Thuggery to you and me but not The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union or The Judge

One has to feel for Bay of Plenty rugby player Simon Chisholm. 

Eight months after being punched unconscious during a senior grade game he suffers daily headaches and could die if he suffers another blow to the head. 

The player that punched him from behind in a cowardly attack was Uenuku Pieta, 22, who was playing for the Te Puna club & admitted a charge of assault with intent to injure. 

The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union has banned Pieta for this season - little more than a pathetic slap on the wrist given the severity of the on field assault.  

Chisholm can never play again and has on-going health issues.  

The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union may as well link their web site to the local soccer association given they have single-handily gifted the code a new crop of children.  

Patently The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union cares little for player welfare given a thug like Pieta will be roaming its playing fields in a little over 12 months.  

Now to the second point stemming from this case; namely the weak sentence.  

Mealy mouthed Judge Louis Bidois sentenced Pieta to a paltry 200 hours' community work on a charge of assault with intent to injure and ordered $500 reparation = piss all in other-words.  

What Judge Bidos is saying is to Kiwis with his weak sentencing is: assaults on a sporting field are different to those out in the public.  

You can do what you like on a sporting field and suffer next to no ramifications.    

What would I and most Kiwi's have expected to happen here? 

One: A Life Ban. 

Two: 12 months jail and reparations in five figures.   

Footnote: Back in 2007 here’s what The Bay of Plenty Times had to say about  Judge Louis Bidois “Returning to his roots, Judge Bidois was also welcomed home to Poututerangi Marae in Te Puna on Sunday - the home marae of his Pirirakau hapu of Ngati Ranginui” Te Puna? That name sounds familiar?