Malachi Turoa Anisi Ulu, 13, was left with cuts and bruises on his face after his team got into a fight with another team during a rugby league game on Saturday. Photo / Dean Purcell
Malachi Turoa Anisi Ulu, 13, was left with cuts and bruises on his face after his team got into a fight with another team during a rugby league game on Saturday. Photo / Dean Purcell
An Auckland schoolboy suffered head and facial injuries and was left bleeding profusely after an under-13s rugby league match erupted into violence at the weekend.
Adult spectators took to the field to intervene and witnesses claim a man put the young victim — 13-year-old Malachi Turoa Anisi Ulu — in a headlock and assaulted him during Saturday's match between the Papakura Sea Eagles and the Bay Roskill Vikings side at Blockhouse Bay.
The victim's coach says the match was called off and she feared for the boy's life.
Police confirmed they were investigating an alleged assault following the incident on Saturday morning.
Auckland Rugby League will also begin a formal investigation into the incident today.
The man who witnesses claim assaulted the boy vehemently denies the allegations, which he labelled "ridiculous" and "total lies".
He told the Herald he had tried to intervene to protect some of the smaller players.
"I know now this is wrong but all I did — I was trying to get in the middle of two boys who were having a fight, a full on punch-up.
"You can't really stand back and watch these two kids punch each other's lights out. I grabbed the boy who was closest to me to move him out of the way so I could get in the middle — as I did that I was tackled to the ground."
Malachi Turoa Anisi Ulu, 13, was injured during the schoolboy rugby league clash. Photo / Dean Purcell
Both teams were culpable and a video of the incident would exonerate him, the man said. Papakura coach Hope Tate told the Herald she sprinted onto the field when the brawl erupted, with other adults also trying to intervene.
Tate claimed she saw a man assault Malachi, so she and her son tried to help the injured boy.
"His mouth guard was still in so he had a possibility of choking on it ... I ended up flicking out his mouth guard."
Tate grabbed his face to have a better look and said there was blood gushing from his nose.
She said she was shocked and furious for the safety of the children and insisted her team leave the field.
"I said this is not a safe environment. We're out of this sh**hole. I just couldn't believe my eyes."
She then took Malachi to an accident and emergency centre to be assessed.
"I just looked after him like he was my own son."
The victim's mother, Anne Turoa, said she was on her way to work when she was told that her son had been assaulted by an adult during the fracas. "My heart was pumping out of my damn chest. I was really emotional because I wasn't there. His dad was at work too so he didn't have either of us."
She wasn't sure what started the altercation but knew there had been "a disagreement on the field with the boys".
She understood a spectator had grabbed her son in a headlock and punched him in the face before he fell to the ground.
"His nose was pouring like a tap [with blood]," Turoa said. The medical notes showed Malachi had bruising on his left temple, a bloodied and swollen nose and facial cuts.
Doctors said her son had also suffered a concussion and would not be able to play sport for four weeks.
"Rugby league is the only thing that gets him out of bed," Turoa said.
Bay Roskill club secretary Tania Brown said in a statement: "No comment until a formal report has been received and an investigation has taken place using the correct official process."
Sarah Sandley, chief executive of Aktive, an organisation promoting positive sideline behaviour, said she was saddened by the incident, and that there "was no place in sport for that kind of behaviour".
Auckland Rugby League chief executive Greg Whaiapu said he was made aware of an incident last night but was waiting for reports from the referees and coaches. A judicial hearing would be held mid-week as part of the formal investigation, he said.
In March last year, a young rugby referee was punched and strangled by a spectator after he sent a player off the field at an under-12s game held at Auckland's Pulman Park.
