Goldsmith said for too long gangs have been unwanted, intimidating and a pervasive prescience in communities.
Opinion
EDITORIAL
Last weekend several hundred people took up vantage points around Hastings’ Bill Matthewson Park to take in some grassroots rugby.
Grandparents, parents and children mingled with mates and partners of Tamatea Arikinui and the Young Māori Party (YMP) teams that were taking part in the third division href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/hawkes-bay/">Hawke’s Bay club clash.
The division has a rich history in the region’s club rugby ranks, with teams featuring rising youngsters and players of an older vintage rekindling former glories. It’s not uncommon for fathers to be playing alongside their sons or nephews.
But for the past week, the headlines generated by what happened during the Tamatea Arikikuni/YMP clash – and what happened away from the park afterwards – saw the competition be lumped with negative headlines.
That came after a Tamatea Arikinui player was left on the deck following a hefty tackle from a YMP opponent. What followed saw some Tamatea supporters run onto the playing arena, including some armed with weapons such as knives.
An eye-witness said the sideline support for Tamatea Arikinui included people linked to the Mongrel Mob.
YMP hail from the village of Raupunga; an area between Napier and Wairoa that is known for having a strong Black Power presence.
You don't get a gang patch for being an angel.
The dramas didn’t end with the match cancellation.
In even more shocking scenes, the YMP team convoy was targeted by Mob-affiliated group.
That saw them first chasing the YMP team van in several cars - with Mobsters brandishing weapons out of their vehicles - and then trying to ram the van off the road.
Later a gun was presented and several rounds were fired at the YMP van; leaving the vehicle’s back window and door peppered in pellets.
“They were then chased by numerous vehicles of Mongrel Mob members and associates trying to ram YMP off the road, and they shot multiple rounds at their team van,” an eye-witness said.
The police later said in a statement: “Those involved are believed to be gang-linked and the shots appear to have been targeted at an opposing gang”.
Gang members take over both sides of the road during a funeral procession in 2020.
The surge in gang membership - and associated crime - has been a rightful cause for concern over past years.
While campaigning to be Prime Minister last year, then Opposition leader Christopher Luxon presented statistics that showed gang membership had risen by 66 per cent since the previous Labour Government was elected in 2017.
“New Zealand now has 8900 gang members, compared to 10,700 frontline police officers. Alarmingly, gangs are now recruiting around twice as fast as the police, and in five police districts there are now more gang members than police officers.”
Whether the hand-wringers like it or not, gangs and their highly unsocial activities have to be targeted. You don’t get a gang patch for being an angel.
New Zealanders are increasingly being exposed to unlawful behaviour and signs of strength by gangs such as this. Photo / Andrew Warner
Law-abiding New Zealanders do not deserve to be exposed to the ugly - and dangerous - side of gangs while out enjoying some sport.
