Suspicion lingers of sporting fouls

By Peter Jessup

When the All Blacks play, women get bashed. Not when they lose, but when they win.

The police have no statistics to back that statement. It is just something they feel is true, given how busy they are answering calls to domestic violence on test-match days.

There is a lot of talk in this country about the correlation between sport and violence. No one, however, has hard evidence to prove it.

No one knows whether the All Blacks-bashed-women connection is to do with sport or a reflection of the amount of alcohol consumed on those days.

Certainly, there is a perception among some that sport - particularly the country's No 1 game and its offshoot, league - is inherently violent.

The fact is, a very few incidents of assault between players or involving spectators are widely publicised.

When Springbok Johan le Roux chewed on Sean Fitzpatrick's ear it featured repeatedly on television, yet police will tell you that much more serious violence on the street goes unheralded.

Steve Jackson, an Otago University senior lecturer in sport sociology, is worried that society accepts ear-biting in a game. But the acceptance of players misbehaving in bars and clubs is waning.

Mr Jackson is also worried about confrontational attitudes being taken off-field in male-versus-male assault and acts of sexual violence.

And he believes that some commentators should not be trivialising on-field violence.

Mr Jackson says there is no conclusive evidence to support the adage "into sports and out of courts," but he is out to test that and other theories. The university is starting a long study to measure the sport-violence connection.

Down the road at the Kaikorai Valley police station, Sergeant Dave Wiseman runs a sports programme for bored teens.

When off-duty, he and other volunteers take the youngsters ice-skating, tenpin bowling, to rugby and to netball games.

"We've had some great results with kids from very bad backgrounds. It doesn't work with them all, but a lot of these kids have never had any discipline in their lives."

Sergeant Wiseman has organised Operation New Directions for six years and it is now being extended to other police districts.

Funding from Lotto, pub charities and sponsors lets them attend events such as Otago rugby games, try sports and go hiking as a group.

"I see young adults on the street who I know from the programme," says Sergeant Wiseman. "They say 'hello' and pass the time of day and it always impresses me that there's a useful member of society; a nice result for us."

The Hillary Commission has run its Fair Play programme since 1991. It helps parents, coaches and teachers to deal with inappropriate behaviour and rewards those who play hard and fair.

The commission's research suggests Fair Play is working. A 1991 survey of people's perception of violence in school-age sport found 8 per cent thought there was less violence on the pitch. By a 1998 survey, the figure was 23 per cent.

At Eden Park and Carlaw Park on Monday nights, the bad boys sent from weekend games appear before the respective codes' judiciaries.

Ten years ago both panels would be there well into the night. Now, both frequently go home without seeing any offenders.

However, all codes are having trouble attracting and keeping referees. They, more than anyone, face violence, though most of it is verbal.