New Zealand; Douche-bag skate competition debacle

Herb Powell

This is unbelievable, the whole situation around this is ****ed. Some shady ****ing characters running this.
Spray cans for the kids who were instructed to tag up the park with the names of all the sponsors?
Sponsored by a rehab clinic?
Assault?
Paying children to pick up rubbish?
Cash prizes for "the cutest skater under 6"? :eek:
You fucckin bet.

http://vimeo.com/39135997

wrote:

The man at the centre of a violent confrontation during a skateboarding competition yesterday has apologised over the incident and has spoken with police.


"I shouldn't of done it, I know I shouldn't have done it," Craig Platt said. A video taken at Auckland's newly-opened Victoria Park skate park shows Platt shoulder charging a young skateboarder to the ground and shoving a man in the neck when confronted about it.
Mayor Len Brown has said he is "shocked" by the video.
Platt, an artist from Herne Bay and an avid skateboarder himself, was a judge at the Skinny & Serenity National Grom Skate Comp and said he "snapped" after teenagers not competing in the event kept "crashing through the middle of it".
The 48-year-old was judging one age group event while under six year olds were "just rolling around just behind me".
"They (the teenagers) were cutting off people in the competition. One of them actually whacked into one of the little kids.
"I was getting confused who was in the comp and who wasn't and I was trying to score these kids... it (the skate park) was all closed off and they knew it."
Platt said he asked the teenagers to stop interfering on several occasions.
"When he came back again I just reacted because there was little kids behind me and I just lunged at him. I wasn't trying to punch him or anything. It was just a reaction."
Platt admitted he was "fuming" by the time he crashed into the teenager, but said the boy "got up, gave me a mouthful and just continued to do it".
He said event security then intervened.
Platt said he tried to apologise but "they just told me where to go".
Platt was then approached by Leighton Dyer who told him "the competition should be over" because of the incident.
"He came flying after me and was telling me I was beating up these kids and he was right in my face. That was the dumbest thing I did because I just grabbed him and shoved him away. That was an overreaction. I'd had enough. All these kids were rarked up again and were laughing."
Platt said the video showed him in a bad light.
"It doesn't show me how I am. I look big... I mean I keep fit. I can't help the way I look. I skate. I'm at the skate park all the time. I convince other dad's to take it up. I pick up injured kids."
Platt, who 11-year-old son competed in the competition, said he visited the police today to "explain the story to them" and "if I'm in trouble I'll face it".
Police are not investigating the incident.
Platt said he had received threatening emails and prank calls all day.
The competition was aimed at under 16s and was sponsored by Serenity, the rehab centre run by convicted drug trafficker William Murdoch, the former partner of Auckland socialite Aja Rock.
According to an online post written by Dyer, organisers armed young skaters with spray cans to tag the park with the logos of the sponsors.
Brown also tweeted about the vandalism.

"Very unimpressed by vandalism at Vic Park skate park & appalled by accusations of comp organisers handing out spray cans. Am investigating," he wrote on Twitter.
An Auckland Council spokesman said they were "concerned by reports of what happened yesterday and urgently investigating".
Organisers requested a gold coin donation to help someone pay for their rehabilitation costs.
Dyer said today that he "won't tolerate bullies".
"Every skateboarder in my position would have done the same."
He said the teenager who was pushed, a 13-year-old name Tyrone, was "shaken up" by the incident.
Art critic Hamish Keith was also unimpressed with the graffiti.
"The graffiti is an appalling piece of commercially sponsored vandalism - hope the organisers will be held to account," he tweeted to Brown.
Co-sponsor Skinny Mobile has distanced itself from the controversy saying they were "gutted" about the state of the park at the end of the event and had no idea it would happen.
The council spokesman said the event was permitted but required a health and safety plan.
Conditions included that no graffiti or artwork was left on the park and that the cost of repairs for any damage would be paid by the organiser.
According to a flier for the event, other sponsors included New World, Dick Smith and skateboarding labels such as Cheapskates and DC.
The Skinny & Serenity National Grom Skate Comp@ Vic Skate Park was billed as the country's first "Pro Junior under 16 skate comp", with $500 in cash for first prize and $5000 worth of other prizes.
It had classes for skaters as young as six.
On the page it said organisers would be collecting donations for a "scholarship to Serenity to help a person with an addiction who can't afford private therapy...Serenity have donated the cost of treatment $15,000.00."
An Auckland City police spokeswoman said she didn't believe they had attended the incident or received any complaints about it.
A police spokeswoman said no complaint had been made.
They received two calls about incidents at the park with the second being placed at 3pm by a man who claimed to have been assaulted by a security guard.
"The informant was advised to come to the police station and, at 3.04pm, he said he would."
There was no record of him arriving at or reporting to a police station to make a complaint of assault, however.
The earlier call, placed at around 2.25pm, was from a member of the public complaining about event representatives verbally abusing kids at the park and telling them to vacate the ramps.
A call-taker at the police communications centre advised the caller to contact the Auckland Council to determine whether the park was booked or not.
The police spokeswoman said the caller informed police they had already called the council and were told someone would be there but they never arrived.
"Police tried to phone the caller back at 2.30pm but the call went to voice-mail."
* Comments on this story have now been closed.
- © Fairfax NZ News

