Bra Boys: History and members of Sydney surf gang
Love them or loathe them, the Bra Boys have never been far from headlines since the Sydney surf gang emerged in the 1990s. This is the story of their rise.
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Love them or loathe them, the Bra Boys have never been far from headlines since the Sydney surf gang emerged in the 1990s.
This is the complete story of their history, prominent members and the events that made them infamous.
WHO ARE THE BRA BOYS?
■ Founded in the 1990s, the “Bra Boys” are a surf gang based in Maroubra, an eastern suburb of Sydney.
■ It is both famous for its community activism, and infamous for its alleged links to violent crime. Members are usually tattooed with the phrase “My Brother’s Keeper”.
■ Prominent members have included rugby league players Reni Maitua, John Sutton, Bondi lifeguard Jesse Polock, and the Abberton brothers — Sunny, Jai, Dakota, and Koby.
■ Some members were involved in the 2005 Cronulla race riots, later holding a joint media “peace conference” with Lebanese members of the Commancheros bikie gang.
■ A 2007 documentary, Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker Than Water, was written and directed by gang members and narrated by actor, Russell Crowe
■ In 2011, a storyline on TV soap Home And Away focused on the “River Boys” gang, which was heavily based on the Bra Boys.
■ In 2016 Koby Abberton claimed the gang had 300 members who did not hold anti-Islamic nor racist views.
HOW DID THE BRA BOYS START?
Working-class Maroubra, with its large tracts of housing commission blocks, has a reputation for street violence, petty crime and surf-related gangs.
The Abbertons and their mates initially called themselves “Ma’s Hell Team” (after their grandmother) before taking over the well-established gang name the Bra Boys, which is derived from the Maroubra Board Riders Association, in 1994.
“It’s something that Maroubra guys have always been known as,” Sunny said.
“We were always informally called the Bra Boys but we were the first to do the tattoos.”
Membership of the gang is symbolised by a tattoo of the gang’s greeting – two hands clutching each other by the forearm – and by the number 2035, the Maroubra postcode.
Among Koby’s tattoos is one on his penis, which reads, “Bra Boys mother f---er”.
Another is “my brothers (sic) keeper”, which Koby has tattooed like a garland around his breast.
The phrase was apparently popularised by Koby’s friend Jed Campbell, who found it while in jail.
Koby in 2007 explained how he was bashed with a baseball bat by his mother’s bank robber boyfriend, leading to him being thrown out of the house.
“From that day forward it made us all realise that family life at home can finish at any time, but the boys will never die, you know the boys will always be there for you,” Koby said.
There has long been dispute in law enforcement circles as to whether the Bra Boys are territorial or, as they were described in a police report, a “loosely organised rabble”.
“People see us as a gang but we’re not into organised crime, we don’t steal cars,” one Bra Boy member said previously.
“There’s this stereotype that we’re notorious. We’re just a group of mates who love surfing and we protect our beach. We protect it from becoming like Bondi Beach. We don’t want outsiders coming in.”
2007 DOCUMENTARY
The Bra Boys truly shot to fame following a 90-minute documentary film about the surf gang premiered in Sydney in March 2007.
The film outlines a story of the Bra Boys from the viewpoint of the gang, particularly the Abbertons.
Head honcho Sunny Abberton wrote and co-directed the film with Macario De Souza.
The film was widely praised, though police would later warn stars from aligning themselves with the gang.
WHO ARE FAMOUS BRA BOYS MEMBERS?
Koby Abberton
Perhaps the biggest star of the Abberton clan, as of 2021 Koby was living in Bali with his family.
Koby was portrayed as a highly influential member of the Bra Boys during the 90-minute hit documentary Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water in 2007.
The former world-renowned surfer defeated the likes of world champion Kelly Slater during the documentary and narrowly avoided being sent to prison following the death of standover man Tony Hines in 2003.
Abberton had since moved to Bali where he regularly shared snaps of his wife and their son enjoying life near the ocean.
The 44-year-old is married to model Olya Nechiporenko, from Ukraine, Ukrainian, and he told The Daily Telegraph in 2018 that he now works in solar farms as well as surfs.
He posted a message recently saying while their life looked perfect on Instagram it was in fact challenging and hard work, and he wanted to raise awareness about depression and suicide.
In 2018, his family escaped a horror fire in their Bali home and Koby drew criticism for starting a GoFundMe page to help cover the damage costs.
Following the death of standover man Hines in 2003, Koby was charged with accessory to murder after the fact, hindering the police investigation, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. However, he avoided jail and was given a nine-month suspended sentence, which was included in the documentary.
Sunny Abberton
Sunny, the oldest of the Abberton brothers and the writer and co-director of the 2007 hit documentary, has kept an extremely low profile in recent years.
Up until 2015, the former pro surfer was a regular on social media posting pictures with friends, of his travels and, of course, himself surfing.
He appeared in a documentary Hoones in 2013 but has otherwise not pursued film making further.
Jai Abberton
Jai was found not guilty in 2005 of murdering standover man Tony Hines, which is well documented in the film.
However, a few years after the documentary’s release, Jai found himself back in trouble with police. The former pro surfer was jailed for nine months in 2012 for assaulting police in Byron Bay.
In 2018, he was reportedly hospitalised for mental health issues and he has once again found himself back before the courts during the past 12 months.
In March 2020, the then 47-year-old former pro surfer was convicted for drug possession (cannabis) after police stopped him on a bicycle in Maroubra.
He failed to turn up to court and was convicted and fined in his absence.
