A fight between fans at Mt Smart stadium broke out on Saturday night. Video / Cesãh Liiná via Facebook / Supplied / TikTok
The days of enjoying beer from the bottle in Mt Smart corporate boxes have come to a bitter end.
A post-match stoush at the stadium between drunken corporate box patrons and fans in the cheaper seats below has sparked a comprehensive bottle ban at the venue.
Chaos erupted during thespeech by victorious Kiwis captain Jesse Bromwich after his side triumphed over a spirited Mate Ma'a Tonga opposition late last month.
Three witnesses independently told the Herald that the fight began as a result of a drunken mix of Kiwis and Tonga fans in the corporate box spraying beer and then throwing objects including bottles and plates into the crowd.
Spectators from the stands captured on camera climbing into the box to remonstrate with the intoxicated patrons in the box were only acting to stop the hail of projectiles, witnesses said.
Auckland Stadiums director James Parkinson said at the time it was the venue's policy that all drinks were decanted into plastic cups for corporate box patrons taking their beverages out on to the deck.
"However, we have always allowed glasses and glass bottles in our indoor corporate areas," he said.
"This will be reviewed with recommended changes implemented ahead of our next event."
Parkinson told the Herald all corporate suites have now moved to a policy of "100 per cent decant into plastic".
"Only catering staff can handle glass bottles. This will apply to all events."
There have been no arrests in relation to the disorder. A police spokeswoman said the investigation continued and officers are following lines of inquiry.
"We continue to encourage people with information to contact Police on 105 or anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111."
Auckland physiotherapist Samantha Henry had just finished watching the game when the stoush erupted.
Henry was whacked with a bottle out of the blue when she turned around to investigate the commotion.
It left her with a black eye, but the outcome could have been much worse, she said.
"I didn't even see it coming.
"If the bottle had broken it would have taken my eye out."
A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said a member of a group of young people in a corporate box threw a flag into the bay below.
Someone in that box then shook up a can of beer and sprayed it over the crowd, before flinging the empty can into the stands.
At this point, the crowd in the rows below asked the revellers in the box to cut it out.
They did not.
Samantha Henry (inset) was injured by a flying bottle when violence erupted between a corporate box and those in the stands at the Kiwis vs Tonga clash on June 25 at Mt Smart Stadium. Photos / Supplied
The witness said the fans in the box started throwing plastic wine glasses at people on the stairs who were trying to leave their seats, followed by a hail of glass bottles and porcelain crockery.
"Wasn't long before they started throwing chairs and any objects they could find," the witness said.
In response, three men from the stands started retaliating, eventually jumping into the corporate box and flinging chairs back, she said.
The witness said members of a nearby corporate box, rented by Vodafone, helped pull her family and others to safety to avoid the glass and porcelain breaking at their feet.
She was grateful for their help as they had no other way out, she said.
Another woman in the stands said she saw a bottle hurtling towards her young daughter.
She covered her daughter with her body and, like Henry, was struck in the head.
