A professional football club in Melbourne's northern suburbs faces calls to ban hardline supporters who brandished sexist and provocative banners at a match on Saturday.
Preston Lions, a club associated with the Macedonian Australian community, faced South Melbourne FC on Saturday in a state league match that resulted in a nil-all draw.
Images from the game showed members of the Preston Boys ultras group holding a banner reading "anti-Hellass" in the stands.
Other banners posted to social media contained profanity and sexist messaging about Greek women.
South Melbourne FC are associated with the Greek diaspora and are known as the Hellas, the Greek name for Greece, from which the English adjective Hellenic is derived.
The Preston Lions are associated with the Macedonian Australian community.
Football Victoria said one of the league's "showcase fixtures" had again been "overshadowed by the abhorrent actions of a small group of individuals whose behaviour has disgraced our game".
The governing body said the actions of Preston supporters were "deliberately intended to provoke, divide and inflame".
"These acts were disgraceful and the people who committed them deserve no place in our sporting community."
Football Victoria said it was working with venue operators and Victoria Police to identify those responsible and "pursue every available sanction".
"We will use every avenue available to identify you, hold you accountable and do everything within our power to ensure you are not welcome back," it said.
Preston Lions condemned the banners and said they did "not reflect our club or the vast majority of our supporters".
"The club will not tolerate this behaviour," it said.
'Hatred, intimidation, vilification'
Pan Hellenic Women's Federation of Australia president Georgina Papafotiou told the ABC she wanted authorities to ensure sporting grounds were free from sexism and ethnic vilification.
"Parents should not have to explain degrading sexual slogans to their children at a community sporting event," Ms Papafotiou said.
"We also need education so supporters understand that passion for your club never justifies degrading women or vilifying an ethnic community."
Georgina Papafotiou, who was previously the mayor of Brimbank Council, is president of the Pan Hellenic Women's Federation of Australia. (Supplied)
Another Greek Australian community member, Konstantinos Kalymnios, said he had formally complained to Football Australia over "sexist, ethnically derogatory, obscene and degrading".
"Greek women attending the match, including children and younger spectators, were placed in the position of seeing their ethnicity and gender used together as the subject of a vulgar public insult," he said.
South Melbourne FC thanked its supporters for the "disciplined and respectful way they conducted themselves" throughout Saturday's match.
"Your passion for the club was on display, while demonstrating the standard we expect from our supporters," it said.
"Football should always be played and enjoyed in a safe, welcoming and family-friendly environment for everyone, and we thank our supporters for continuing to uphold those values."
Football Victoria said the sport should not be used as a platform for "hatred, intimidation or vilification".
"Anyone who chooses to weaponise our game in that way is attacking everything that football stands for," the body said.
