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Death threats against sports journalist Rebecca Wilson

Football Federation Australia has been forced to ask fans to stop making death threats against sports journalist Rebecca Wilson.

Two of Sydney's leading radio commentators, Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, were also targets of online hate following the naming of nearly 200 people allegedly banned from A League matches.

Rebecca Wilson's Sunday column identified fans banned from A-League matches some of whom, she suggested, act like terrorists. Photo: 7 News
Rebecca Wilson's Sunday column identified fans banned from A-League matches some of whom, she suggested, act like terrorists. Photo: 7 News

Rebecca Wilson's Sunday column identified fans banned from A-League matches some of whom, she suggested, act like terrorists.

The social media response from some has been to terrorise.

"Rebecca Wilson found dead in a bathtub full of tears," read one post.

"How do you make a ***** moan? Give her a job as a journalist," read another.

"Be better if she slit her wrists the ****" - the posts continued.

Ray Hadley has been the target of online hate following the naming of nearly 200 people allegedly banned from A League matches. Photo: 7 News
Ray Hadley has been the target of online hate following the naming of nearly 200 people allegedly banned from A League matches. Photo: 7 News

Many are too graphic to repeat online, even worse, death threats, which police are investigating.

"Some of them have threatened to kill me, to maim me, to castrate me... vicious, it's been violent," Wilson said.

Broadcaster Alan Jones is under siege himself for creating the terrorist tag and backing Wilson - but he's not backing down.

"All these people have done by their behaviour is to prove the validity of the things that Rebecca and I were talking about on air," he said.

Broadcaster Alan Jones is under siege himself for creating the terrorist tag and backing Wilson - but he's not backing down. Photo: 7 News
Broadcaster Alan Jones is under siege himself for creating the terrorist tag and backing Wilson - but he's not backing down. Photo: 7 News

Wilson, Jones and fellow broadcaster Ray Hadley are taking exception to being parodied by the Wanderers fan known as 'Hektic Hektor'.

"You are a sick, sick man," he said to Jones.

"You alcoholic," to Wilson, and;

"You are a crap commentator," to Hadley.

To all three: "My neck is itchy," as he motions his hand across his throat.

This is the threat the broadcasters are taking seriously. Photo: YouTube
This is the threat the broadcasters are taking seriously. Photo: YouTube

The broadcasters are taking that as a serious threat.

But the man behind it insists that it is just satire.

"Mate I'm not a terrorist, I'm an aspiring underwears model and hot dog eating champion and a burger eating champion and a lover of life," he told 7 News.

'Hektik Hektor' has a message for Alan Jones. Photo: 7 News
'Hektik Hektor' has a message for Alan Jones. Photo: 7 News

Wanderers and Melbourne Victory fans will stage walkouts from matches this weekend to protest how the list of banned supporters was leaked in the first place.

The Football Federation has told fans and others to stop the death threats.

Western Sydney Wanderers say they'll advocate on behalf of any club member with proof that they've been unfairly slapped with an Football Federation Australia-enforced stadium ban.

Wanderers chief executive John Tsatsimas said on Wednesday anyone with "compelling evidence" to support their claim was welcome to contact the club to take it further.

There is currently no avenue to appeal for supporters who have been banned from attending A-League matches - an issue which has long been a source of fan discontent, and one that has bubbled to the surface in the wake of a News Corp Australia report which named and shamed 198 "louts" banned for a variety of offences.

"Let's be clear - this is a serious subject and one that cannot be misrepresented or misinterpreted," Tsatsimas wrote in an open letter to Wanderers fans.

"If you do something that does not comply with the term of entry to any venue or the laws of this country, we will not support you.

"However, within the parameters of the system that is in place at FFA, if you feel you have been wrongly banned ... bring this evidence forward and we will advocate on your behalf to the FFA."

The Wanderers' main support group, the Red and Black Bloc, and Melbourne Victory's North Terrace have both committed to mid-match walk-outs at their A-League fixtures this weekend, as part of a protest against the treatment of active fans by the sport's governing body.

Tsatsimas said the Wanderers are to meet with new NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Kyle Stewart next week, in the hope of establishing a "more harmonious working relationship" between police and soccer fans.

Western Sydney fans made up the majority of the 198 fans on the leaked ban list, and were described as "grubs" by Police Association of NSW president Scott Weber earlier this month.