Wairoa Boxing Club said the Eastern District Intelligence Unit undertook an assessment of the risk the event posed to members of the public.
This resulted in advice the event would be attended by gang members from Black Power and Mongrel Mob “who would be there to support family and friends on the fight card”.
“There is a realistic possibility that underlying tension between Mongrel Mob and Black Power members in the Wairoa area could escalate to further conflict offending, including violence or disorder,” the police told the club.
“This would be as a result of being in a shared space and the competitive nature of the event, paired with the consumption of alcohol.”
The club said it was feeling “gutted” and “pretty p***ed off” that the actions of “a small group of others (who are not even related to the boxing club in any way) means we can’t have a community event for a good cause”.
Its social media post sympathised with the 21 fighters who had sacrificed their time and energy to prepare for the fight over the past 12 weeks.
It said the club was also “gutted” for tamariki – the event was raising money for free boxing lessons for youth in the town.
“We’re only a small club and we have lost thousands of dollars on non-refundable deposits we have already paid for the event, which is heartbreaking.”
The club was working through refunding the money in the coming days and said it would reapply for the boxing permit when tensions died down.
Tairāwhiti Area Commander Inspector Danny Kirk said his focus was to ensure public safety and he had not taken the decision lightly.
“There is unresolved gang tension and permitting this event would pose a real risk to community safety.”
Kirk said several serious crime investigations were under way in Wairoa in relation to offending allegedly committed by gang members, including aggravated robbery, two shootings and an arson.
“As a result of recent incidents, the District Court was satisfied that a Gang Conflict Warrant was necessary to provide police with additional enforcement tools to bring heightened gang conflict and tension under control,” Kirk said.
The Gang Conflict Warrant was put in place from October 31 for a period of 14 days.
Kirk said he had spoken with the event organisers and Wairoa Mayor Craig Little and made no apology for taking the community’s safety seriously.
“An opportunity now exists for police, community leaders and gang leaders to come together for a robust conversation about how the unlawful behaviour of a few can impact pro-social community events like this.”
Little said he had attended previous Fight for Life events at the club and was surprised when he first heard about the cancellation.
“[Police] believe this event may escalate some of those tensions out in the community,” he said.
“Unfortunately, with the behaviour of gangs in our community in the recent couple of weeks, there’s been a little undertow happening there, and I think we can’t just tolerate this behaviour because, unfortunately, events like this will be cancelled if it carries on.”
Little said the Fight for Life events were not run by gangs, but there were gang members involved.
He said he wanted tensions to ease between Wairoa gangs to get the event up and running again.
“The police have said it will happen again, but the first thing they want to do is sit down with the gang leaders and some of the community, including myself, and just go through the issues,” he said.
“The problem is we accept it too much that this is quite acceptable.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.
