Football team reprimanded for inflight behaviour

Members of a top Christchurch football club have been blasted for their actions on a flight which led to police and security being called and passengers waiting on the tarmac.

Players from the Cashmere Technical Football Club swore and yelled over the flight crew's safety messages while on board an Air New Zealand flight from Wellington to Christchurch on Sunday, July 3.

A passenger called out the team's behaviour on Facebook, calling them an "idiotic bunch of buffoons" whose foul language resulted in authorities being called for back-up.

That came despite several warnings from members of the flight staff, the passenger said.

"Held up a whole plane-load of travellers on the tarmac, dealing with loud mouth arrogant show-off who was an embarrassment to your club. Shame," the man said.

The club later apologised for the team's behaviour.

The club said they were now dealing with those involved.

"We have taken this opportunity to remind all of our members, players and coaching staff of the need to follow our Code of Conduct across all levels of the game."

One of their coaches, John Brown, acknowledged the misbehaviour, telling Fairfax: "[The team] were probably a bit noisy and a bit out of order. No action was taken by security staff ... they just said: 'Next time you are on a plane, keep the noise down'."