Warning: contains offensive content which may upset some readers.
Three women say they were subjected to "racist and vile" heckling while watching the Manny Pacquiao v Jeff Horn boxing match in Brisbane on Sunday.
In a tweet that has since been shared more than 300 times, Brisbane journalist Tegan George called out the behaviour, and said she had never before experienced what she had that afternoon.
"Never have I or my sports loving girlfriends been so badly abused & sexually harassed. Went on for hours," she tweeted, sharing a video of one of the offenders.
In the video, a man sits with his legs widely spread, gives her the finger and says: "Come on b****, f*** off away from me, will ya?"
When she asked if that's how he spoke to all women he answered, "No, only c**** like you."
The Brisbane Times reported that throughout the fight, the men used language too offensive to publish, including foully commenting on the trio's bodies, sexually explicit suggestions, and they also spilt drinks on them.
Ms George's friend Sally said as soon as the trio sat down, they were heckled by the men seated behind them.
"Every girl is used to a bit of a wolf-whistle, or a bit of a comment here or there," she told the Brisbane Times, "[But] they were racist and vulgar."
The friends frequently attended sporting events, and she said they weren't "prudes by any definition" and were professional women who "know how to take a joke, but the behaviour was completely unacceptable and no one should have to tolerate it."
"It was relentless and unprovoked. We were trying to watch the fight; we weren't engaging with them, we weren't fighting with them in any way."
The women began filming the abuse after turning around to confront the men, and what was captured on film was the tamest of the comments, she said.
Making matters worse, no one on the crowd said anything.
"This is what was so shocking about the whole scenario- that no one said anything. I couldn't believe the bystander syndrome."
Women should be able to go to a sporting event like this and be safe, not subjected to this sort of behaviour, she said.
The men were eventually removed from the stadium.
Newshub.
