Highlanders' management have pulled the pin on the team's T-shirt ''cannons'' after an incident during the team's game against the Crusaders.
A woman was left bloodied when hit in the face by a T-shirt fired from an air cannon on Saturday.
St John South Island region communications adviser Ian Henderson said the woman was treated by St John staff at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
''She was treated on site by our events crew for a bleeding nose, caused by the T-shirt hitting her in the face,'' he said.
She was not taken to hospital.
A man seated near the woman said the cannons were dangerous and described their operation as ''bloody stupid''.
''The thing's flying at a million miles an hour and one came flying over three or four feet above me and hit a woman sitting a couple of rows behind me,'' Bevan Potter said.
''She had blood pouring everywhere.''
The cannon seemed to be over-powered and the T-shirts were being shot directly at the crowd, Mr Potter said.
Highlanders general manager Roger Clark said the team would not use the cannon again.
''I don't know if there was too much air in it, or whether it was the way it was fired ... but it was really powerful and one struck a lady,'' he said.
''It's not acceptable and we can't take that risk again.''
Highlanders management had spoken to the woman.
''She was fine after the game - a bit of a shock because she wasn't expecting to be hit by a T-shirt, but she's OK,'' he said.
It was the first time anyone had been injured like that at a Highlanders' game, he said.
Crowd Shot managing director Jonny Kirkpatrick said his company leased one of the two air cannons used at the game, but his was not the one which fired the T-shirt that hit the woman.
It was the first time he had heard of someone being injured by an air cannon and his had never caused an injury.
''They have a maximum pressure they won't go above,'' he said.
WorkSafe New Zealand had not been notified of the incident and was unaware of it happening, a spokesman said.
