Editorial: Toot 4 Strip - kids being kids?

There's very much an element of kids being kids here, writes Gillespie.

As many a tourist will tell you, there are plenty of sights to see in Rotorua.

If you were one of the pedestrians, motorists or workers along Fenton St on Wednesday afternoon, chances are one of those sights was a teenage girl dressed in not much, and then even less.

Turns out the girl - who was stripped to fishnets and underwear standing on a traffic island holding a sign saying "Toot 4 Strip" - was a pupil from Auckland's prestigious St Cuthbert's College.

She was taking part in a football team initiation and was understood to be under the supervision of a coach.

How stoked must the school be that this girl, and her mates egging her on, were there with their school van, logo clearly emblazoned on the side with the words "Taking our girls beyond the classroom".

Indeed.

And imagine how many "There but for the grace of God" thoughts went through parents' heads when they saw it or read about it.

Because there's very much an element of kids being kids here. It could have been anyone's child.

Kids do silly things - that's one of the reasons we as parents, teachers, coaches (ahem) are there to look after or supervise them.

Fun has its price and she'll be paying that price back at school, and maybe at home.

Meanwhile, the coach has been stood down pending an investigation.

There's much that can be, and probably has been said about a male coach whose young female charges get up to near-naked hijinks in public.

But the words that count will be those coming down from the principal and parents of St Cuthbert's and whoever is conducting this investigation.

If he didn't give a toot about what was happening on Fenton St on Wednesday, he certainly would give a toot now.