PHIL WALTER/GETTY IMAGES
Steve Hanson - "domestic vioence is not a gender thing".
OPINION: Sevu Reece, who admitted to attacking his partner in a drunken rage on a Hamilton city street, is now in the the care of the rugby family.
They'll help him on the road to redemption, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen promises.
Reece has admitted his wrongdoing, given up the drink, done the anti-violence courses.
The most important thing to remember is that his victim - the partner he knocked to the ground and left bleeding and bruised - has apparently forgiven him.
READ MORE:
* Sevu Reece deserves his All Black chance, rather than a spot on the scrapheap
* Sevu Reece deserves his All Black chance, rather than a spot on the scrapheap
* Steve Hansen backs Sevu Reece, says domestic violence 'is not a gender thing'
* Waikato rugby star Sevuloni Reece discharged without conviction on assault charge
If this is true, it's probably also her wish that he be able to continue his rugby career.
If we are to be survivor-focussed (as we should always be) then his partner's wishes are more important than any lust for on-going punishment we as a society might feel. It will be everyone's hope that this was a one-off for Reece, and he'll never show violent tendencies again.
Abigail Dougherty
Alison Mau wonders what Steve Hansen was thinking.
Hansen told Radio Sport, Reece is better in the rugby family than out of it. Whether that also means an All Black jersey should be offered so quickly is a matter of opinion; Hansen sees no problem with it.
But as the top dog of a sport that's promised to clean up its act when it comes to violence and misogyny, Hansen has a strange take on how domestic violence actually manifests in New Zealand.
The Radio Sport host hardly put Hansen's feet to the fire; he wasn't asked whether violence is a rugby thing. He wasn't asked whether violence is a male thing. He wasn't even asked whether it was proper that Reece be included in the All Blacks or Crusaders squad.
Nevertheless, something burst in Hansen during that interview, and what followed was a fervent, but flawed and misguided evaluation of domestic violence. It's not a gender issue, he claimed, because women sometimes do it too.
KAI SCHWOERER/GETTY IMAGES
Waikato Rugby star Sevu Reece - discharged without conviction on assault charge.
He may as well have drawn us a kindergarten picture in crayon, for all the context that argument contains.
Yes, Hansen was a cop back in the day but what he saw on the beat back then does not change the facts. Men do report violence from female partners, but it tends to be far less severe than women experience, and men do not generally live in perpetual fear for their lives as a consequence.
The homicide statistics do not lie; of all family-linked homicide victims between 2007 and 2016, 40 per cent were male and 60 per cent were female. One in five of those deaths were caused by a partner or ex-partner, and 75 per cent of the victims were female.
I'm reliably told Rugby New Zealand is making strides when it comes to gender issues, and goodness knows they had a lot of ground to cover. Inexplicable outbursts like the one Hansen had on the radio this week, does the game no favours at all and may even prove a set-back in the public's eyes.
One has to wonder what on earth the All Blacks coach was thinking.
Sunday Star Times
