'Toxic, sexualised and violent': Ugly side of sport tackled in unique research project backed by Sport Integrity Australia and the University of Canberra

Now Sport Integrity Australia and the University of Canberra want to give sporting bodies the tools to be better prepared to combat the ugly side to social media interaction with athletes.

The university is on the search for a candidate to drive research into the management of gendered cyber hate, and Sport Integrity Australia are co-funding the scholarship opportunity.

They have extended the deadline to February, and believe the project could be a game-changer in the sports industry.

Amy Kilpatrick, director of 50/50 by 2030 Foundation and the UC Sports Strategy to promote gender equity in sport said the subject is a "significant issue" that needs addressing.

"Right now we rely on anecdotal information, which suggests that female, trans, queer and athletes of colour are much more likely to be subjected to toxic, sexualised, and violent commentary and attacks online," Kilpatrick said.

"But there isn't as yet anything looking holistically on the impact that has on the person to receive that, and what we also don't know also is how sports themselves are responding."

Kilpatrick said it's athletes, administrators, officials, referees and others within sport that become impacted by online abuse, and there is a desperate need to "think about where the gaps are".

"Not only from a regulatory perspective, but also from an employer responsibility perspective of those athletes," she said.

"We need to ask what do we need to do better from a policy, law and cultural standards perspective, in order to protect people."

No-one knows the devastating impact online abuse can have like trans-woman Hannah Mouncey.

The Aussie Rules and handball athlete copped horrid attacks online when she nominated for the 2017 AFLW draft.

"For me it was something that was all very overnight and I didn't anticipate it partly because I was very naive," she said.

"I think it's a very Australian thing to cut people down. It was pretty full on.

"It definitely gets to you, and there's a lot of people that assume you're okay dealing with it when you're not. They see you training and playing when it does really take a big toll."

Mouncey said the online threats got so concerning that the police stepped in and advised her not to play, and she also became reluctant to post photos of her dogs on social media in fear something would happen to them.

"I received a lot of death threats," she explained. "I never went to the police, I just thought it was just people online being idiots, but they came to me after they saw things online and told me not to play. But I did play because I didn't want [online trolls] to win."

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The Sport Integrity Australia and University of Canberra research project will take the form of a PhD either from a media or legal perspective and will consider issues on the subject and make recommendations for improvements.

The successful candidate will be offered a rare chance to be embedded within the university with unique access to experts, Sport Integrity Australia, national sporting bodies and the e-Safety Commissioner.

"We want people committed to better treatment of women in the workplace and in the media and interested in how sports is a vehicle to promote equality," Kilpatrick said.

"When women arrived in traditionally masculine employment settings, you don't just add women and stir.

"There needs to be a mindset change, about protecting people and making their cultures of their organisations safe for women, rather than just treating women exactly the same way as we treat the blokes. It's different. That cannot be understated."

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