10 Apr 2024

Police, iwi and gangs hold hui after rugby club van shot at

1:49 pm on 10 April 2024
Club rugby shooting: YMP's team van was badly damaged by shotgun pellets after they left their abandoned game against Tamatea at Bill Matheson Park in Hastings.

The Young Māori Party (YMP) van was shot at after a rugby match on Saturday. Photo: NZ Herald / Supplied

Police, iwi and gang representatives have met to talk solutions after a rugby club van was shot at over the weekend.

The van was shot at after a Hawke's Bay third division rugby match at Bill Mathewson Park in Hastings on Saturday.

A match between Tamatea and the Young Māori Party (YMP) was abandoned because of safety concerns, and the YMP van shot at as the players left.

Ngāti Kahungunu iwi chair Bayden Barber said the Wednesday hui was "a good start" and they now wanted to engage with all of the community in order to find a way forward.

The hui included Black Power representatives Mundy Adams and Denis O'Reilly and police liaison John Tangaere.

Barber said he had reached out to both sides, and another gang was having their own meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

He said with more rugby games due to be played this weekend, safety was paramount.

"There's still a lot of tension in the community with what happened last weekend."

Barber said it was a complicated situation and they needed to try and bring everyone together.

"Hopefully all parties will be open to coming together because that's how we'll move forward. "

"We can't let it simmer away and then erupt at some other event, or possibly another rugby game."

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