AUCKLAND: Last month students from St Bede's College of Christchurch made racist remarks about Maori and Pacific pupils from Wesley College on a social networking site. The comments made on Facebook were in reference to the Maori and Pacific student's age, brains and ethnicity. One student wrote “Nigs can't think. They are s*** at rugby after school because club footy requires more than just being big and black and being fully developed at the age of 15″. The racist remarks were made after a rugby match in which St Bede's College lost the national secondary school semi final match against Wesley College. The three worst offenders are not being awarded their honours pockets or have had them taken away. The awards, which are usually given for achievement and bringing honour to the school, are sewn on blazers. The boys apologised to their own school's Polynesian and Maori pupils and wrote a letter of apology to Wesley College. “I'm bitterly disappointed that 7 or 8 students here associated with the college should descend to that level and unfortunately give the place a bad name, because it's certainly not reflective of most of the boys at this college,” Rector Justin Boyle said. The boy's names were also registered with the Human Rights Commission. Boyle said the boys know any future employer will be able search online and find out what they have been up to. Pete Malcouronne, author of ‘Our Game', a book about rugby and race relations said racism was rugby's “dirty secret”, despite some of New Zealand's top players coming from Polynesian backgrounds e.g. Ma'a Nonu. BM
