Latest news with #streetfighting
RNZ News
3 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Backyard battles take fighting off street, participant says
Hamilton man Cameron Harcourt (left), with an opponent at the King of the Street event on 24 May. Photo: Supplied A participant in a controversial street fighting competition is defending it, saying amateur tournaments remove violence from the streets. An unregulated tournament promoted by New Zealand mixed martial arts fighter Dan Hooker was held in a suburban Auckland backyard on Saturday 24 May , with 32 combatants competing for a $50,000 prize. Hooker said the only major injury was to a fighter's arm and signalled plans to host further events , despite criticism. New Zealand Boxing Coaches Association president Billy Meehan described the event as "thuggery, not sport", but Hamilton fighter Cameron Harcourt, who travelled up for the event, said the backlash was unfair. "We're going to fight anyway," he said. "There's fights on the streets. "The same way Streetbeefs in America started to get the fights off the streets. If you had beef, you apply for this and you jump in, and it gives us a place to do it in a controlled environment. "The thuggery is taken out and we've turned it into a sport." Streetbeefs is an unregulated American backyard fighting club and You Tube channel, hosting different combat codes. The founders said it was established as a response to more "dangerous forms of street and gun violence". Cameron Harcourt (right) says the Auckland backyard fighting event took violence off the street and put it in a controlled environment. Photo: Supplied Police are investigating one fighter from the Saturday event, who was seen wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet in social media footage of his fight. Harcourt said he wanted to prove that the fights were a fair playing field, and not all about "tattoos and gang affiliations". "Nothing changes what someone is - we're all humans. Doesn't matter about your colour, your size, your age, your background, we're all people and we all bleed. "I think it is a good sport and I love fighting for that." Up to nine different gangs were reportedly represented at the tournament. Fighters had to sign a waiver before taking part, stipulating that involvement was at their discretion. He said, unlike team sports like rugby, he enjoyed how he was the only person accountable, if the fight did not go his way. "You're stuck in a ring with contact and you just feel alive, and it's just sick," he said. "It's also art. "You can create your combos and perform them. It's just a wicked sport." Although billed as an amateur event, it is understood a professional fighter won the tournament. Harcourt hoped to contest a planned tournament in Christchurch later this year. The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) suggests participants of amateur street fighting events will be covered under the scheme, as it did not require details of how injuries occur. An agency spokesperson said the scheme operated on a no-fault basis. "All New Zealanders pay levies in different ways. The money we collect goes into one of our five accounts. "We use each account to cover specific types of injuries. For example, if someone is injured playing sports, the money used to support their recovery is dependent on their individual circumstances." Last year, the cost of active ACC claims for sport and recreation injuries exceeded $1 billion, while accidental injuries in the home and community, which covered injuries from assaults and also concussion, cost more than $2.3 billion. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
26-05-2025
- Sport
- RNZ News
Fighters at unsanctioned events could expose themselves to criminal charges, says lawyer
New Zealand MMA fighter Dan 'Hangman' Hooker is promoter of 'King of the Streets'. Photo: PHOTOSPORT A sports lawyer says participants in an underground street fighting competition could be exposing themselves to criminal charges. The King of the Streets event - which has received the backing of New Zealand UFC fighter Dan "Hangman" Hooker - was held over the weekend in a suburban backyard of an Auckland property, with 32 combatants and no weight limits. Fighters competed for a prize of $50,000 with Hooker later confirming all participants would receive $1000 through TheDoctor, an online streaming, gambling and give-away website linked to the event. Last week, police said they were assessing the event against existing legislation. Former AUT law lecturer Craig Dickson told RNZ if the event was unsanctioned, it could be "problematic" around issues of consent. "If you're going on to the field under those rules then there is a certain level of consent given that people can assault you," he said. "But you then get to a position where there are actions outside of those rules that you can't be seen to be consenting to. Once you get far enough outside the rules, then clearly that still qualifies as a criminal assault." Mixed martial arts is not considered under the Boxing and Wrestling Act 1981 that stipulates both amateur and professional fights require a police permit. "There is a level of violence and bodily injury resulting that is so severe that your consent will be ineffective because public policy would say the public wont allow assaults over a certain level," Dickson said. He said in the scenario of a fighter being seriously injured, or killed, there were legal grounds for charges under the Crimes Act. "I don't think there's any question about that. Particularly if it's an unsanctioned event and whatever that rule base is, if you're far enough outside whatever that rule base might be, then you squarely land on assault to injure territory. "If we're talking about an unsanctioned event that doesn't fall under any of the [necessary] parameters, then it's hard to see how that's greatly different to anybody conducting a similar assault on the street on a Friday night." The governing body for mixed martial arts is calling for the government to urgently regulate popular combat sporting codes. President of the New Zealand Mixed Martial Arts Federation (NZMMAF) president Terry Hill told Checkpoint the event was not the first amateur event held on these shores. Hill said there was no legal framework in place that administered amateur events such as the King of the Street event held at the weekend. "The basic requirement's you need is referees, qualified judges, and medical staff. By all accounts there [were] at that event," he said. "There was a very good referee, they did have three judges apparently, and there were medics checking the fighters afterwards." Unlike other countries, New Zealand did not have a combat sports commission regulating amateur events, Hill said. "The Boxing and Wrestling Act is just completely irrelevant to what you're looking at today. And there are real health and safety issues about it," he said. Although the event was billed as an amateur event, the winner of the King of the Street tournament was a professional, Hill said. "The regulations are very loose and hazy and they need to be tightened and it's the government that needs to enforce that, through sport, through policing etcetera. Otherwise people can just do what they want." Despite the event being unregulated, reports from the weekend's fighting had been positive, Hill said. "By all accounts, everyone was very well behaved and there were no problems or incidents at all. "But it's certainly intimidating to everybody else who isn't involved in it, and that's what the promoters want. It's shock entertainment." Hill said there were reports on social media that nine different gangs were represented at the event. "Good on them for not losing control and getting out of hand, but the potential for it is huge." Hill said he was making enquiries after hearing that the $50,000 prize was not awarded in cash, but rather cryptocurrency, "Something needs to be done for combat sports in New Zealand. In 2019 you had three corporate boxers die in a 12-month period, not good enough. "If three All Blacks had died playing rugby then there would've been a huge inquiry."
