The Bra Boys are a gang centred on

surf culture Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish ...

, founded and based in Maroubra, an eastern suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in the 1990s. The gang has gained notoriety through violence and alleged links to organised crime, as well as some community activism. The Bra Boys achieved national and international media attention in 2007 with the release of a feature-length documentary entitled '' Bra Boys: Blood Is Thicker than Water'', written and directed by members of the group, and narrated by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actor

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

Origins

The Bra Boys are held together by

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

as well as community ties to the Maroubra area. The group is often linked with the North Maroubra Surf Riders (NMSR), with which a number of its members are associated. In an interview on Triple J radio,

Koby Abberton Koby Abberton (born 2 June 1979 in Maroubra, New South Wales), an Australian former professional surfer, is a member of the Australian surf gang the Bra Boys. He rose to local prominence in 2006, when he was found guilty of perverting the ...

pointed out that "Bra" is a reference to the gang's suburb, Maroubra, and partly after the street slang for brother. Some members of the gang

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

"My Brother's Keeper" across the front of their chest, "Bra Boys" and Maroubra's

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

"2035" on their backs. With a reputation of being territorial, the group is known to have taken control of a Sydney reef break, known as 'Cape Solander', located in

Kurnell Kurnell is a suburb in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Sutherland Shire along the east coast. Cronulla and Woolooware are the only adj ...

, and renaming the break 'Ours'. In July 2007, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' reported an altercation that took place between professional

bodyboarder Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as ''Boogieboarding'' due to the invention of the "Boogie ...

Mitch Rawlins and a group of several Bra Boys members, including Koby Abberton. Rawlins was allegedly approached by a Bra Boy member and told to "fuck off". It is believed an argument broke out and then turned physical with Rawlins being punched in the head. A spokesman for the Bra Boys confirmed there had been "some sort of small incident" but denied any major violence.

Notoriety and violence

Prominent Bra Boys members include

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

players

Reni Maitua Reni Maitua (born 11 June 1982) is a former professional rugby league footballer. An Australian and Samoan International representative player, he previously played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, with whom he won the 2004 NRL Premiers ...

, John Sutton, as well as the Abberton brothers, Sunny, Jai,

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

, and

Koby KOBY (940 AM) was an American radio station broadcasting an Oldies format. It was licensed to Cedar City, Utah. The license and the callsign have been deleted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. History The station used to be known ...

, with the last being the most notorious of the brothers.

Criminal matters

In late 2002, around 160 members of the gang attending a birthday party at the Coogee-Randwick RSL Club were involved in a brawl with off-duty

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

police officers leaving a Christmas party on the same premises. News reports numbered the combatants in the incident at around 120, with 30 police officers left injured after the event. In 2005, Jai Abberton was acquitted of the 2003

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

of stand-over man Anthony 'Tony' Hines. However, his brother Koby was handed a suspended nine-month jail sentence after being found guilty of

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Statu ...

with regards to the same matter. In November 2008, Koby Abberton was jailed for three days by a US court after being found guilty of assaulting an off-duty police officer in a fight outside a nightclub in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. In November 2009 Jai Abberton was jailed for eight months for breaching a good behaviour bond. In 2009 a syndicate with alleged links to members of the Bra Boys were caught smuggling

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

following interceptions of conversations dating back to 1997. It was alleged that syndicate members were granted security passes to restricted areas within

Sydney Airport Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (colloquially Mascot Airport, Kingsford Smith Airport, or Sydney Airport; ; ) is an international airport in Sydney, Australia, located 8 km (5 mi) south of the Sydney central business district, in the ...

, bypassing

Australian Customs The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was an Australian federal government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border and facilitating the movement of legitimate international travelers and g ...

, that enabled them to smuggle prohibited

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

from Los Angeles concealed in on-board catering

refuse Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste produ ...

