The Mate Ma'a Tonga match in Auckland at the weekend was marred by some of the mess left in the game's aftermath, and a bottle-throwing frenzy at the end of the game.
“All it takes is one incident to mar the whole event in its entirety, when 99.9% of the fans that day behaved," says Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua.
Tempers flared after glass bottles were thrown from one of the corporate boxes, hitting people and children below.
“I think it all kicked off when the Kiwi Captain was doing his speech. There was a bit of noise from the bottom apparently and they didn’t like it and they started throwing stuff at the pack and that’s what kicked it off.”
Three men climbed into the box to stop the onslaught, but ended up retaliating and using a chair to break a glass window.
“I think our fans got tarred by the wrong brush, they actually went up to try to stop what those guys were doing."
Mt Smart stadium has since apologised and confirmed the incident was initiated by the corporate box patrons, and said they will review their policy around glass bottles.
Pakilau says it was spun as if the Tongan fans caused the confrontation, and acknowledged gangs who honoured their truce not to cause any trouble at the game, but says the finger pointing at the Tongan community is out of line.
“People know that the Tongan fans are not sore losers. I ran the 2018 MMT versus Australia game - and you all saw the Tongans singing the Australian anthem, that’s how we roll.
“Win or lose, doesn’t matter to us. The Tongan fans are there for the boys, win, lose or draw.”
Despite both men’s and women’s teams losing their games against the Kiwi sides, the celebrations and street parades went on until the early hours of the morning.
Photos posted online the next day showed rubbish left after street celebrations, but some residents returned the next day to tidy up, which took about two hours.
Pakilau says the resulting blame towards the community was unnecessary, and doesn’t happen after other sporting events.
“People celebrate. We’ve been in lockdown for two and half years - let people celebrate, this is good for their mental wellbeing.
“What I would suggest is that those business owners and people who are complaining about the mess, remember that they brought in millions of dollars into the local economy. Buying the flags, buying the t-shirts, taking their families for meals.
“Sure, we could have been a bit tidier, but did you see the tons of rubbish that were left at the America's Cup and the ticker tape parades for the All Blacks, why pick on Tonga? That's why you pay your rates and your taxes, so the council can clean it up.”
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