Violence Erupts in Division 3 Football Match at Sunnynook Park

On a winter afternoon at Sunnynook Park on Auckland’s North Shore, a Division 3 football match between Waitematā FC and Albany United disintegrated into violence that has now left one player jailed and facing deportation.

What began as a routine league fixture in June last year ended with an Albany United player on the ground, his jaw broken, his face bleeding, and his attacker sprinting from the scene.

From whistle to brawl

According to court documents, the flashpoint came around 3.30pm, just after the whistle. Waitematā player Kumar ran up behind an Albany opponent and kicked his right foot, sending the smaller player stumbling forward. Words flew. Tempers followed.

Kumar then drove both hands into the opponent’s chest, shoving him backwards. That shove lit the fuse. Players from both sides surged in, and a full-scale melee erupted.

Dragged to the turf by another Albany player, Kumar got back to his feet and went looking for the original opponent, who was standing off to the side of the chaos. He charged, punched him in the jaw, dropped him to the ground – then kicked him in the face while still wearing his boots.

Witnesses had to haul Kumar away.

An Albany United player later told the Herald their team had been warned about Waitematā before kick-off. He called them “pretty scrappy” across a match the referee eventually cut short before the brawl escalated further. He described the victim as the “smallest player on the pitch” and said the attacker disappeared before anyone properly understood what had happened.

“Doing that and then running off, it’s just a f***ing cowardly way to do it,” he said.

Waitematā’s president, Conan McKinstry, said last year the club acted immediately, removing Kumar from its ranks and co-operating with police.

“He’s not welcome back at the club,” McKinstry said.

Serious charge, serious injury

A 10-week police investigation followed. Kumar was arrested one year ago this week.

He initially faced a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, an offence carrying a maximum of 14 years in prison. Court papers record that the Albany player was left bleeding, required surgery for a broken jaw and had to take time off work to recover.

Kumar later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of injuring with intent to injure, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

The victim did not attend this week’s sentencing hearing and no victim impact statement was read in court. The judge was told he had no interest in meeting Kumar for a restorative justice conference, a process that can allow an offender to apologise face to face.

A second explosion of violence

For a time, Kumar appeared to be taking steps to change course. Judge Retzlaff noted that he had started a stopping-violence programme and applied for a discharge without conviction, signs of what the judge called “steady progress towards rehabilitation”.

Then came another violent episode that, in the judge’s words, “unfortunately put a halt to that positive progress”.

Last month, at about 4am, Kumar was getting a ride home from a Kingsland bar with relatives. In the back seat, he punched a male relative, court documents say. The car pulled over. Kumar then punched a female relative twice in the face and dragged her from the vehicle by her hair.

When the male relative demanded to know why, Kumar hit him again, continuing the assault even after he fell to the ground. Kumar fled but was arrested a short distance away.

He initially denied attacking his relatives. When questioned about the football assault, he claimed he had acted in self-defence.

His lawyer, Osborne, told the court Kumar is now ashamed of his “impulsive and violent behaviour” in both incidents and says he has no memory of why he attacked his family members. Osborne said Kumar is “very remorseful for the harm he’s caused” and accepted that a short prison term was inevitable, not least because his client had no fixed address suitable for home detention.

Osborne also warned that the fallout for Kumar will stretch beyond his sentence. A deportation notice has already been issued. Kumar wants to challenge it, but Osborne said that fight will be difficult.

Prison, and a warning

Judge Retzlaff imposed a sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment.

“The physical harm you caused is clear,” the judge told Kumar, adding that he had no doubt the football victim also suffered psychological damage. “He should have been entitled to enjoy a soccer game without this happening to him.”

The judge declined a request from the Herald to photograph Kumar in court, citing his lack of previous convictions, his youth, and what were described as “past experiences of trauma and violence” at the hands of his father.

“You have not had a happy upbringing in certain seasons of your life,” Judge Retzlaff acknowledged.

But the message was blunt. The judge urged Kumar to “redouble” his efforts to rebuild his life after release, even if he is deported and separated from his family.

“You need to develop a mechanism to steer away from this violence,” he said, “or it’s going to keep landing in prison.”