Sports Review

It Was Something

Akin To A Riot

r!E Suburbs (Auckland) Rugby Club, which made a short social tour of Fiji early in Oc tober must have wondered if “social” had another meaning after they played a match against the Suva Fijians. Tension built up dur ing the game, ending with one visitor and three Fijians receiving their marching orders.

One Suburbs visitor remarked to the referee later, “Are they always like this up here”? But there was some justification as far as the Fijians were concerned for indulg ing in a little bit of retaliation.

A Maori player in the Suburbs pack soon found a way to get under the Fijians’ skin with a few well directed insults and choice of ad jectives. The match, which started off in promising fashion, developed into a straight-out brawl. First to go off was Apenisa Nawalu, fol lowed by Beardshaw (the Suburbs captain) and then Sailosi and Isikeli, a couple of students from the Nasinu Training College.

But for quick police action there could have been something akin to a riot as spectators raced on to the field when the referee blew his whistle for time.

By coincidence, the referee was Mr Terry Casey, who controlled the Suva Fijians-Tonga match in 1959, another game in which illegal play was rife. , , But the only player to incur the referee’s displeasure and suffer the supreme penalty was the same N Nawaiu incidentally, who toured Australia in 1954, later suffered a

life suspension as far as rugby was concerned, but the Fiji Rugby Union relented in 1959 and allowed him to play again, with a proviso that he can’t play for Fiji abroad.

The disgraceful brawling took place in front of the Governor (Sir Kenneth Maddocks) and several other dignitaries.

It was an incident best forgotten, and the visitors and the Suva Euro pean team on the following Wed nesday did a good deal to eradicate the memory of a sorry affair with a brilliant exhibition of fast-mov ing rugby.

His Memorial Is On

The Cricket Field

From a Rabaul Correspondent 4 KINDLY old man who in his young days could ride a bicycle and run a mile against the best of them—and who at the age of 61 walked 150 miles through the forests of New Britain—will have his memorial on the cricket fields of Rabaul.

He was Mr. G. P. Brown of Rabaul, who died in August. His son, Mi’. Rex Brown, has presented a trophy to Rabaul Cricket Associa tion for perpetual competition. It will be known as the G. P. Brown Shield, and will be competed for be fore the end of this year.

Mr. Brown came to Rabaul from Queensland in the late 1930’s He had been a prominent athlete, cyclist and amateur boxer.

He worked for a timber company in Rabaul, and was one of the men who decided to walk out -when the Japanese invasion occurred.

IN THE WET: For the second year in succession, Rarotonga's European rugby team—playing its one and only game of the year—lost to a local team for Takuvaine. The final score was 9-3, but this was a lot better than last year's 11 to nil. Bad weather made it a real mud bath, and the referee at one stage was mistaken for a player. Photo: R. D. Moore