“UNLUCKY” DANTHE WRESTLER MAN.

Camp News (Northern Command), Volume 1, Issue 7, 14 June 1940, Page 5

“UNLUCKY” DAN—THE WRESTLER MAN.

(From the Auckland “Star.”) Sure, now, isn’t he the unluckiest bhoy, that Daniel O’Connor? And isn’t he the broth of a bhoy, too? But, ochone, he shouldn’t have been after hittin’ that big Lofty feller in the restin’ place of the ’tators. It wasn’t the sort of thing that Red Hugh would have been after doin’, no . . . nor bold Phelan Brady, either. But, however they are talking about it around the inglenooks in Ballymeath this day the facts remain that red-headed “Drop-kick” Dan O’Connor did hit Lofty Blomfield below or on the Plimsol line, and that the referee, the McLean himself, did raise the hand of Blomfield in the fourth round of the wrestle at the Auckland Town Hall on the King’s Birthday. We said it. The fourth round, believe it or not. What is more to the point, Blomfield already had a fall in hand at that stage. SAMPLES AND REBOUNDS. When Blomfield handed out a sample jolt at the kick off, unrolled a

length of rope work and poured out a punch. . . . And when O’Conner roughed up his own hair as a settler to pent feelings and quietly tossed Lofty for a couple of “perlers” in headlocks, the wise birds murmured darkly, “It won’t be long now.” It wasn’t, but there was a lot of sore throats between that and the curtain fall. The crowd was in full cry throughout, and there was plenty to cry about, too.

Mr. McLean was early in the picture, tossing the he-men aside with the abandon that comes from comparative immunity in the box-seat position. From one of those little side issues Daniel emerged with a bad case of “throuble” in his eye, and a smacking left to Lofty’s jaw rocked the New Zealand champion on his size nines. It was “body line” stuff, and Lofty sailed in with face, rope and ear work that ended suddenly in a startled “Watch him, ref!” from Blomfield. From the blind side it seemed that some nasty fellow had bitten some other fellow. THE HEAT WAS ON. So to the second— one of the most action-filled rounds yet encountered. From an opening jolt account Lofty tried a leg trip, but swift as ever rolled the barrel, so rolled Dan to the feet of the Press, there to wag an inviting “try again” finger. So they went to jolts. What jolts! And that was Lofty’s. The ref. said they were blows and exchanged a shove for a shove with O’Connor. Twice Lofty threw Dan by the hair. “Stop it,” said Mr. McLean, and Lofty listened, to be taken, off his guard with a butt. He dodged two tackles but stopped a punch in the eye . . . and again; with a warning by Mr. McLean to Dan for each.

Toe-to-toe, with jolts working at war-effort pace in the third. Face work by Lofty that had O’Connor beating the floor in rage, and then

. . . action. Twice O’Connor threw tackles that lowered Lofty, but it was a trap ... a third tackle met an oncoming jolt and Dan went down under a press. He dodged that, but again Blomfield was in, with three ringing jolts to the jaw, two dumps and a press. Nice work, really, and a fall to Lofty!

The end was not long distant. Things quietened with a punishing Indian death-lock, applied with the arm, on O’Connor. Mr. McLean broke that under the ropes, and then Dan came swinging. Under a shower of jolts Lofty went back, and then, suddenly, he doubled up. A power-plus rightarm jolt had taken him amidships.

With that ended Mr. McLean’s patience . . . and the match. Lofty had won on a penalty plus a fall. Afterwards, it may be added, Dan said that if it was a low blow it was accidental, and he was sorry.