Aca forgives racist abusers
Fijian rugby player Sake Aca has forgiven those who racially abused him at a senior club rugby final and will not be making a formal complaint to police.
Aca, a winger for Christchurch, was subjected to racist taunts during the second half of the senior club final at Rugby Park on July 26.
He left the field in tears 10 minutes before full time.
‘‘They called me a black c... , an idiot, and they used the f word,’’ he said. Speaking yesterday, Aca revealed he had forgiven the people who racially abused him.
‘‘They are university students and I’m just thinking about their career, their rugby career or school work, because they are still young.
‘‘Back in Fiji it’s our culture to forgive somebody; if they have done something wrong to you, you need to forgive them,’’ Aca said.
‘‘They are still young, they can learn from their mistakes.’’
Aca’s wife, Kiti, wanted to thank the community for their support following the incident.
‘‘We have had letters, flowers, baskets of chocolate and foods,’’ she said.
‘‘We would really like to thank each and every person who has been mailing us, writing and just telling us that they are disgusted by what happened and they’re on our side and supporting us – it’s more than we imagined.’’
Constable Luke Vaughan said police were still making inquiries to locate the people who made the racist comments.
‘‘Sake’s a nice guy, he’s pretty upset about what’s happened but it’s his personal wish that he doesn’t want to make the complaint himself but he would like them spoken to.’’
Kiti Aca said the family was moving on from the incident, but would still appreciate an apology from whoever racially abused her husband.
‘‘If they want to do it from the heart then by all means.
‘‘We have forgotten about what they did, we have gone through that and we are OK now . . . but we are not stopping them if they want to apologise.’’
The Canterbury Rugby Union (CRU) lodged a formal complaint with police following the incident.
A Lincoln University spokeswoman confirmed the university would give police the contact details of 10 people, including a staff member.
‘‘We have said we can identify some students that we know were in that area of the embankment that we think the racial abuse has come from.’’
Anyone with information about the racial abuse was asked to contact Constable Luke Vaughan on 03 363 7400, or could provide information anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.