ORDERED OFF.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 190, 12 August 1931, Page 11

ORDERED OFF.

Player Agrees to Apologise to Referee. CROCKETT WILL NOW •TOUR. Because he was willing to apologise to the referee, I. Crockett, wing-for-ward for the Canterbury representative team on the northern tour, will be able to travel with the team. He was ordered off the field in the Canterbury B v. Ellesmere Sub-Union game at Southbridge last Saturday. His case was dealt with by the Management Committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union last evening. The referee (Mr H. D. Jones) stated in a letter that Crockett had disputed his rulings and used bad language to him, thereby causing trouble generally. Crockett had been warned previously for criticising his rulings, and eventually he had no option but to ask him to leave the field. The Ellesmere Sub-Union wrote stating that, after hearing the referee, its opinion was that the referee’s action was justified. Crockett, who appeared before the committee, said that it had been purely an accident. In moving away from a scrum he had run into someone who he thought was a player, but who he afterwards found was the referee. He had told the supposed player to get out of his road. The teams were not packing down properly, and Crockett waited till the scrum was well formed before he made to put the ball in. In the meantime the referee took the ball from him and put it in the scrum himself. Just before that Crockett had asked the referee, “ Who will put the ball in the scrum?” The referee, according to Crockett, said nothing. In answer to questions, Crockett said that he was invited by the referee to return to the field, but did not, as he thought that, though it had been a mistake on the player’s part, ordering off was justified. The Ellesmere captain had appealed against Crockett being sent off. When the player retired, Mr J. K. Moloney said that upon the union’s decision would rest whether Crockett was able to travel north with the Canterbury team. Mr T. Milliken, manager of the Canterbury B team which played Ellesmere, said that Crockett had been invited by the referee to return to the field. Crockett was a very headstrong player and was trying his hardest to get into the Canterbury team. The speaker understood that after the match Crockett said that he had not returned to the field because he was independent. It did not always pay to be independent. The meeting decided that if Crockett were prepared to apologise to the referee the incident could be closed. Crockett agreed to this.

REUNION OF PLAYERS. Members of three Varsity Sides. Many of the players who toured with the New Zealand Universities’ Rugby team to Australia this season will be present at a reunion luncheon to be held in Christchurch next Saturday, on which day teams from Canterbury College, Otago University and Victoria University College will be seen in action at Lancaster Park. Canterbury College will play their annual match against Victoria College as a curtainraiser to the Payne Trophy match between Otago University and Merivale, the champion teams of Otago and Canterbury respectively. The luncheon will be a gathering unique in the history of the New Zealand universities, as it will be the first occasion on which teams from three of the universities have come together. A number of former university players are expected to be present, including Mr J. D. Hutchinson, who has played for Victoria College and Otago University, and Messrs W. J. Sim, J. K. Moloney, R. Simmers and B. Diedrich, all of whom have represented both Victoria College and Canterbury College on the football field.