Blow the whistle on assaults

So here's the deal. There's a big rugby game being played at the park and instead of engaging in the now tiresome "streak" some clown decides (after about seven bottles of the sponsor's product) to drive his car from one end of the playing field to the other ... weaving like an elusive winger all the way.

So he gets thrown out of the park, but would he also get arrested for drink-driving?

He could argue that no, it's not a public road ... but the NZ Transport Agency regulations simply refer to the situation as "you must not drive if you have consumed more than the legal alcohol limit".

So the great and sober hand of the law would more than likely tap the miscreant on the shoulder and say, "you're nicked".

But then he could argue that what happens on the field should stay on the field, pointing out that three minutes earlier the prop on one side delivered a sly left hook to the head of the hooker on the other side ... and all he got was a yellow card.

You see, criminal assault charges are null and void on a sporting field.

Such places are a sort of twilight zone ... a netherworld ... where a criminal act of assault, although visible to the entire population, is invisible to the Ministry of Justice.

I've seen bust-ups and biffo out there on the green arenas of rugby and league which, had they occurred at midnight half-way down Emerson St, would have resulted in several arrests and an appointment before the courts on the next list day.

But during a very public sports match, no problem.

You hear commentators constantly berating referees for their "picky" response to a stoush.

"It's not tiddlywinks," was how one former All Black put it.

It's not rugby either ... it's boxing.

Rugby, and league, are contact sports which have, during the past couple of decades, developed a sort of aura around producing "the big hits".

It has got tougher, more aggressive, and sadly it appears there is a sizeable faction among the young and the reckless who appear to have adopted this "get in there and get him" attitude.

Recently, that has exploded off the field as post-match punches were thrown.

Gutless stuff.

It wasn't a sign of being tough, it was a sign of being weak.

One of the problems here is that the old adage about "what happens on the field" simply doesn't hold water ... because it clearly doesn't stay on the field any more.

There have to be penalties for what is nothing less than clear assault. Whether it is on the field or off the field.

Bans and fines ... just like out in the real world. Otherwise ... what does that tell the kids?