In 2021 Abberton was again convicted for a string of offences related to two bizarre incidents in Maroubra in late 2020, which involved his throwing a rock at a victim and his car.
Abberton told the court “I’m trying to turn my life around” and he explained had been receiving professional help for mental health issues including bipolar, and also for drug issues.
Mark Mathews
While the documentary largely followed the lives of the Abberton brothers, Mark Mathews featured numerous times on the film as one of the core members of the Bra Boys and a close friend of the Abbertons.
After the film, Mathews continued to make a name for himself as one of the best big wave surfers in the world – winning numerous titles – and established a popular surfing event called Red Bull Cape Fear in 2014.
He has also worked as a motivational speaker and has a huge following on Instagram.
Mathews suffered a bad surfing injury in 2016 which threatened to put an end to his surfing days but he recovered.
According to the documentary, it was during Mathews’ birthday celebrations in 2002 that an infamous bust-up occurred between the Bra Boys and off-duty police at the Coogee Randwick RSL Club.
Reni Maitua
The former NRL player joined the Bra Boys after surfing the Maroubra break as a junior, being shouted dinner and tattoos as part of the entry process into the tight-knit clan.
“We’re not all angels, that’s part of life and part of society,’’ Maitua said in 2008.
“But the Bra Boys is about respecting your elders and being the best person you can.
“In all my years of being around the Bra Boys, I’ve never seen anyone involved in organised crime. That’s not what we’re about.’’
Having grown up surrounded by the surf culture, Maitua was then encouraged by senior Bra Boys to pursue careers as NRL players.
“They said … ‘we love what you do at Maroubra, you’re respectable, would you like to get a Bra Boys tatt?’,’’ Maitua said.
“It’s not about initiation rituals or anything like that, it’s about a respect for the beach and a respect for each other.
“But just because you grow up in the area doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to get a tattoo. You’ve got to have the respect of the older boys.’’
Richie Vaculik
Bra Boy Richie ‘Vas’ Vaculik has accomplished a lot since his days on the hit documentary.
The pro surfer turned his talents to mixed martial arts and he fought in the UFC between 2013 and 2015.
He also released a book about his life Bra Boy: Surfer, Fighter, Larrikin in 2016 and he remained a well-known identity in Maroubra.
He was involved in community groups, such as the Protect Our 1 organisation which goes from beach to beach cleaning up rubbish.
John Sutton
A household name in Australia thanks to his glittering career with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, John Sutton was just a young man when the documentary was released in 2007.
The Bra Boy appears a handful of times during the film as a member of the group.
His most notable achievement saw him captain the South Sydney Rabbitohs to their first NRL title in over 40 years in 2014.
He has enjoyed something of a legendary status since then in southeast Sydney and was often spotted around Maroubra. He remains Souths’ most capped player in the club’s history.
In 2007 Sutton bristled at suggestions the Bra Boys were troublemakers. “It’s about surfing together and having fun, it’s not about gangs or anything like that,” he said.
Jesse Polock
Jesse Polock featured as a young surfer in the documentary, mentored by Koby Abberton.
Later in life, the talented surfer became a fan-favourite on television show Bondi Rescue, until early 2020 when he left the show and his job as a professional lifeguard.
It was later revealed he had been charged with drug offences and he pleaded guilty to four drug possession charges (including cocaine) in May 2020.
In July 2021 Polock was successful in the NSW District Court in his appeal against a conviction for supplying cocaine.
Judge Phillip Ingram found Polock had the cocaine in his possession “for a purpose other than supply”. He quashed his conviction and found him not guilty for deemed drug supply.
INFAMOUS INCIDENTS
2013 bikie battle
A volatile turf war broke out in June 2013 between the Bra Boys and two outlaw motorcycle gangs that began moving into the surfers’ territory at Maroubra.
Police were investigating several violent clashes between members of the Bra Boys and the Bandidos at the Maroubra Bay Hotel.
The venue was a well-known watering hole for the notoriously territorial surfers, who claim Maroubra beach as their own.
Police said they had observed the Bandidos and another bikie clan, the Comancheros, establishing an unwelcome presence in the area.
A one-on-one bar fight, allegedly between a junior Bra Boy and a Bandidos member, spiralled out of control when as many as 20 men from both sides turned the minor scrap into an all-in brawl.
It was the second known incident involving the Bra Boys and the Bandidos in less than a month.
Superintendent Paul Pisanos, of Maroubra police, said there had been an “emerging manifestation’’ of outlaw motorcycle club (OMC) members in the suburb, but the reasons for this were unclear.
Bra Boys co-founder Sunny Abberton played down the talk, insisting there was no war with the biker gangs.
2005 protests
The Bra Boys surf gang in August 2005 led a protest at their home beach of Maroubra to block council plans to introduce parking meters.
Local identity Sunny Abberton told a crowd of about 100 residents that meters would wipe out the community’s lifestyle: “It’s threatening our surf culture and our Australian beach culture,” he said.
Surfer Richard Walsh said he was concerned that the measure would drive away week-long surfing carnivals because participants would not be able to afford to park for so long.
“When one goes surfing one goes quite a lot and spends hours at the beach,” he said.
2005 Cronulla riots
In the lead up to the infamous December 2005 riots, Koby Abberton spoke about the assault of a volunteer lifesaver that sparked the incident.
“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,” he said.
However 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 of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club to help ease tensions, declaring peace.
“Mate, we are shocked to be dragged into this, considering it all started in North Cronulla,’’ Sunny Abberton said.
“Even though we were involved on Sunday night in protecting our suburb, we are far from racist. In fact the Boys are quite multicultural and it’s a big multicultural community.’’
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