Suburbs defend mum at game
Punches were thrown on and off the field, with a player’s mother allegedly being assaulted, at a heated club rugby final in Auckland at the weekend.
After an earlier ‘‘scuffle’’ between players during the match, two players from the losing the Otahuhu team reportedly jumped a fence and began punching and kicking a mother who was celebrating her son scoring a try, a club official said.
She was the mother of a player in the opposing Suburbs team which won the Auckland Rugby Union premier development final 38-18, at Shadbolt Park on July 29.
Stefan Cooks, chairman of the Suburbs Rugby Club, wasn’t there at the time but said he was reliably informed that ‘‘all hell broke lose’’ after the two players began the assault.
‘‘The game was heading towards the end and it was fairly intense.
‘‘Our boys scored a try and a mother on the sideline was cheering her son who scored the try and then two players apparently jumped the fence and assaulted her,’’ Cooks said.
‘‘And one other apparently, who didn’t jump the fence, was throwing them flags and things to attack the woman with. They also assaulted another woman who was trying to help her.’’
The assault was eventually broken up when Suburbs players intervened and pulled the Otahuhu players back, Cooks said.
He said the attack was senseless and unnecessary.
‘‘It was a hell of a shock to find our woman supporters were being attacked by opposition players.
‘‘It’s not our standards, it’s not what we believe in, and we do not tolerate it.’’ Police were called to investigate and Suburbs said it would file an official match complaint to the Auckland Rugby Union about the incident.
There weren’t any major injuries and no ambulance was needed, Cooks said.
Otahuhu president John Roache told NZME he had heard the game had been stopped early after a fight but was not aware of the details.
He said if the claims were true, he was ‘‘ashamed and very disappointed’’ and the players responsible would be disciplined and possibly banned.
On July 31, Auckland Rugby Union said it had not received any official complaints from the match but was expecting one later in the day.