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6638028/Skate-park-scrap-to-be-investigated

And if you read the discussion on this forum, you'll see that the assualts really are just the tip of the iceberg with this ****ing weirdo

http://muckmouth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=30193

WHERE THE FUCCK DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS COME FROM?

TL;DR-A skateboarding competition for children was run at this park in Auckland, by this very dodgy Doc Murdoch character, and it was ridiculously badly run and handled. The aftermath has been very lulzy and exposed him as ridiculously creepy.

UglyBolloxFace

Boards.ie - Reddit's Slow Brother.

Herb Powell

UglyBolloxFace wrote: »

Boards.ie - Reddit's Slow Brother.

I didn't see it on Reddit though I've been following it for a few days, and it just gets weirder and weirder.

John Doe1

So who won the cutest skater under 6?:p

MungBean

I dont know what your on about and I dont care. Just thought I'd let ya know. See ya then.

Pottler

Teenage skuzz gets pushed at skate comp and some graffiti occurs. You are right, Op, it's shocking Joe. How little it takes to shock you is anyway.

Seachmall

Herb Powell wrote: »

Spray cans for the kids who were instructed to tag up the park with the names of all the sponsors?

Providing kids with an area where they can legally get involved in an art they're interested in is a good thing.

Sponsored by a rehab clinic?

And?

Assault?

Obviously wrong, but he's been arrested for that.

Paying children to pick up rubbish?

And?

Cash prizes for "the cutest skater under 6"? :eek:

"Cute" doesn't have to be sexual, I'm assuming they meant the innocent type of cute.

summerskin

OP used the term "douche bag"


At that point I stopped reading and thought

"what a twat"

ejmaztec

summerskin wrote: »

OP used the term "douche bag"


At that point I stopped reading and thought

"what a twat"

I stopped reading after Herb Powell.:(





:pac:

Herb Powell

Looks like I am suitably ****ed.
Oh well. I tried at least.
:pac:

stimpson

Herb Powell wrote: »

Looks like I am suitably ****ed.
Oh well. I tried at least.
:pac:

You've tried and failed.

The lesson is: Never try.

Herb Powell

Seachmall wrote: »

Providing kids with an area where they can legally get involved in an art they're interested in is a good thing.

It wasn't legal, and it certainly wasn't art. Did you see it? They basically just sprayed the names of sponsors everywhere. Telling children to do that is a load of bollocks.

Seachmall wrote: »

And?

A bit strange for a children's skate competition, no?
The actual clinic is highly suspect http://www.facebook.com/serenitythecure

Seachmall wrote: »

Obviously wrong, but he's been arrested for that

Rightly so. It's just ****ed up.

Seachmall wrote: »

And?

Again, it's a bit weird. It seems resonable at first, but think about it for a second-why? Why not just encourage them to keep the park tidy?

Seachmall wrote: »

"Cute" doesn't have to be sexual, I'm assuming they meant the innocent type of cute.

In fairness it's a fairly weird/suspect thing to advertise.

IDK, compared to how normal skate competitions are run, this thing reeks of.............weird. And maybe this is why it's not being seen in the same way as I see it, no one on here skates.
Whatever though, I think it's an interesting case of a total weirdo.

Pottler

stimpson wrote: »

You've tried and failed.

The lesson is: Never try.

it's like exploring your potential, some things are best left unexplored.