Senior members of AFL club North Melbourne, Adam Simpson and Daniel Pratt, have admitted their leading role in producing a tasteless video condemned as degrading to women.
The four-minute video shows a condom-clad rubber chicken performing sex acts on a chicken carcass, which is meant to depict a woman.
Earlier on Wednesday, the entire Kangaroos playing list was paraded before the media at a press conference to apologise for the video, but refused to discipline or directly identify the players involved.
Simpson, a former club captain, and present skipper Brent Harvey said all players at the club had to take some responsibility for the video, and the pair apologised profusely for its making.
But later on the Nine Network's AFL Footy Show, Simpson and Pratt apologised for their part in the furore.
"I spoke today on behalf of the playing group about what had happened and how we all took responsibility as a group," Simpson said.
"But I thought that it was important that Daniel and I, being the senior players who were involved in the incident, that we'd accept our responsibility in the matter.
"So we thought we would come on and put our hand up. It was totally wrong, what we did. We are very ashamed. We are very embarrassed by the whole thing."
Pratt, a member of the club's leadership group, said helping to produce the video was "the wrong thing to do" and said it was right that he and Simpson took full responsibility.
Simpson said: "I'm married. We've got three children,. My wife is devastated. It's not about how we are feeling, I suppose, but we understand we've done the wrong thing. We never had any intention to cause harm to women or anything like that".
The AFL has become involved, releasing a strongly-worded statement that called the video "totally inappropriate and offensive".
Earlier, Harvey admitted all North Melbourne players had viewed the video, which was made during pre-season training at the club in December, before it eventually found its way to website YouTube via a player's page on social networking website Facebook.
"We're embarrassed about the whole situation. It's a prank gone wrong, it was meant for our eyes, obviously it was the wrong thing to do," Simpson said.
"I can assure you it's an aberration - it's just not our footy club."
But despite the video being condemned as degrading to women, chief executive Eugene Arocca said the club was unlikely to discipline anyone over the incident.
He said it was offensive and embarrassing, but that no criminal conduct had been committed.
"It was a foolish, misguided prank that is clearly offensive. We're embarrassed and apologetic for that as a football club," Arocca said.
"We're going to take the opportunity to move forward, educate our players further about their responsibilities as players and as members of the community."
Arocca said initial investigations revealed a group of players was behind the video, but would not name any of those they had found to be directly involved in its making.
The revelation of the North Melbourne video and its misogynistic tone comes just days after Adelaide Crows defender Nathan Bock was charged with assaulting his girlfriend and banned indefinitely by his club.
The AFL said North had kept them informed about the incident.
"There is nothing acceptable about this incident and it is offensive to women and indeed to all members of the community," AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said in a statement.
"The AFL will work very closely with North to reinforce the messages in the (league's) respect and responsibility policy that violence against women is never okay and that anything that can be seen to condone violence against women is never okay."
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