Nightclub Violence

[CakeEater]

Obviously this is only a very minor incident but it highlights the attitude of some Australians. It's stupid to say only Australian's are like this but acting like a complete flog when out and about seems to be a very Australian thing. Speaking to foreigners we do seem to have a bit of a bad reputation unfortunately also.

Yeah mate, I would have to agree.

Its also a very typical U.K thing (and Irish as well) where we get as smashed as we can and punch on.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

The king hit is almost unheard-of in Ireland and the U.K, though. Sure, you might get glassed or someone 'drops the nut' (headbutt to the bridge of your nose) but king hits?

That's 'Strayan!

 

[Upgrayedd]

Talking to my cousin about 10pm at a bar once then woke up on the floor when someone had decided to throw a bar stool in the general direction.

Bit more security and ways to ferry drunken ********s out and home. In perth its not uncommon for a punch up to happen in the taxi lines when the trains are not running and your waiting 30 minutes to get out of the place filled with a bunch of young pissed off guys who've stuck out with picking up/being sent packing from bars for being too trashed when they still want to go

 

[Catfish Alley]

That's 'Strayan!

Not sure if that's true, but if so it seems this Aussie trend is taking off a little in the States.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Vio...sweeping+across+with+video/9211823/story.html

 

[Dont be a lemon]

"It's drugs + energy drinks!!" ignores the other ten preceeding factors and also allows businesses/governments/society to avoid making any meaningful changes.

 

[BlueWaterHawk]

The king hit is almost unheard-of in Ireland and the U.K, though. Sure, you might get glassed or someone 'drops the nut' (headbutt to the bridge of your nose) but king hits?

That's 'Strayan!

I'm in the UK now, watched someone get king hit on tv a few nights back. Make no mistake, they have problems here too. Watched a rolling brawl at the bus station after a football match 4 weeks after arriving, birds involved and all. On our culture, sometimes I'm ashamed to be Australian when I see the behaviour of some of our young travellers. They seem to think it's a chance to make arses of themselves and disrespect the locals wherever possible. Naturally its not all people, but many can be included in that statement.

 

[phantom13]

I have seen it alot only really been involved twice. Walking down the stairs at The Saint and all of sudden a brawl errupted, i had no idea what was going on got hit in the back of head within about 10 seconds security had the whole group surrounded and ushered them outside, the brawl continued and i walked over to try and get back in but security didn't believe i had nothing to do with it and i had blood pouring from the back of my head.

Walking back from the comedy festival in the city a few months back (Tommy Little FTW) and i was talking to my wife and her friend not really looking in front of me (silly move) my wife grabs me and pulls me out of the way of a smacky walking straight toward me (his mate grabbed him last minute as well) i turn around and see his arm come away from him and he had a knife on him. Smacky was shaping to stab me. Not really nightclub related but i think this is more the cause. Dickheads will be dickheads and if they dont like the color of your shirt or think you are eyeing off their woman etc they will glass you.

 

[Vic Vinegar]

Have been a victim and a perpetrator on multiple occasions. Then I ended up in court, it really isn't worth it.

This does not surprise me at all. Its always the tools who think they are better than everyone else that go around hurting other people for no reason.

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

Personally I don't think it's nearly as bad as people think it is

If it ever happens to you, you may have a different view.

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

I have a couple of mates who are paramedics (one who has been in the job for almost 20 years) they reckon unprovoked drug/alcohol fueled attacks on strangers are more prevelant now than in any time in their careers.

 

[JuddsABlue]

If it ever happens to you, you may have a different view.

Im not saying the severity of attacks is exaggerated, getting glassed or head stomped in is terrible

I'm saying the frequency of these events are exaggerated. In all of my time in the city on saturday nights/sunday mornings I never saw anything like it

I saw plenty of situations where things couldve spilled over but either good security prevented it or the people involved thought better of it

In a city of millions of people things are going to happen, but I think people who are actively avoiding the city in fear of getting hurt are living in fear that isnt warranted.

Do these same people drive cars? I would consider that much more dangerous than venturing into the city on saturday night

 

[Kynge of Begrem]

Im not saying the severity of attacks is exaggerated, getting glassed or head stomped in is terrible

I'm saying the frequency of these events are exaggerated. In all of my time in the city on saturday nights/sunday mornings I never saw anything like it

I saw plenty of situations where things couldve spilled over but either good security prevented it or the people involved thought better of it

In a city of millions of people things are going to happen, but I think people who are actively avoiding the city in fear of getting hurt are living in fear that isnt warranted.

