Schools warn of copycat Battle of the Hoods after posters call on children as young as 11 to fight

One of the posters calls on children aged 11 and 12 at three different intermediate schools to fight. Photo / Facebook

Parents are being warned to keep an eye on their children in the coming week following fears that there are planned violent fights set to occur between young people - thought to be copycat events of Hamilton’s “Battle of the Hoods”.

Three intermediate schools in South Auckland were included in posters encouraging school children in years 7 and 8 to meet at a local park this afternoon.

“Fist fight no weapons” the poster said.

The posters for “Battle of the toughest Intermidiate in Mangere East [sic]” included spelling errors and mismatched dates.

There was no date mentioned on one poster but another said the fight was scheduled for today at 4pm.

Police and school leaders were aware of the planned fights.

“Tāmaki Makaurau Police are aware of information of planned events circulating on some social media platforms,” police said in a statement to the Herald.

“We will keep monitoring and respond to any matters arising accordingly.”

Another poster publicised a fight organised for Monday, February 20, at Aorere Park and called on everyone, “including girls”.

The meet-up spot for another, between Avondale College and Māngere College students, was said to be tomorrow at Māngere town centre.

Police and school leaders are aware of the posters, which some believe were created by someone in Hamilton. Photo / Facebook

The shopping centre is nearby the Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Pool and Leisure Centre which is currently being used as a community hub for people displaced because of recent flooding.

Acting principal of Māngere College, Melegalenuu Ah Sam, said she had referred the poster and information to the Māngere Police Station and had been in contact with the principal of Avondale College.

“We have referred it to police and I have spoken to the sergeant at our Māngere Police Station and passed it into their hands,” Ah Sam said.

“We had a staff meeting about it and it’s our first week back so we are concentrating on teaching and keeping busy.”

Other school leaders had emailed parents and spoken to students in class and at assemblies.

A student at one of the schools believed all of the posters were the work of one or two students “who couldn’t spell” and it was not something students wanted to be involved in.

“We have just started at school and a lot of families in our community are dealing with damaged homes because of flooding,” the student who did not want to be named said.

“We have other things to deal with, not fighting.”

Another heard the posters were created by someone in Hamilton and not linked to the South Auckland community at all.

Last week a similar fight was planned in Hamilton with another poster, with similar poor grammar and spelling, doing the rounds on social media.

Police were on high alert for the supposed “battle of the hoods” in Hamilton’s CBD but the brawl never eventuated.

Parents who had seen the most recent posters hope the same would be the case in South Auckland.

Some put them up on social media and warned others to make sure their children stayed away.

Those discussing the posts on Facebook said they hoped it was a hoax or that the fights wouldn’t happen because police were aware.

Some doubted the person creating the posters was even a student at the schools mentioned.

One pointed out that Māngere College and Avondale College are in completely different areas and unlikely to have issue with each other.

It would take three buses and over an hour of travel to get between the schools.

A few said their children had been “given the hard word” at school to stay away from any organised fight - even as a bystander.

Others called on local teens to put their efforts into cleaning up their flood-stricken communities instead of fighting each other.

“What really? We as Māngere are still recovering from a traumatic state of being in natural disasters and this is what our youth is up to?” one said.

“Go battle cleaning up our neighbourhood and servicing our community in need!”