his return and jumped upon him. During the closing stages Edwards was stronger. Many times lie had Tliye within inches of the mat, but failed to complete the fall, and when the eighth round terminated Lurich declared the men equal. REMARKABLE SCENES. Extraordinary happening? were witnessed in the wrestling match between Ted Thye and Billy Edwards at Rushcutter Bay Stadium on the night of August 4, when, after the /referee, Tom Banner, had declared Tliye the winner, stadium officials ordered him to return to the ring. Thye had secured a fall in the second round, and Edwards equalised matters in the fourth term. It'had been one of the roligliestimatches of ,the Reason, and in {he fifth session Thye was struggling to break from a headlock when, in endeavouring to kick himself free, .his foot landed below the referee’s ribs. The Stadium official fell to the mat, and meanwhile the wrestlers continued. Banner was stupefied by the blow and was endeavouring to regain his senses when he reached across and patted Tliye upon the back, the customary indication of awarding a fall. Mr Banner was assisted out of the ring, and the announcement was made that Tlive had been declared the winner. In the midst of the prevailing excitement Edyards endeavoured to address the audience, claiming that his shoulders had not been forced to the mat. Thye had retired to his dressing room, and Mr O. Griffiths, the Stadium manager, then interviewed the referee. He was satisfied that Mr Banner was not cognisant of the happenings in the ring and he proceeded to Thye’s dressing room. Thye indicated that lie was prepared to return to the arena, and as Mr Banner had not recovered Tom Lurich, the wrestler, was requested to adjudicate. Further trouble threatened when the contest was resumed. When Lurich separated the men Edwards attacked him. Lurich retaliated, and the contest was hold up for a few moments whilst Lurich and Edwards commenced boxing. Thye’s intervention prevented a continuation, and tho match proceeded. The new referee was frequently compelled to prevent illegal work, and one of the fiercest contests

seen at Rushcutter Bay closed with the referee declaring a draw. THREE WRESTLERS. ARRIVAL bF AORANGI. Three professional wrestlers were among the passengers who arrived from Vancouver by the Aorangi this week. Two of the trio were through passengers under engagement to Stadiums, Ltd. (Australia), but the third has come out from America for matches in New Zealand. Joe Stecher is the best-known of the three, being a former holder of the world’s heavy-weight championship which he lost to Strangler Lewis, who won his first match in Australia this season on Saturday night last. With Stecher, as his manager, is his brother Tony. Abe Coleman, who won the Canadian light heai’y-wei gilt championship in 1925, is also under engagement to Stadiums. Coleman is 25 years of age, and claims to havo had over 300 matches. He hopes to come to New Zealand later in the season, and is particularly anxious to meet George Walker. Coleman wrestled Clarence Eklund, former holder of the title, for two hours to a draw. Walter Logan is the wrestler who has come to join the overseas Contingent at present in New Zealand. He is an American, and is only 24 years of age. He has had about 200 matches in America and Canada, and claims to have won more than half of that number. NOTES. The American Wrestling Association took Pesek’s light-heavyweight title away two months ago by declaring the division void. * Walter Miller, the world’s middleweight wrestling champion will shortly return to the United States, where he intends to issue a challenge to Gus Connenberg, the recently deposed heavyweight wrestling champion of the world. , , Ted Thye, 13st 91b, was awarded the decision over Charlie Strack, 15st 741 b, in a wrestling match at Newcastle Stadium on August 2. The contest, which was scheduled for six ten-minute rounds, ended sensationally in the fifth round. Each man had scored a fall, when Strack, in attempting a flying tackle, crashed through the rope to injure his side on the back of a ringside chair. He could not enter the ring when called upon by the referee, T. Banner, who then declared Thye the winner. Melbourne papers describes a wrestling contest held in their city recently, with W. Edwards and K. Sarpolis as the principals, as being on a level of a bar-room brawl. Edwards started the rough stuff and Sarpolis quickly followed his lead. There was more fighting than wrestling. After Edwards had been disqualified in the fifth round for dropping Sarpolis with a right to the jaw he went for the referee. Then there was practically a free fight in the ring. After that Edwards sat in his corner find cried 1 It was he who figured in last week’s brawl at tne Sydney Stadium. The New Zealand Wrestling Assocmtion hope to match “Scotty” SfcDougal with Walter Hogg (New Zealand) on August 25.