With the Kiwis hosting Mate Ma\u2019a Tonga, police are expecting a bumper crowd on Sunday at Eden Park and will be out in force in South Auckland hot spots, where flag-waving fans and their cars congregate after the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the Kiwi fans and Mate Ma\u2019a Tonga fans, it\u2019s about league and keeping our family and friends safe,\u201d Filipaina told the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to acknowledge league between our two nations and not worry about who are the best supporters. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would urge people not to do silly things when you are driving to the game or going home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Filipaina\u2019s brother, Olsen, was a dual Kiwi and a Toa Samoa rugby league representative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope there are more Kiwi supporters at Eden Park than were at Mt Smart a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the Kiwi-Samoa match and there were no issues before, during or after the game. It was played in good spirits.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see a number of arrests after the Tonga-Samoa match was disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown echoes Filipaina\u2019s call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the colour our Polynesian rugby league fans have brought to the Pacific Championships competition this year,\u201d he told the Herald. <\/p>\n
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown says he knows South Auckland like the back of his hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen how passionate the Mate Ma\u2019a Tonga and Toa Samoa fans are about celebrating and backing their teams, with flags on display and the impromptu street parades across parts of the city.<\/p>\n
When Tongans support they go all out. Scenes at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. Photo \/ Whakaata Maori<\/p>\n
\u201cThis weekend\u2019s clash between Mate Ma\u2019a Tonga and the Kiwis will be no different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI encourage fans from both sides to enjoy what will be a great game but also remember to be responsible, stay safe and be respectful of each other and police, wardens and those who\u2019ll be working to make sure it will be a fantastic occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counties-Manukau superintendent Shanan Gray said police are putting fans on notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice will be visible across Counties Manukau ahead of Sunday\u2019s Pacific Championship match featuring the Kiwis v Tonga but fans are on notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Counties-Manukau Police Superintendent Shanan Gray.<\/p>\n
\u201cM\u0101ngere and Clendon areas saw significant disruption and dangerous behaviour, like fans riding on top of vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHosting the championship is special for our city, and we want fans to celebrate safely, legally, and respectfully.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that people have fun, but police won\u2019t tolerate illegal behaviour, and we will enforce any offending, including unrestrained passengers and objects that pose a risk to other traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still making inquiries into high-risk traffic offending from last weekend, so our main message to fans is, be safe, be mindful of your surroundings, and respect our community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actioned a number of arrests and infringements for offences on the night, and evidence of other offending has been gathered and will be followed up on in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we acknowledge people\u2019s right to celebrate, greater consideration should be given to those who live in these areas to prevent them from being adversely affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur key message is to be respectful of our community, other road users, police and other emergency services and your team!<\/p>\n
\u201cFly your flags high, sing your songs, and back your team with pride, but do it safely. Let\u2019s show how Pacific people celebrate with heart, respect, and mana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph Los\u2019e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa M\u0101ori Editor. Los\u2019e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and before joining NZME worked for urban M\u0101ori organisation Wh\u0101nau Waipareira.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Kiwis hosting Mate Ma\u2019a Tonga, police are expecting a bumper crowd on Sunday at Eden Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[79861,95,51,44183,6256,5842,34596,177,75031,3019,38290,8452,79859,2082,5269,79860,194,807,14731,10934,111,139,69,675,6327,19098,13737,213,23371,20420,53476,31782,25396,3055,3542],"class_list":{"0":"post-111581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aftermatch","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-auckland","11":"tag-behaviour","12":"tag-brown","13":"tag-calling","14":"tag-calm","15":"tag-celebrate","16":"tag-celebrations","17":"tag-clash","18":"tag-councillor","19":"tag-dangerous","20":"tag-filipaina","21":"tag-for","22":"tag-game","23":"tag-indulge","24":"tag-kiwi","25":"tag-kiwis","26":"tag-league","27":"tag-mayor","28":"tag-new-zealand","29":"tag-newzealand","30":"tag-nz","31":"tag-police","32":"tag-rugby","33":"tag-safe","34":"tag-spirit","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-sundays","37":"tag-supporters","38":"tag-tonga","39":"tag-tongan","40":"tag-urge","41":"tag-urging","42":"tag-wayne"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}