Tonga police presence increased to prevent rugby violence

Transcript

Police in Tonga are stepping up their presence at secondary school rugby matches in an effort to curb interschool violence.

Rugby games have been afflicted with violence over the past few weeks with a brawl interrupting a secondary schools match and an investigation underway into a police assault of a young man at a match the week before.

School principals and the police have been meeting to figure out how to tackle the problem.

Daniela Maoate-Cox reports.

Before each international match, Tonga's Ikale Tahi rugby team chant a challenge to the opposition to bring their all to the game. But back at home some supporters are taking that challenge a step further, resorting to violence to settle old rivalries. Students from Apifo'ou College and Liahona High School were left disappointed after brawling ex-students spilled onto the field and cut their match short. The police and Tonga's Secondary Schools' Principals Association met to discuss cancelling the season, but instead decided to increase police presence at school matches and rely on students to dob in the troublemakers. The association's president, Aisake Vaisima says the problem is caused by old inter-college rivals who are spoiling the sport for current students.

AISAKE VAISIMA: The perpetuators are students who have left school and they still have ties to their old school and they come in and they start lighting the fire. It has been the trend, with not just rugby but rugby seems to attract more supporters into that.

Aisake Vaisima says it is uncommon for a fight to interrupt a game but the sport has a history of violence. Video footage of a police officer assaulting a young man at a secondary school's rugby game the week before, was released online and is currently being investigated by the police. In July last year, 147 students from Tupou College and three adults were arrested, after they attacked a residential property, hospitalising two pupils from a rival school. The Tonga Rugby Union's chairman, Epi Taione, says the fights are damaging the sport's reputation and the union will take a hard line with offenders.

EPI TAIONE: It is really for us, in terms of rugby, to make sure that it doesn't really associate with our sport. Anyone who brings the game into disrepute, we have every right to remove them from the grounds or ban them for life from playing the sport.

A Tongan community group in Fiji says the problem follows students overseas and there are links between fights involving Tongans in Suva with what happened when they were at college in Tonga. The group's secretary, Eleni Leveni Tevi, says it has brought in a zero-tolerance policy to violence and is asking Tonga's Ministry of Education to refuse scholarships to students who have a record of fighting.

ELENI LEVENI TEVI: So that when the child enters secondary school they already know that there is no chance of holding a scholarship or opportunity as a future leader of Tonga, if they involve themselves in school brawls.

The acting police commissioner, Pelenatita Feao says fights are being reported weekly and police are developing long term strategies to reduce violence.

PELENATITA FEAO: We're working closely with the principals and the police understand its responsibility to the community for its visibility in areas, making sure that the public is safe and having long term strategies in place. Trying not just being reactive to when fights break out but of course looking into rehabilitating those troubled youths.

Pelenatita Feao says a more visible police presence worked well at the semi final match and they will use those tactics again at the final game on August the 22nd.