The word "syruper" or "syrupper" refers to the group of male students at Christ'
s College secondary
school in Chritschurch, New Zealand in 1975. The boys aged about 15 or 16 took part in a
party at the home of one of the boys while his
parents were away. One boy who had been invited to the
party arrived late. He found the others intoxicated and covered in Golden Syrup - a sticky, sweet substance popular in New Zealand and Australia. The boy who had arrived late for the party reported this to the
school authorities. The boys were severely punished (caned, gated, shunned, ostracized etc.). When pupils at other schools heard about this they started calling the boys at Christ's College "Syrupers". A high point in this abuse was the annual
rugby game between Christ's College and St. Andrews in 1975 when hundreds of St. Andrew's boys turned up with Golden Syrup cans on sticks. They waved the cans and chanted "Syruppers" throughout the
game. The Syrupers have gone on to become successful New Zealand Diplomats, businessmen and musicians. The "Syrupers" have been turned into an Urban Myth, but the Syruppers or Golden Syrupers are an Urban Myth based on an actual occurence in Christchurch, New Zealand at Christ's College in 1975.
A boy from a
school in New Zealand shouts "Syruper" at another schoolboy as they pass in the
street.
"Syruper" is graffitied on a corugated
fence in Christchurch and other provincial cities in New Zeaand at the end of the school year.
