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Crusaders deny allegations of 'homophobic behaviour'

The Crusaders' home ground, Christchurch Stadium. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

The Crusaders have denied allegations that three of their players displayed ‘homophobic behaviour’ during an altercation in South Africa over the weekend.

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The allegations made on social media suggest that some Crusaders players were “physically intimidating”, making homophobic slurs, limp wrist gestures and adopting high pitch voices during an altercation at a McDonald’s on Long St in Cape Town following their 19-all draw with the Stormers.

In a statement released on Monday, the Crusaders said that they “have been made aware of allegations of an incident in Cape Town involving some of our players.

“Allegations have been made via social media that there was a verbal altercation between members of the public and some Crusaders players who were out getting food after the match against the Stormers in Cape Town. The original post claimed players exhibited homophobic behaviour.

The three players, team management and the South African-based security advisor with them, strongly refute the socialised account of what happened. They are devastated by the allegation and the implication of homophobic behaviour.

Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge said: “This is an organisation that is committed to inclusivity and is proud to have earned the Rainbow Tick certification. That is what makes these allegations particularly distressing.

“Given the serious nature of these allegations I will be meeting with the team management and players on their return to Christchurch, however I am confident in the account that we have received from the team and the security advisor who was present.”

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The allegations arose after a South African social media user posted a message that “a friend of mine and his friends” were “attacked” by members of the Crusaders at the McDonald’s outlet.

“As we entered, we were met by jeers and sniggers from them,” one of the complainants alleged in a separate post.

“They then proceeded to record us as a joke.

“When catching them in the act, they told us they did because we looked funny to them.”

The complainants alleged some players “began physically intimidating us – coming up to our faces telling us we better stop arguing or they will “f**k us up if we didn’t watch it”.

“Then, after arguing that straight white men are losing power, we were met with homophobic slurs, limp wrists and high pitched voices which were clearly in gest [sic].”

The social media user began filming the Crusaders party, capturing footage of an individual – believed to be a South African-based security advisor associated with the side – who intervened with the complainant’s video.

https://twitter.com/adamlennoxx/status/1129897835313471488

The social media user said the man “grabbed my phone and proceeded to grab me”.

Following on from that, “bouncers came and told me to leave the man alone and respect our elders”.

The Crusaders are expected to arrive back from South Africa on Monday night.

In other news:

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Nickers 34 minutes ago
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I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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