The Highlanders’ second home game of the season on March 14th against the Hurricanes was soured by reports of anti-social behaviour from the Zoo and a distastefully misogynistic ‘Zoo Uncaged’ social media post. A Highlanders’ spokesperson said it’s not on, boys.
Critic Te Ārohi was approached about the social media post shortly after its upload. The post in question was a video of various Highlanders players on the field. The post's caption read: “For all the ladies wondering, we lost [tonight]. But we know you weren’t watching the game anyway.” A similar post was also uploaded on the associated Instagram, but both have since been removed. Critic columnist and avid rugby watcher Molly sent screenshots of the offending post to the news team, commenting that the caption was an “insinuation and building up the stereotype that [watching] rugby is purely for straight men.”
Critic Te Ārohi approached the Highlanders for comment on the post and its subsequent criticism. A spokesperson told Critic that the post didn’t reflect their views and “shouldn’t have been put up.” It was taken down when the Highlanders saw it. “We use the Zoo Uncaged channel as a ‘students for students’ type of platform but our guidelines and approval process will be bolstered, as this one shouldn’t have made it through.”
Students Katie and Georgie, who were familiar both with the TikTok trend of posting attractive players on the field and the Zoo TikTok, still reckoned the caption and video were pretty “ew”. “It’s reproducing gender stereotypes,” they said. “Why is it targeted to only women? It’s part of that idea that women don’t care about rugby in general, or don’t understand the rules – like it’s a masculine sport.” They argued for the duality of appreciating the Highlanders’ form in both senses of the word: aesthetic (“they look good”) and athletic (“that was a really shitty try”). “You can enjoy both [the players and the game],” they agreed.
Unfortunately, the Zoo’s online presence hasn’t been the only thing that’s garnered negative feedback. When attending the game as media, Critic staff member Jordan was verbally harassed by another Zoo-goer. Not only were their Doc Martens insulted, they were called homophobic slurs and encouraged to “meet me outside” – presumably for a fight. Jordan commented, “It felt like being in high school again honestly. It’s kinda like, I thought we were done with this shit, you know?”
It’s true that the Zoo can have an “American pep rally vibe”, as commented on by fifth-year students Abby and Georgia. While they both said they had fond memories from the stands, they added, “Rugby gives off the energy of a boy’s club, [and along with that] comes the attitude of stereotypical masculine behaviour. [Men] are there in mass groups, so feel immunity in numbers.” Both reckoned that people felt they couldn’t call out bad Zoo etiquette because of intimidation emanating from these larger groups and knowing no one else would stand up to them. “No one is going to go up to a mass group of boys and tell them that what they are doing is wrong.”
In response to Critic’s report about how Jordan was treated, the Highlanders told Critic Te Ārohi, “Everyone has the right to come to the rugby and have a safe and enjoyable time and anyone who is verbally abusive can be asked to leave [...] We would advise anyone who experiences negative or anti-social behaviour to please report it to either Security, Red Frogs or a Highlanders event staffer so that it can be dealt with at the time. We also have a number you can text to report anti-social behaviour at the game (text ASSIST to 5256 and include your location in the stadium), this number can also be found on signs on the concourse."