Bra Boys

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The Bra Boys are an Australian gang centered on the Sydney suburb of Maroubra. The gang was started as early back as the 1960s[citation needed]. The group is named after the suburb Maroubra (BRA) and not the Board Riders Association as some people[attribution needed] may think. Members of the group often tattoo "Bra Boys", "My Brother's Keeper" and Maroubra's post code "2035" on their backs.[1]

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[edit] Notoriety

Prominent members include Rugby League players Reni Maitua, John Sutton and Byron Ford. Also surfers Mark Matthews, Evan Faulks, Richie Vas and Abberton brothers, Sunny, Jai and professional big wave surfing champion Koby. In May 2005 Jai was acquitted of a 2003 murder of standover man Tony Hines. Koby was handed a suspended nine month jail sentence after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice in the same matter.[2]

In late 2002, some 160 members of the group attending a birthday party at the Coogee-Randwick RSL Club were involved in a brawl with about 40 off-duty Waverley police officers leaving a Christmas party on the same premises.[3]

In August 2005, the group led a protest of 100 people against parking meters near the local beaches.[4]

Following the Cronulla riots, in which the group was not involved but was subsequently targeted, the Abberton brothers held well-publicised meetings with other uninvolved groups to help ease tensions.[5] "I think that this is the start, the boys have agreed to come down and talk to us, to start some dialect between the groups, you know, to try and ease some tension", said Sunny Abberton in a group interview on The 7.30 Report.[6].

The members usually drink at the Maroubra Bay Hotel[citation needed].

[edit] Bra Boys - The Movie

A movie about the Bra Boys, entitled Bra Boys had its premiere in Sydney on the 7th of March, 2007 and was released on the 15th of March, 2007. It will tell the story of the Bra Boys and is narrated by Russell Crowe.[7] Members of the Bra Boys plugged the film on the breakfast program of the youth broadcaster TripleJ on 7th of March, 2007. Callers commented on their concern about the movie glorifying the violent side of the Bra Boys.[8]

The documentary became Australia's highest-grossing non-IMAX documentary following it's release in March.[9]

== Surfing ==

The group is a held together by community ties and surfing. The Bra Boys are widely considered (incorrectly) to be the first people to surf the heavy reef break known as "Ours". The story goes that a member of The Bra Boys saw a bunch of bodyboarders pulling into the heavy reef and making it out. The group then started surfing it and only allow surfers on the break now.

The group is often linked with the Maroubra Surfers Association, with which a number of its members are associated.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sons of Beaches, Australian Story, ABC-TV
  2. ^ Koby Abberton, Surfer Magazine
  3. ^ Night the thin blue line ran into the Maroubra stomp, Les Kennedy, Chief Police Reporter, The Sydney Morning Herald
  4. ^ Rage over 7000 meters for beaches, Angela Cuming and Catharine Munro, The Sun-Herald
  5. ^ When two tribes go to war: a culture clash, Dan Silkstone, The Age
  6. ^ Emergency powers to crack down on riots, Reporter: Jonathan Harley, The 7.30 Report ABC-TV
  7. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0951318/
  8. ^ http://www2b.abc.net.au/guestbookcentral/list.asp?guestbookID=55
  9. ^ [1]

[edit] External links

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