Our View: Bad eggs threaten sport's positivity

There is no secret in the fact that a healthy involvement in sport for our young people is a good thing.
Sport, particularly team sport, teaches us many admirable traits like determination, teamwork, good attitude and hard work.
It is not often you hear about a kid going off the rails because of their involvement in sport.
Quite the contrary, many a young sporting star, even the great Jonah Lomu, has said how sport saved them from going down the wrong path - a path that would have ended in prison.
Not only is sport healthy and wholesome, it is character building.
But sometimes that is all thrown out the window by bad eggs that choose to get involved in sport for the wrong reasons.
In the past week, the Bay of Plenty Times has covered two events that have ended in controversy with accusations of improper behaviour on the sidelines.
In rugby league, a Rotorua supporter may be banned from all league fields for life if he is found to have brought the game into disrepute following an incident in Rotorua involving the Ngongotaha and Otumoetai teams.
It was alleged an Otumoetai Eels supporter was hit with a fence stake by a Ngongotaha supporter when a fight broke out.
This week a story emerged that former Bay rugby star and current Bay health board member Matua Parkinson faces disciplinary action after a complaint about his behaviour at a club match.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union's judiciary committee will meet tomorrow to consider the complaint about the former New Zealand Sevens captain.
It has been reported the complaint alleges that Mr Parkinson swore at the assistant referee and then pulled his shorts down.
If both of these allegations are proven, it is outrageous behaviour given the positive nature of sport.
No doubt there were young people at both these games who may have seen things that may mould their future attitude to sport.
There is certainly nothing wrong with healthy support and cheering from the sidelines but sadly there seems to plenty more of the negative that comes from many sidelines these days.
It also doesn't help the image of sport when teams like the Otumoetai Eels have a posse of patched gang members on their sidelines for home games.
Sport and gangs simply have nothing in common and young people don't need to make any link between the two.
Quite simply, we need to clean up our act so sport can continue to have a positive impact on our young people.