Lifestyle and Leisure
Yob culture NZ style
Chavs, hoodies, yobs... call them what you will, there’s no escaping gangs of unruly youths in the UK. But is this the case in New Zealand? Not really, says Maike van der Heide
To be honest, when I was asked to write this article on yob culture in New Zealand, I had to remind myself of what a yob actually was. The old faithful research tool that is Wikipedia told me four things: That Yob is a Chicago-based stencil artist; a doom metal band from Eugene, Oregon; a song by Australian band TISM; and slang term for "an uncouth blue collar individual or thug." Ah yes, it's all coming back to me. Youngsters lurking on street corners, looking scary, clutching bottles, swearing, spitting and uttering random obscenities. Yeah, we have those in New Zealand. Just not so many of them. In fact, during my year or back in New Zealand after a spell in the UK, I'd almost forgotten about them. But New Zealand does have problems with gangs. Although they prefer to keep a low profile, for obvious reasons, gang activity occasionally hits the headlines for tragic events.
Earlier this year, the two-year-old daughter of a Black Power member was shot dead while sleeping on a couch in her parents' home in Wanganui. The bullet allegedly came from a Mongrel Mob member and went through the window during a drive-by shooting. In Blenheim, a local man was recently shot dead, allegedly by a member of the Lone Legion Motorcycle Club. According to the New Zealand Police website, the most prominent New Zealand gangs are Mongrel Mob, Black Power and Nomad Gangs. Membership, it states, is dominated by Pacific Island and Maori people. "These gangs have been involved in serious violence, selling and distributing drugs, possessing firearms and offensive weapons, and using intimidation and threatening tactics in pursuit of their criminal activities," states the website. Happily, the gangs tend to keep to themselves and few British migrants have even seen gang members. They are still basking in the glory of life without yobs, as these three British migrants confirm.
From Marie Farrar, Rotorua
Marie and her family recently had their first brush with crime in New Zealand – their car was vandalised. A neighbour saw her own car windscreen being smashed at 3am by a bunch of teenage "hoodies" and they also smashed the rear light on Marie's car. Ripped up flax leaves were thrown down the road and a real estate sign had been torn apart. The police berated the neighbour for not calling immediately so they could have come out with dogs and tracked the culprits down. "The police were really lovely and couldn't have been more helpful. I was amazed to get another call from police later that afternoon just to double check that we were okay. "The policeman also asked if we had maybe upset anyone – I explained that we lead very quiet lives and that we are pretty sure that it was just lads who had too many beers."
While Marie still takes all the precautions to avoid being targeted by criminals, like never leaving possessions on show in the car and parking in good spots, she once left the windows to the house open by mistake – and returned to find everything as it was when she left. "Such a relief!" Marie is aware there are gangs in Rotorua but she has never seen them. "Having a young son, it is something that I think about, though, and I do keep an eye out for news stories and listen to other parents' views about it all. "Every other (Kiwi and Brit) parent I have spoken to about it all say that the gangs keep themselves to themselves and don't bother you if you don't bother them."
From Mark Wilesmith, Dunedin
Overall, Mark has experienced New Zealand as a safer and less violent place than the UK. Drug and social problems are centred in the larger cities, says Mark, in particular Auckland. He has noticed that because New Zealand has a much smaller population than the UK, crime is more likely to be reported nationally than in the UK "The ubiquitous teenage 'hoodie' is alive and well throughout the country," he says. "There are 'yobs' just as in so many other countries but maybe not so much of the 'chav' element – I don't recall seeing too much Burberry tartan around! "In general my perception is that because of the small island nature of much of the country I think there is more respect, the police are more likely to know trouble makers and their parents and it appears that they are able to control situations far more easily than say major metropolitan areas in the UK." Mark has heard of gangs like the Mongrel Mob but, like many New Zealanders, has never had any experience of them. "I believe a lot of the gangs are predicated along racial divisions. As in much of the western world drugs play a huge part in the crime rates and gang culture."
The other group Mark has come across are the boy racers, which he thought was a particularly British thing, but has found to be alive and well in New Zealand as well.
"Here it has an extra dimension in that people can legally drive at the age of 15 (with some restrictions) and with no insurance. As you can imagine, this brings with it certain issues." New Zealand is not perfect, says Mark, there is domestic and other violence, but he feels a lot safer in a country where NZ police officers with guns are the exception rather than the rule.
From Andy Meyer, Napier
Andy and his wife Jane also have not had any first-hand experience with the criminal fraternity of New Zealand. Yob culture, in fact, is not something Andy even considers as being around. Yob-like incidents, if there are any, are "isolated and sporadic," he says. Andy has heard of gangs such as Black Power but has never seen them – in fact, he doesn't even lock his work van on every job. "In the UK I know people who won't let their kids walk to school or answer the door and I don't get that feeling here."
Andy has noticed boy racers who occasionally roar past, but they don't seem to cause that many problems. Graffiti is also less prevalent than in Europe and is washed off as quickly as it is painted on. Sport as a whole is less problematic than in the UK, Andy says. Rugby is like a 'religion', he says, and a loss similar to the All Blacks' World Cup loss would have caused riots in the UK. In New Zealand, fans mourned, but mourned peacefully. "People here have got more respect for each other here, people are friendlier, more helpful, even in the shops." "There's an old English back-in-time sort of attitude."
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