New Zealand's oldest rugby club has been rocked by an alleged fraud scandal but the woman accused of being behind it has now left the country.
Christchurch Football Club (CFC) has filed a complaint with the police alleging one former staff member stole more than $100,000.
Newshub has discovered she has also faked letters from a respected Christchurch surgeon that said she was dying of cancer.
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"I can honestly say it has broken the club in a lot of areas... particularly in the junior section," CFC chair Craig Calder said.
At the centre of the allegations is Nicola Flint, a former administrator whose own children played there.
"We were having trouble paying our accounts and, after an audit, we found discrepancies of just over $100,000," Calder said.
The club alleges that money was stolen by Flint, who after initially starting on contract was employed by the club as business development manager.
"And that person was a very entrusted employee of our club and well liked in all sections of the club, and it was falsifying invoices and then having that money paid into a personal account, and that money's gone, never to be seen again," said Calder.
Fint was stealing from the community who not only trusted her, but even revered her. A photo of Flint was once posted on the rugby club's Facebook page, saying: "This lady goes above and beyond every day to ensure our children have an amazing time while at our club. She is a true legend of CFC."
Newshub has spoken to the forensic accountant who did the audit and has seen the invoices, some are for substantial amounts. Flint would allegedly invoice visiting clubs and schools and put a bank account on the invoice that she had set up.
Over time, that totalled about $100,000. She also allegedly stole money from a fundraising event.
"That's what breaks everyone's heart," the club chair said. "It's the fact that in one incident - and again it's alleged - there was a chocolate fundraiser. Some of that money that was raised never went into a bank account so that's robbing the kids that play this wonderful game of ours and our club... and that's what hurts so much."
Flint told her previous employers she was hurting too, living with stage 4 terminal cancer. Newshub discovered she medically retired from a job at ANZ in 2018 because she claimed she was dying. Newshub's investigations revealed Flint faked letters outlining her grim prognosis, claiming they were from respected Christchurch surgeon Phillipa Sturgeon at Breastcare.
The letter obtained by Newshub said she had "moved onto secondary medical options as part of a palliative care programme", "additional tumours seen in the lungs and bladder areas" and that "prognosis would indicate less than a 24-month time frame".
Breastcare has confirmed to Newshub the letter is fraudulent. ANZ confirmed Flint was employed there and left in 2018.
"This is the first we have heard about the allegations regarding her medical documentation," an spokesperson for the bank said.
"We’re happy to cooperate with police on this matter should they require further information."
Years after that letter, she told the rugby club's board the same story of terminal cancer. Calder said she often couldn't make meetings because of her illness but they never saw any deterioration in health.
Flint resigned from the club in October last year and took up a business development job at prestigious Christchurch school Rangi Ruru.
The school has confirmed she was hired with all the right reference checks and police vetting done before she started. But she resigned two weeks after she got the job.
Newshub understands the school was made aware of several allegations surfacing.
Flint has recently left the country with her children and moved back to her native England and is believed to have flown business class.
Calder had a message for Flint.
"How could you do it? How could you stand in front of other people, tell us that you had stage 4 cancer, tell us that you were doing a great job and, all that time, you were taking money off players, people and volunteers of our beautiful club?"
