The Australian Football League has condemned "inappropriate" locker-room behaviour after two Richmond Tigers players were caught on camera groping a teammate.
The players were seen touching a teammate's genitals in two separate incidents while standing in a circle singing the club's song after recent wins in the Australian Rules top flight. The footage, which showed the player trying to brush his teammates' hands away, has spread widely on social media and sparked criticism from an employment lawyer.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the league "condemned the behaviour" and would hold briefings with club CEOs, coaches and team managers. "We ... need to learn from what happened and ensure that everyone across the AFL understands that we must have working environments that are free from any form of inappropriate conduct or sexual harassment," he said in a statement.
"What we saw in recent times with players from a number of clubs touching each other inappropriately is clearly not the standard of high performance in the workplace that we could - or should - accept."
The Richmond players apologised to their teammate last week, with one describing it as a "stupid action". Coach Damien Hardwick said the affected player had not taken offence but added it was a "poor look" and would not be tolerated at his club.
