A couple of months ago the bike club of which I'm a member, the Ulysses club, had a mass ride and AGM meeting in Canberra. Despite over 5000 of us being there (I was working and missed out) from all over the country some of our members where attacked by members of the Rebels motorcycle club. Now over the years I’ve been on rides with and even been invited into the Hells Angels MC clubhouse in Guilford Sydney (an unforgettable experience) and been to hundreds of events and rallies attended by other outlaw gangs without ever having a problem. Then all of a sudden this happens. I was going to post about this a while ago and have chosen to do so only because it has been in the press again.
From the Sunday mail
A NOTORIOUS bikie gang is threatening a social club for veteran riders because they don't like the nametags on their jackets.
The outlaw Rebels gang has told Australia's biggest social motorcycle club, the Ulysses club, to change their uniform or face "enlightenment".
The Rebels, who have a history of organised crime, drug distribution and bloody battles with rival gangs, have taken it as a personal insult that Ulysses riders are wearing "rockers", or tags, on their jackets.
Our club logo is not the problem but the rockers (patches) above and below the logo are. (See the Sunday mail link above for an example) The Rebels have left us in no uncertainty about what will happen if we do not comply and given their record of killings, beatings, drug dealings etc what is a bike club or individual to do? It might be cool to say F**K them, “ we will wear what we want”, but our club is just (all be it a very large) social bike club made up of all cross sections of society.
Its doubtful the police would take action, given as well the number of them killed by outlaw bikies over the years. What can be done when a large well armed organization like the Rebels live outside the law? I’m posting on this side of the forum hoping for a mature response / ideas / stories of similar incidents. Were our club leaders right in agreeing to the rebel’s request and asking the members to remove the rockers from our back patches?