2005 Cronulla race riots

In the lead up to the 2005 Cronulla riots, Koby Abberton spoke to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' about the assault of a volunteer lifesaver that sparked the incident, claiming:

"The reason why it's not happening at Maroubra is because of the Bra Boys. Girls go to Cronulla, Bondi, everywhere else in Sydney and get harassed, but they come to Maroubra and nothing happens to them. I read all this stuff about kids getting harassed because they want to have a surf and I say 'are you kidding?' The beach should be for Aussie kids. But if you want to go to beaches and act tough in groups you better be able to back it up. If these fellas come out to Maroubra and start something they know it's going to be on, so they stay away."

Members of the Bra Boys joined in the racial violence when the riots spread to Maroubra soon afterwards. Afterwards the Abberton brothers then held a joint media conference with members the

Comanchero Motorcycle Club The Comanchero Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang in Australia. The Comancheros are participants in the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, which convened a conference in 2009 to address legislation aimed against the "bikie" clubs, the ...

(a bikie gang, who include many Lebanese as their members) to help ease tensions, declaring peace. "I think that this is the start, the boys have agreed to come down and talk to us, to start some dialogue between the groups, you know, to try and ease some tension", said Sunny Abberton in a group interview on '' The 7.30 Report''.

General community activism

In August 2005, the Bra Boys led a 100-person non-violent protest against plans by Randwick Council to introduce

parking meters A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street par ...

near the local beaches.

MBK Clothing

Inspired by the friendship and brotherhood codes instilled by the Bra Boys, the Abberton brothers created a clothing line entitled MyBrothersKeeper Clothing.

Documentary

A 90-minute

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the surf gang entitled ''Bra Boys'' premiered in Sydney on 7 March 2007 and was released on 15 March 2007. The film details a story of the Bra Boys from the viewpoint of the gang, particularly the Abbertons. Sunny Abberton wrote and co-directed the film with Macario De Souza. Actor

provided narration. The film's official cast included 49 well-known surfers from Bra Boys members

Evan Faulks Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to "Ivan", "Ian", and "Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhôḥ� ...

and Richie 'Vas' Vaculik to eleven-time world champion

Kelly Slater Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time. Slater is also ...

and surfing legends including

Mark Occhilupo Marco Jay Luciano "Mark" Occhilupo (born 16 June 1966) is an Australian surfer and winner of the 1999 ASP World title. Occhilupo, also known as "Occy", began his professional career in the World Championship Tour (WCT) at the age of 17. In S ...

, Bruce Irons, and

Laird Hamilton Laird John Hamilton (born March 2, 1964) is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a professional volleyball player, television ...

In popular culture

The Bra Boys were made the subject of satire by '' The Chaser's War on Everything'', episode 29, aired on 11 April 2007. In the skit

Julian Morrow Julian Francis Xavier Morrow (born 1975) is an Australian comedian and television producer from Sydney. He is best known for being a member of the satirical team The Chaser. As a member of The Chaser, he has appeared on several ABC Television p ...

approached gang members while wearing a pill-filled

brassiere A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appear ...

and sporting a tattoo similar to Koby Abberton's saying "mybrothersalibi". A gang member responded by slipping off his thong and flinging it at Morrow. Long-running Australian television

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (often abbreviated as ''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip ...

'' has produced a thinly veiled reference to the Bra Boys in the fictional storyline of "the River Boys" that was broadcast in Australia commencing 16 February 2011. The 2011 Chris Lilley mockumentary ''

Angry Boys ''Angry Boys'' is an Australian television mockumentary miniseries written by and starring Chris Lilley, continuing the mockumentary style of his previous series. In ''Angry Boys'', Lilley plays multiple characters: S.mouse, an American rapper; ...

'' featured fictional surf gangs the Mucca Mad Boys and the Fennel Hell Men, which have been described as similar to the Bra Boys.http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/lilley-keeps-his-feet-on-the-ground/story-fn6ck8la-1226032456574

References

External links

Maroubra Surfers Association
Australian fringe and underground culture Surfing in Australia Gangs in Australia