Cricket: Tour mag victim of Tuffey affair

New Zealand Cricket has pulled from sale its Australian tour guide magazine featuring Daryl Tuffey on the cover as the fallout from an alleged sex tape continued yesterday.

The Press newspaper said the NZC inquiry into Tuffey's alleged "serious misconduct" related to a videotape filmed by two British men, Paddy Curtis and Archie Brookbank, both 19, and showed Tuffey having consensual sex with a Christchurch woman.

The inquiry is expected to be completed in a fortnight. NZC public affairs manager Steve Addison confirmed that the magazine Uncovered was not being sold at Jade Stadium as planned at the first test between New Zealand and Australia which began yesterday. He would not comment further, or say how long the magazine would be off sale.

National Bank television advertisements featuring Tuffey giving coaching advice still appeared yesterday. The magazine shows Tuffey on the cover playing an electric guitar.

It was distributed to series sponsor the National Bank on Wednesday to give to clients in its corporate box at Jade Stadium yesterday, but it is understood NZC requested the magazine not be handed out.

It is the second public relations issue for NZC from the magazine after an angry Australian captain Ricky Ponting was given an apology by NZC chief executive Martin Snedden.

Ponting took umbrage at an article which incorrectly said he was "embroiled in a bookmaker scandal which blew up in 1998".

His only involvement was to appear at the Australian Cricket Board's inquiry into player conduct, at which Ponting said he was approached twice by a bookmaker but turned him down each time.

NZC last weekend said it would continue selling the magazine at grounds during the test series, which suggests it did not believe the Ponting article was actionable.

Tuffey, ranked in the top five of NZC's contracted players and paid an annual retainer of just over $100,000, appeared on Wednesday at an inquiry held by Hugh Rennie, QC, on behalf of NZC.

The Press said the tape was made at a Riccarton flat in November, but it became an issue only after the woman's new boyfriend heard of the tape's existence through other sources.

Police said they had no involvement in the case and were not investigating.

Curtis and Brookbank were in New Zealand for four months, but left the country a fortnight ago.

They played cricket for the second-grade Riccarton club side.

A friend of the young men, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the pair were "immature boys" who made several videos of a sexual nature during their four-month stay in New Zealand.

Tuffey met the men while he was training at the New Zealand Cricket Academy at Lincoln and socialised with the pair when he was in Christchurch throughout December and January, the source said.

Curtis and Brookbank took the tape to pubs around Christchurch, boasting of their efforts and showing it on the screen of their video recorder.

"I do know they were showing [the Tuffey] one to everyone. They would say, 'do you know Daryl Tuffey? We've got him on tape'," the source said.

Curtis and Brookbank could not be contacted in Sydney.

"The complaint relates only to Mr Tuffey, does not involve any other New Zealand player, and relates to one matter of off-field conduct. It is alleged to be a matter of serious misconduct," Rennie said. It is understood NZC announced the investigation after fielding inquiries from the media and receiving confirmation from Tuffey that its concerns were valid.

Employment contracts for New Zealand players state they must comply with a code of conduct on and off the field, and that they do not act in a manner likely to bring the team or the game into disrepute.

Penalties for breaching the code range from mediation to termination of contract.

Tuffey was dropped from the side during last month's one-day series against Australia.

- NZPA