New Zealand police have expressed concern over the behaviour of some Irish rugby fans at the Ireland-New Zealand test match in Christchurch last Saturday.
The Press, a daily newspaper published in New Zealand’s south island, quoted a Christchurch police officer who described the drunk and disorderly behaviour of some Irish fans as “disappointing”.
The newspaper quoted senior Sgt Scott Banfield, head of Christchurch’s team policing unit, who said that five people were arrested and 28 people were turned away before the game as they were “already heavily intoxicated”, while another 16 people were evicted from the stadium for alcohol- related disorderly behaviour.
The paper quoted him as saying that most of the trouble-makers were Irish supporters.
The newspaper reported that police had also attended a number of alcohol-related incidents in the stands during the match.
“We’ve got our own drinking culture in New Zealand which we’re trying to sort out, and if that’s a representation of what they do in their own country, they’ve got big problems over there,” reporter Nicole Mathewson quoted Sgt Banfield as saying.
“I think they just have to understand . . . if they’re in Rome do as the Romans do. We don’t drink to a point where we fall over so much in our country.
“It was disappointing. Overall [it was] a fantastic game, a real test, but to have people’s alcohol levels so high, it took a real shine off the game.”