KEY POINTS:
The entire senior team in a Northland rugby competition have been banned from playing for the rest of this season and next after opposing players were kicked on the ground during a game last weekend.
Police investigating a brawl that erupted 30 minutes into a game between the
Whangaruru senior side and Whangarei Old Boys at the Oakura sports ground say at least two Old Boys players were kicked as they lay on the field.
Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
We all do it!
This is very interesting. As a proud supporter for a different club in this division I'm not surprised with the media frenzy and more importantly the inconsistent message and decisions of the NRU. Reality, there are untold fights in this division amongst all the teams, but it always seems to be the poor Maori community from the beautiful East Coast that seems to be penalised. Those who know Northland Rugby will understand that Old Boys are a redneck club full of Cops that will strategically disadvantage any team they fear loosing to, they have done it to every team in the competition over a number of years and will continue to do so, which is sad because it gives us "good" rednecks a bad name. I love our boys playing Whangaruru, you're guaranteed a brilliant exciting game with hard hits, well earned tries and exceptional skills. Second Division Rugby in the north will be nothing but boring for the next two years, but on a more positive note: with Whangaruru out of the competition will give my club an easier pathway to the top and not to forget we'd love to scout a couple of key Whangaruru players to help us do this.
Carl (Whangarei)
I have played senior rugby against these guys for years. They have always been violent, they never go on to a field to play rugby, they go out there to take someone's head off and have a fight. The penalty is not harsh enough, ban them for 10 years. Yes, the players will play for other clubs, but these clubs culture is different, and will not tolerate thuggery and violence. Go Mid-Western
realsport
Leave the poor darlings alone, if they can't enjoy a bit of biff on the field they'll take it home to the missus and kids.From a sociological point of view, there's a school of thought that says the English brought thugby here as a replacement for inter-tribal and Maori-Pakeha violence - kinda paternalistic, but that was they way of the age. Nicer than what the English did to the Chinese about the same time, what with getting their older (wiser) men hooked on opium and all eh!All-up I suggest it's high time NZ realised its national sport (religion?) is a minority blip on the sporting radar internationally, and high time we evolved to a slightly higher form of life that doesn't venerate a group of men old enough to know better to get off on chasing a piece of pig skin around a paddock.
Unkle (Whangarei)
I have lived in and proudly represented the Whangaruru rugby team(which is not a club team but a Maori district team).After we won the div. 2 competiton 2 years in a row we were denied entry into the premier comp. twice because of a supposed lack of facilities.In return the Northland rugby union promised to help foster and support by sending profesional help out and helping with facility upgrades.
Two years down the track and with no help or direction as promised the Team the Northland union chose to promote and support,Wellsford,(who Whangaruru beat in two grand finals,but the union still promoted them instead) is one of the top teams in Northland,meanwhile the whangaruru team is still waiting for their help which never came. The only thing the young people out there,rightly or wrongly,have to do and look foward to is rugby.My young sons and most of this team are playing for the first time and are still training because they know that the incident has been misreported and it was only three players fighting,No spectators as reported and the whole thing has been blown out of proportion without hearing. The Northland union,treat all our teams(even our junior teams)like dirt.
Ruru supporter
Whatever the final outcome may be,Whangaruru Club has been dealt an unjust sentence by the rugby union. The process for such a case was not followed by the nru and altho they have the club chairmans phone no, did not bother to contact him.There will an appeal. Not one spectator ran on the field, the players red carded did not fight anyone, they were red carded for swearing at the ref. And, the referees assn ought to be held accountable for sending a young man who referees JMB games out to ref a game played by seniors. The fighting was unsavoury to say the least, the police won't press charges because they have no one to press charges against. Old Boys players are strong, throw a mean punch, use their knees to great effect and have won the odd game against Whangaruru. Old Boys certainly reacted with great speed and gusto, do you think they just stood there and let the opposition do as they pleased. All I can say is, get it right before you make a judgement.
JT
Good job - it is high time thugs are dealt with by action. The overall PC attitudes of today where victims are victimised makes me sick. Punish the wrongdoers with meaningful penalties such as this that actually affect them and stick to it. Then finally they will think twice.
JG
They definitely deserve to be banned. This wasn't excessive aggression but serious assault on a sports field. Totally unacceptable.
Uncle Biff
I say bring back the biff. Remember the good old days when athletes would just loose it and start bashing each other? Those were the days of vintage sport. Bring back power rucking as well, that'll stop those other teams slowing down the ABs. Go the ABs!
Alan Wilkinson
Having lived at Whangaruru part-time and full-time for seven years I am sure that this behaviour is no accident but the consequence of misspent lives in an isolated and violent area fuelled by welfare-provided drugs and alcohol. There are of course very many decent people there as well as the others. Misdirected "welfare" has a lot to answer for in Northland.
Murray
If there is nothing to stop players from the club going to other teams, what use the ban? By all means ban the team, but ban the individual scumbags who choose to kick someone while he is lying on the ground. And ban them for life, not a few Saturdays. Hopefully the police will have sufficient evidence to see them guys put away.
Aaron de Jonge
The trouble is you're banning a club not the players involved. What's to stop these guys playing for another club in next year's competition? I can hear all the goodie-too-shoes saying, "It's such a violent game". More like it's simply the way we've allowed our society to become. People simply don't care if they hurt anyone anymore.
Mike Dinsmore
Yes the ban is deserved. This sort of violence must be stamped out. It encourages violence off the field as has been shown by several well known rugby players being arrested for pub brawls, etc.
Phil
Who knows what they should get since there has yet to be a proper hearing on the issue. I wonder how many of those who voted for the ban felt the same when Richard Loe was accused of 'punishing' a Wallaby player for scoring a try in a test match? The damage to the Wallaby's eye appeared to be more substantial than in this case, yet Loe copped a much lower penalty and no one talked about banning the All Blacks from international rugby for two seasons.
Chris
Yes, they should be banned. Scumbags like that don't deserve to play rugby or any organised sport.
Shrek - in London for Rugby World Cup
I was just told from a friend in London of what happened to members of my old club, the Old Boys Seniors, as to do with the team that has been banned and I must say, it is a long time coming. I have been at the receiving end of dirty play that cost me two broken ribs and a semi-final with my club at hand. I have played rugby league for 20 odd years and played my first season at rugby last year and was enjoying the challenge of what rugby was until our last game was against Whangaruru. All I can say is I just planted the ball and then got a good knee in the back for my troubles! What goes around comes around! Clubs like that give a sport a bad name and I hope my old team mates are doing fine with what happened and I wish them the best.
Manawa (Hamilton)
One can go only on what one as read. The full story may never be told. This sort of thing needs to be dealt with quite severely - but fairly. All sides of this story need to be told and not hidden away in a closet box. If someone has assaulted someone on a rugby field, he is normally dealt with by a judicial. But when supporters come on to a field this is entirely a different story. Let's wait and see what both sides have to say about it before we criticise someone, as us Kiwis are bloody quick at jumping on to people's back and stabbing them in the back when there is always two sides to every story.
