WRESTLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23204, 31 May 1937, Page 4

WRESTLING

BLOMFIELD DEFEATED SPELLMAN VINDICATES HIMSELF In what was unquestionably ,one,of th«i best wrestling contests ever seen in Dunedin, Jack Spellman defeated Lofty Blomfield on Saturday, evening by two falls to one, and, incidentally, left the impression with everyone who -saw him that: there isv little about wrestling that he does not know. Spellman weighed 16.0 and Blomfield was six pounds heavier, but the American more than made up for the discrepancy in poundage by the precision with ■which, he applied '-his holds, his clever countering, and his smooth, fast movement. The New Zealander, who was suffering from a severe cut over his left eye, did not appear to be.in his usual form, but even, if, he. had, been at his best it is doubtful if' he could have averted, defeat; he has . a good deal to learn! before becomes up to Spellman's standard. The bout was full 'of incident, fast, : and completely 'devoid of showmanship. The crowd which packed the Town Hall was 'intensely pro-Blom-field. but-it Was riot quite so sure about Spellman,'and for the first round or two everything/that happened t to Blomfield was looked on as just another injustice to New, Zealand. In the early stages the American' exploited wrist and harnmerlocks with considerable effect, and frequently had his opponent in trouble. Blomfleld was wrestling doggedly, and brought off Eome good counter's, but somehow, he did not seem to be capable of seriously worrying Spellman, except in the second round., when he slummed the American over with a headlock and held him on the mat With a short-arm scissors. At times his elbow jolt proved useful, but Spellman,is also.a competent exponent of. this, arti arid when it came to exchanges' he did not always come off second best,, -';: SpeHman; is a crafty veteran. On two or threa occasions he foxed so cleverly"-after going down to a battery of'jolts.-that he almost trapped Blomfleld into a : . dump. The UNew Zealander was at his best, in the third round. After Spellman had countered a head, scissors with a toehold, Blomfield rolled over and held his man in a Japanese; leglock. The crowd was on its toes now, for it knew that this was a prelude to the famous octopus clamp. The next moment, Blomfield was in an upright position and Spellman, thoroughly entangled; in the clamp, was forced to submit A roar of cheering such as has seldom been heard in the Town Hall was the' spectators' tribute to what, after all, is a hold that has been devised and developed by a New Zealander.

Blomfleld got home with several punishing elbow jolts, early in the fifth round and went for a hold, but before he knew what had happened Spellman had hoisted him high and crashed him to the canvas. Two more terrific dumps followed and .the American clinched his advantage "with an aeroplane spin, dump and , body press. Blomfleld was too. ijroggy, to. go to his corner and lay in the centre of the ring. As soon as the bell sounded for the commencement of the sixth/ round, Spellman was on his man again, and for a minute Blomfleld was desperately u&ng the,ropes for defence. When: he- did come out; Spellman launched' a flying tackle, but this .went astray,'and it took the combined efforts of the referee and an anxious spectator to extricate him from the ,net. Blomfleld was still on the defensive, but it was obvious that he was tiring, arid, the American .had little difficulty in crotching him, whirling him round, in an aeroplane spin, and dumping him for the deciding fall. Spellman had vindicated himself. PRELIMINARIES B. Marks 9.0 beat Gl Sheddan 95 on points. W. Chalmers. 9.0 beat N. Taylor 9.5 by one 'straight fail.. .: O; Terry IL7 beat L."Williams' 1141 by one straight fall. '• . '■■ •■•:' " ' H. Stevens 11.4 beat A. M'Millan 12.0 by two-falls!;■ '■ '';•>•':,.. -.■•/:■ ,' This bout was wrestled under Olympic rules, under which the contestants had to wrestle for 15 minutes on end, or until two falls were secured. Messrs D. Samson and C. Turner were the referees for the preliminaries and Mr : F. Anderyon controlled the main contest. AN UNPOPULAR DECISION (Prart, -UNrxBO Press. Association.! ... " >, v ■ AUCKLAND; May 30.' Solid wrestling devoid of showmanship characterised the professional match between Sammy Stein and Hal Rumberg. The latter obtained a fall in the third round, when following some forearm jolting, he sprang quickly off the ropes and took Stein to the mat with a flying body scissors, when he easily pressed his opponent's shoulders down. '. Stein evened the match' with a fall in the seventh round, a succession of flying'tackles paving the way. for a body press. No 'fall resulted in the final round. There was a storm, of disapproval when the referee gave a decision on po.ints in favour.,of Stein.., A DRAWN CONTEST (Per United Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, May 30. Forsgren (Canada) and Kirilinko (Russia) drew with one fall each fin a rough wrestling match on Saturday. Kirilinko was awarded a penalty fall in/the fifth round, when Forsgren kicked him as, he lay prostrate (-.after: •an elbow jolt. Forsgren equalised in the eighth, falling on his opporierit as he over-balanced in attempting a dump.