UPDATE 2.22pm: THE Richmond Football Club says it has been unable to substantiate claims ruckman Angus Graham slapped a woman across the face during Mad Monday celebrations.
The Herald Sun has spoken to a woman who was at the Turf Club bar in North Melbourne when the alleged incident occurred.
The woman, 21, who spoke to the Herald Sun in a face-to-face taped interview, claimed she was stunned at the Tíger's behaviour.
"I was just going to get a drink with a couple of my friends and I was standing like kinda (sic) in a big crowd and he turned around and looked at me, I looked back and he hit me on the cheek," she alleged.
"I was shocked and asked him "what are you doing?'' and he kept on telling me to "go all in" and I was like "what do you mean by going all in, what are you doing?"
He's like "you’re dumb, you’re dumb, go all in." I was like "are you trying to fight a girl right now because this is kind of ridiculous."
The alleged incident happened around midnight in the rear bar at the hotel.
The woman, whom the Herald Sun has chosen not to name, has not made a complaint to police or the hotel, but said she had spoken out because AFL players should not be able to get away with treating women so badly.
A Turf Club Hotel manager said last night there could be CCTV footage of the incident.
He said he would talk to Richmond about releasing the tape if the club approached him.
It is understood that Richmond has spoken to Graham, who cannot remember anything of the incident.
The club released a statement this afternoon saying it had not been notified of any complaint regarding the allegation.
"However, the Richmond Football Club does not condone any behaviour that disrespects women and has therefore investigated the serious allegations that were made against the player," the statement said.
"These inquiries have been unable to substantiate the allegation. The Club would cooperate fully with any police investigation into the matter."
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said he knew of the allegations and was taking the matter very seriously, but said there was not enough information to know if the incident had occurred or not.
"If it is true hopefully it will be forwarded to the police," Mr Demetriou said.
"From an AFL perspective, we will do all we can to find as much information as we can, but as it stands we are still waiting for more information.
But he rejected suggestions the alleged incident was a result of Mad Monday culture.
"Mad Monday is a thing of the past, I think the clubs and players have gone to great lengths to change the sort of methodology around Mad Monday," he said.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick had nothing to say on arrival at Punt Road this morning.
A relaxed-looking Hardwick declined to make a comment to media when he arrived just before 10am.
When asked if was concerned about the reports, he simply smiled and said "no".
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/claims-richmond-tiger-angus-graham-slapped-woman/story-e6frf9ix-1226131855415
