Fijian player allegedly racially abused at school rugby clash
Christ’s College is investigating allegations of racial abuse at a school rugby clash which left a player from St Thomas of Canterbury College visibly shaken up.
St Thomas notified Christ’s College after a parent learned of the alleged incident at an under 14 clash between the two schools on June 25.
The player, who is Fijian, was noticeably upset by the alleged incident, said Sabrina Selim, who is the parent of another player from St Thomas and was present at the game.
‘‘I saw him with tears in his eyes.’’
She didn’t realise he had ‘‘been verbally abused’’.
‘‘I thought he had been penalised by the ref.’’
Stuff spoke to two players from the St Thomas team. One said he heard the comments first-hand and they were ‘‘terrible’’.
He said his abused team-mate was left ‘‘almost embarrassed’’ by the incident. ‘‘He didn’t want to make a fuss.’’ He didn’t know what had happened at the time, but ‘‘looking back now’’ he was sure it was because of ‘‘the racist comments’’.
Both boys wanted to raise awareness for their friend. They wanted accountability.
The boys’ written statements would be used in the investigation.
Christ’s College executive principal Garth Wynne said the allegations were being taken seriously.
‘‘We do not tolerate any such behaviour and our students are always reminded of the standards we expect.’’
He ‘‘couldn’t comment further’’ while investigations were under way.
Another parent, Kalina Harmer-Campbell said the alleged comments were completely unacceptable.
‘‘The heart of this comment was just so revolting it made me feel sick.’’
Harmer-Campbell said the culture around rugby needed changing. ‘‘It’s bigger than one incident.’’ St Thomas’ deputy principal and head of sport Steve Hart said he would speak to all players this week.
He said it would be good prac- tice if players notified referees immediately, so the right action could be taken.
Head of middle school Hamish Barclay said the school was supporting the student, who said it wasn’t the first time he had been targeted because of his race.
Principal Christine O’Neill said the school was taking the issue seriously.
it wasn’t the first incident involving racial abuse against a pupil at the school, where 40 per cent of the roll was made up of Maori and Pasifika students.
‘‘It happens all the time. The worst comment is [when pupils say] this happens every day.’’
Racism was a major problem in sport, Hart said.
It was painful to see ‘‘young, vibrant, energetic people with that level of humiliation and shame.’’
Often victims of racial abuse were reluctant to come forward, he said.
‘‘It does take quite a lot of courage [to speak out],’’ said Hart.
Canterbury Rugby Football Union community rugby general manager Tim Gilkison said a formal complaint had not been lodged, but news of the alleged incident was ‘‘disappointing’’.
‘‘We need to do what we can to drive it out of the game, and out of society to be honest.’’
Complaints usually needed to be made to the union within a 48 hour period, but the rule was flexible, and incidents were often dealt with on a case-by-case basis, he said.
‘‘We don’t want it swept under the carpet.’’