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AUDREY MALONE
Last updated 20:34, August 3 2016
Chiefs players also hired a stripper on the night one of them was caught chanting a homophobic slur toward teammates.
Franchise bosses have confirmed a stripper was engaged by players for their post-season get-together at a Waikato hot pool and said he was "Very disappointed" and conceded the two incidents weren't a good look for the professional sports franchise.
The Super Rugby team, which lost to the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby semifinal on Saturday, celebrated the end of their season at the Okoroire hot pools, near Matamata. Such occasions are known in rugby and rugby league as Mad Monday.
Chiefs CEO Andrew Flexman on Wednesday confirmed a player had hired a stripper.
Investigations were still ongoing as to which player it was who hired the stripper but there would be some very tough conversations with those involved, Flexman said.
Management were not aware the stripper had been hired and were not present when she was performing, Flexman said.
He said if bosses had been aware they would have put a stop to the performance before it started.
The stripper, who performs under the name Scarlette and did not want to use her real name for safety reasons, was booked to waitress for an hour and perform a strip routine but she said the night turned sour when players behaved badly, including touching her despite her repeated warnings not to.
"I told them not to pull this stuff with me. It's not on, Scarlette said. "It was a pack mentality."
But Flexman strongly denied the allegations of improper behaviour, saying the franchise had independent witnesses who saw nothing untoward toward the woman.
"You have got to remember this is one person's accusation and her standing in the community and culpability is not beyond reproach," Flexman said.
However, he said players actions in hiring a stripper were not up to the organisation's own standards.
"I don't think it's a good look. Clearly it's something as an organisation, it's not good, and it's not acceptable."
When asked if hiring strippers was a common incident within rugby at professional level or within the culture of rugby elsewhere, including club level, he replied: "I don't know. I mean, I don't hear of it."
Flexman believed it remained to be seen whether the stripper incident would impact on the relationship the Super Rugby franchise had with sponsors.
The team's major sponsors include Gallaghers, Waikato Draught, AON, Adidas, Placemakers and Generation Homes.
The incident comes after Chiefs player Michael Allardice on Tuesday apologised for chanting "here come the gays" toward teammates, who were in fancy dress costume.
Pools patron, Brendan Barraclough, complained about the slur and received an apology from both Flexman and Allardice.
In his apology for that incident Allardice said his behaviour yesterday "did not reflect the values of our team and organisation."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/s...tripper-fracas