forwards by holding on to their guernseys while play is at another part of the ground will be penalised in future matches. The League permit and umpire committee has instructed umpires and the umpires' coach to pay attention to the practice of interfering with forwards in future games. Mr. W. Brew (Essendon) told delegates at the V.F.L. permit meeting on Wednesday night that in recent matches leading forwards had been "held down" by their guernseys by full backs without justification, and often when play was at the other end of the ground. Mr. H. Clover (Carlton), a former champion forward: "That's-not a new trick. It happened to me 25 years ago!" ": [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22828277 Forwards to be Protected, The Argus, (Friday, 12 May 1950), p.19]</ref> and in the absence of any sort of protection at all from the field umpires, these problems with Coleman's response to the ever-increasing level of provocation, abuse, headlocks, hair-tugging, and thuggery came to head quite sensationally when Coleman was reported in the last minutes of the second quarter of Essendon's last match of the 1951 home-and-away season against Carlton, at Princes Park. He was reported for striking Carlton's journeyman back-pocket ruckman Harry Caspar; Caspar was also reported for striking Coleman. Today, it is well established that Caspar had been niggling Coleman since the very start of the match, which included making persistent and heavy contact with a nasty boil on Coleman's neck; and that Caspar had punched Coleman twice whilst play was at the other end of the ground, immediately before Coleman retaliated; and that, apart from his reaction to Caspar's thuggery, Coleman had not been proactive in any way. The match to that time had been a somewhat brutal encounter, and the crowd was highly agitated. During the match, bottles were thrown at Coleman, and as he came off the ground at half-time and walked up the players race, a Carlton fan spat at him through gaps in the cyclone wired barriers that separated the spectators from the players. Coleman snapped, and smashed the fan in the face, badly hurting his hand. He went into the Essendon rooms, shouting with rage at the total absence of any protection from the match officials, took off his jumper, and spoke of not returning to the field. He was finally persuaded to take the field for the second half, and once on the field, he was so "full