Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Student in hair row barred from rugby match

By Doug Laing
Hawkes Bay Today·
26 Jun, 2014 09:26 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Lucan Battison. Photo / APN

Lucan Battison. Photo / APN

A Hastings student awaiting a High Court decision on his long-hair suspension has been barred from playing rugby at the school - despite a judge urging his school to take no further disciplinary action pending a decision in the High Court.

Hawke's Bay Today understands St John's College student Lucan Battison, 16, was prevented from playing for the college's 1st XV this weekend after returning to school on Wednesday.

Lucan's family challenged the school's decision to suspend him for refusing to cut his hair and took the case to the High Court in Wellington earlier this week.

School principal Paul Melloy was not commenting yesterday, staff said, nor was the teen's family or lawyer, Jol Bates. The school's board chairman and its Auckland lawyer, Richard Harrison, were unable to be contacted.

If such a ban was enforced it would potentially conflict with an agreement the school made through Mr Harrison during the High Court judicial review.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The school had agreed to have the student back without repercussions pending the decision of Justice David Collins, expected next Friday.

Well-known psychologist Nigel Latta earlier posted on his Facebook page that he was "appalled" at the family's decision to take the case to court. "It seems clear from the newspaper reports that, despite the family's lawyer presenting the young man as somehow being a human rights crusader on a par with historical figures like Martin Luther King, the young person in question doesn't see himself like that," he wrote.

"The boy's father [Troy Battison] is quoted as saying 'it was about Lucan's right to express himself'. In my opinion it wasn't about that at all. It was about that individual father's total loss of perspective. This court action is, in my view, completely irresponsible, and may end up hurting us all.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"If we expect schools to look after our children then we need to support them and we need to make sure our children follow the school rules ... even the ones we may not necessarily like.

"Giving your kids the message that they only need to obey the school rules they like is dumb ... teachers should be in classrooms, not courtrooms."

What do you think?

Email letters@hbtoday.co.nz or write a letter to PO Box 180, Hasting, 4122

Discover more

Long locks lead to teen's suspension

13 Jun 09:09 PM

We must back son's stand - parents

18 Jun 02:30 AM

Support grows for school on long hair suspension

18 Jun 07:49 PM

Lucan set for school return

23 Jun 07:46 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

21 Jun 02:38 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

21 Jun 12:56 AM
Premium
Opinion

Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

20 Jun 07:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

21 Jun 02:38 AM

Firefighters are keeping a close watch to ensure the piles of debris do not reignite.

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

21 Jun 12:56 AM
Premium
Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

20 Jun 07:00 PM
Premium
Watch: Forestry skidder tipped over cliff after logging company goes bust

Watch: Forestry skidder tipped over cliff after logging company goes bust

20 Jun 06:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP