A man has come forward and is standing by his friend's claims that several Crusaders players allegedly made homophobic slurs in Cape Town on Sunday.
The allegations came to light after the Crusaders visited a McDonald's in Long Street , following their 19-19 draw against the Stormers over the weekend.
The accuser's friend Jeremy, who did not want to reveal his last name, told RNZ that he and his friends were mocked by the Crusaders players.
"As soon as we walked into that McDonald’s, at first they were laughing at us and they were clearly mocking our appearances," Jeremy told RNZ.
"They even told us that they would report us because of the way we looked and presented ourselves."
Jeremy backs up claims on social media that Crusaders players were "physically intimidating," made homophobic slurs and mocked him and his friends with "limp wrists and high-pitched voices" gestures.
"It made me feel extremely uncomfortable because they came into my country, made me feel uncomfortable and told me to 'f*** off' in my own neighbourhood.
"I experience this day after day in South Africa and many people have experiences day after day. And the queer community is very tired of these kind of things and we can all relate to this."
Jeremy told RNZ that he doesn't want an apology from the organisation, but wanted the world to know that these sort of alleged attacks against the LGBTQ community is not OK.
"That's why there was such a big cry out on social media because everyone in South Africa is tired of straight white men acting like this."
Jeremy said the rest of the Crusaders team allegedly didn't try to defuse the situation and instead joined the men in jeering and making fun of his group of friends.
"Not at all, they started laughing and started recording us too. They were all on the same team, they were all on the same side."
Scott Robertson said “the boys really refute the allegations” on arrival back in New Zealand from South Africa.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson says only one player, George Bridge, was involved but denies anything "untoward" happened.
The claims are against three players, the team management and the South African-based security advisor, but Robertson said the others were there but had no dialogue.
"The boys really refute all the allegations, George who I've talked a lot about it, he engaged with him ... he's really upset around everything that's come out. He's extremely, authentically genuine that there was nothing ever said, there was no homophobic words or gestures," he said.
"He just can't understand how it's got to this platform."
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