Reporter is abused by trolls on social media after she complained about men’s ‘vile’ behaviour at NRL match

Journalist Eliza Barr received a barrage of online abuse after she exposed the vile behavior of NRL fans at Leichhardt Oval during the match between Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks on Saturday.

There were incredible scenes at the suburban ground as the Tigers defeated the Sharks 32-6 to give former premiership winner Benji Marshall his first win since taking over as coach.

But Barr shed light on the dark side of the crowd of 16,000, saying she was disgusted by some of the language and songs she heard.

“I’m on the hill at Leichhardt Oval right now and the disgusting, misogynistic, violent and offensive language we are being subjected to by a specific handful of male Tigers fans right now is so reprehensible and vile that I can’t tell you.” posted on social media platform X.

When asked which specific fans were making the comments, Barr responded: “The people around us, which included more Tigers fans than Sharks fans (some with children in tow) who were also visibly uncomfortable with it.”

Her opinion attracted hundreds of comments, mainly from men, that ranged from downplaying her concerns to outright insults.

“Welcome to rugby league it’s clearly not for you,” one responded to his original post.

“If you wanted good public behavior you should have gone to the rugby (union),” another posted.

“I’ll take things that didn’t happen with 10 Harvey,” another commented, confusing Family Feud host Steve Harvey with The Price Is Right host Drew Carey.

“You could post about the handful of bad people on the hill, or you could post about the other 16,000 people who were fantastic and had a great time, it depends if you want to grab the headlines or find the positives,” another posted.

A number of even more vile comments have been deleted or are not suitable for publication.

There were numerous comments, primarily from men, saying Barr should have removed himself from the situation if it was so offensive.

“Maybe leave the hill then?” one suggested.

“It’s amazing that there are bigots who are racist, homophobic, and make vile comments about women and you think *I* am the one who should have to move,” Barr responded.

Others defended the behavior as normal.

—Have you never been around men before? a male commenter asked.

“The fact that you are normalizing this as male behavior that should not be surprising or offensive has knocked me out,” Barr responded.

‘Amazing how many people (men…) here say that women are the problem for feeling uncomfortable when men sing openly raping made-up songs and make homophobic and racist comments at a sports match. (That’s very revealing of you! Extremely revealing!),’ he posted separately.

‘The Sports Game is not a magical container where the rules of social engagement do not apply because children are children in the spectacle of kicking the ball, FYI. Control yourself. They’re embarrassing themselves!’

Barr also received several messages of support from football fans, some of them from people who attended the game.

‘Is there a number to text during the game? “I am often at the Gabba with my daughter and have used the ‘snitch line’ to get people out. There is no place for racist and sexist language,” one parent responded.

“Hill is old school, some leopards don’t change places, I agree it’s sad that time seems stopped,” added another football fan.

“People should be able to go to the game, sit on the hill and enjoy,” another posted.