Do these same people drive cars? I would consider that much more dangerous than venturing into the city on saturday night

Yep, sorry, fairpoint

 

[bkozican]

Have you ever been on the wrong side of a lock out ???? Trust me, Not nice. there was a fight between the Aboriginals and Kiwis at my local one night. They just shut the doors.......I had to fight my way to get to my car......Bloody crazy stuff.

I can proudly say that I have never stepped foot into a nightclub. A strip club though.....Different story. I have never seen the point in the nightclub lifestyle. Much more inclined to spend a night at the local having a few laughs while playing pool

 

[edgie]

Im not saying the severity of attacks is exaggerated, getting glassed or head stomped in is terrible

I'm saying the frequency of these events are exaggerated. In all of my time in the city on saturday nights/sunday mornings I never saw anything like it

I saw plenty of situations where things couldve spilled over but either good security prevented it or the people involved thought better of it

In a city of millions of people things are going to happen, but I think people who are actively avoiding the city in fear of getting hurt are living in fear that isnt warranted.

Do these same people drive cars? I would consider that much more dangerous than venturing into the city on saturday night

Nice useage of past tense

 

[Gasometer]

Not sure if that's true, but if so it seems this Aussie trend is taking off a little in the States.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Violent craze knockout game sweeping across with video/9211823/story.html

Well the world is truly shit.

 

[Gasometer]

I have had one narrow escape years back and frightened the shit out of me..being chased along a street and never really liked Night Clubs much thereafter.

 

[philohk]

I haven't, really, tend to stay out of trouble. Although had a bit of argy-bargy once here in HK when a ******** kept grabbing my friend's arse. No punches thrown though - all got defused and both parties just stayed away from each other.

I've noticed the cultural differences too though - here it's almost always foreigners that are involved, usually Aussies and English. I was talking about it with an English mate a while back and we christened it the Anglo Aggro. I've lived in Asia for 11 years and travelled in China, Russia and Europe and felt safe at all times - people in most places just don't seem to want to fight like we do. Hell, in Japan, you'd have trouble getting someone to take a swing at you no matter what you did (not that I tried, of course) - in England, seems like you could get a fight in any pub any time - Oz sounds the same.

 

[I bleed Blue]

One of my best mates got glassed in the face one night... luckily we out numbered the guys 3 to 1, so they got a proper smashing.

About a month ago I saw 5 guys (who had been trying to pick a fight with my mate all night) follow my mate out of the pub. I grabbed a mate and started to follow after. By the time I got outside they were all laying into him. I flew the flag but ended up on the deck copping a few kicks to the head myself until a few of our other mates arrived.

 

[Hot Pocket]

Is it not worth it because you have to go to court or because hitting people is a very low thing to do?

Both. Even when you think you're doing the right thing and thinking you're standing up for a mate, you can get carried away with it.

I am not making excuses for any of it though, fighting in general is bloody stupid. My experiences with it were that I used to be someone who always tried to break up fights cause I hated it. Then I got gangbashed a couple of times and it made me very paranoid about always wanting to get the first punch in rather than breaking anything up. The next time I got in a fight (this was still in high school) I remember getting king hit and then kicked on the ground, then I got back up and some of my mates were around asking what happened. I'd lost a lot of blood but I remembered the bloke that did it, so we chased him down and kicked/punched him within an inch of his life - bloke had all of his ribs broken, teeth missing, brokenn cheekbones, busted nose the whole shebang. He was absolutely cactus and had heaps of surgery - he even had to send his mum back to the scene to try and find his missing teeth. And the ****ed thing was I got a lot of respect for it among my peers at the time. And then it just became like a thing that happened sometimes when you're out drinking or partying. I was never much good at actual fighting, but if as a third or fourth man in I was pretty "good" at not caring too much about the fate of the victim. I'm ashamed of it for sure, but there's only so many times you can be a victim before you react in some way. For some people they become shut ins and get social anxiety, for me it was wanting to inflict worse pain on others to make sure it didn't happen to me again.

In the end it was stupid behaviour on my behalf. I take full responsibility for that, and haven't been in a fight or anything close to it for 7 years or more now. Generally I do think its a part of Aussie culture to act like a tit when you're on the piss - but I never really started many fights, I'm actually a pretty easygoing and forgiving bloke. I just know that "footy dickheads" are out there and they like to start fights, and back in those days I just cared more about making them regret it rather than just ignoring it like I do now.

I will say one thing, it is much better to fight a bloke 5 on 1 if you value your own health. Even if its not fair, its a lot safer.

 

[philohk]

That's pretty full-on, Hot Pocket. Cheers for sharing and glad you're not doing it anymore.

 

[Silent Alarm]

That's why you don't go to scummy shitholes.

The people I know who've unfortunately been hit, quiet enough kids hanging out with their mates, have been hit because they're dragged along to a shithole. Flies and...

I go to King Street probably three times a month

Northbridge has a bit more of an intense feel. I've no idea if that correlates to having a tele in WA and watching the news and then turning 18 and going out, as opposed to not having a TV in Melbs and having gone out without a knock. But King Street certainly has its w***ers, but you put your head down and talk to someone and you'll be fine.

In my opinion, the police presence doesn't really help. It can make you feel safe, but they go about it in the wrong way. It's like when you go to the soccer and there's a cop for every five people – despite the fact I've seen as many hits at the soccer as I have at the footy (not many). The way those pricks act usually changes the vibe of the place, and those arseholes intending to hit someone usually get powered up by it.

And this "Knockout Game" is just happy slapping in 2013. It's usually a few mental cases who, if they were flogging pedestrians, would be the kind to fight outside clubs. And I reckon a fair proportion of their parents would've been inclined to fight in pubs. Happy slapping was over in the UK within about four months...

 

[Hot Pocket]

That's pretty full-on, Hot Pocket. Cheers for sharing and glad you're not doing it anymore.

Mate I don't know how normal these stories are but here's a few other examples of ****ed up shit I saw/heard about happening to/via people I knew at the time:

1. Saw a bloke get half of his face cut off with a bottle, the skin was literally hanging off his face, it was a fight over AFL or something stupid like that and both parties seemed to be equally guilty in getting it going. I was 5 feet away from it.
2. Heard about a bloke getting his hand cut off at Mitcham train station
3. Heard about a chinese international student who got murdered at 7-11 in Box Hill by some local chinese gangster. Guy walked up to him and slit his throat in one go.
4. Gatecrashers to an 18th party were knocked back by the girls dad, so one of them stabbed him with a chair leg and he had to get a liver transplant that night
5. Once I got my driver's license I gave my old 'Keypass' to one of my little sisters friends to use to get into clubs. One of his first nights out two smackheads at Ringwood station had a go at him and his mate, his mate legged it and the smackheads cut this kids arms up with a stanley knife and he nearly bled to death. From my understanding he still doesn't leave the house due to the psychological scarring.

When this kind of shit is going on, the fear of what can actually happen in a fight really sets in and its why I understand why some people prefer to fight in packs or even carry weapons. You try and fight the old 'honourable' way, and it greatly increases your chances of getting seriously and irreversibly injured.

All of this shit is so dumb but I'm not sure what the cause is... It is genuinely perplexing but the best I can come up with is just misdirected Aussie machismo. Its just a cycle - and Melbourne has always had gangs since the gold mining days. Maybe its hidden from view (the stuff that happens on King St is imo nothing compared to what goes in Noble Park or Broadmeadows or Sunshine) for the majority or maybe it was something cultural or 'in the water' around that time. But either way its definitely something that doesn't need to happen in Australia. I do know it was around the same time liquor licenses were extended so people were getting on the piss much earlier in the day and staying out much later. Likewise I think banning smoking in clubs even had some effect, as you end up getting drunker when you can't smoke - then when you go outside for a smoke you're in an enclosed or limited space with a lot of other people who are drinking more heavily than usual. Not saying banning smoking was a bad thing, but I think it made things worse.

Of course the worst shit I saw was prior to turning 18 anyway, at house parties and such (or even just local parks). Kids don't tend to realise the gravity/lethality of what they're doing in those situations so I can be more forgiving of it I guess. Not really relevant to 'nightclub' violence though so maybe I'm going off topic a bit.

 

[edgie]

We've heard comparisons with the UK, Europe, Asia, what's the comparison with the USA? Considering their penchant for gun violence and paranoia, what's the clubbing atmosphere and street feel like?

 

[Hot Pocket]

We've heard comparisons with the UK, Europe, Asia, what's the comparison with the USA? Considering their penchant for gun violence and paranoia, what's the clubbing atmosphere and street feel like?

Mates of mine that have been there reckon it can be a fair bit scarier than Australia cause of the gun thing. Culturally they're pretty similar to us, both frontier nations founded by violent people. They just also have guns and more poverty - so yeah, I'd imagine it could be worse.

 

[Hairy Lager]

If someone spills my drink and they don't by me a new one, I will smash them.