A female sports reporter from Georgia, United States, has claimed she was “violated” while filming a post-match segment after Georgia Bulldogs’ win over Clemson Tigers in the opening round of the new NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.Lyndsey Gough works for broadcaster WTOC 11 and was recording a live match reaction piece following the Bulldogs’ 10-3 win at the Bank of America Stadium.As fans exited the stadium, a number of men are seen approaching the reporter, who appears visibly uncomfortable.At one point she is heard saying “please don’t touch me” to a member of the public who came up behind her. Moments later she urges another not to touch her equipment. Eventually, Gough is forced to move from her position as fans incessantly invade her personal space.The reporter later took to Twitter to voice the difficulties she faced during filming. She shared a video of the incidents with the caption: “Got all kinds of violated during my first live hit by fans.ENTER GIVEAWAY"After the first guy touched me I started rolling... this isn't even all of it. So uncomfortable. Can we please respect people's space."The clip has accumulated almost a million views on social media and prompted many to offer Gough support.One user wrote: “I nearly had a panic attack watching this. If a male reporter were standing in the same place, those men would have given him space while they drunk-yelled at the camera. Unacceptable.”

Similarly, Kimberley Johnson, host of the Start Me Up podcast, said there is no way of defending the men in question.“Terrible behavior from men thinking they have the right to touch strange women and invade their space,” she stressed. “There is no justification, so I will not blame the reporter.”Another user offered multiple reasons why this behaviour should be condemned.They commented: “This is so terrible. 1) No one should be touched while working 2) No one should have their space invaded, especially during a pandemic 3) Men you don’t know touching you and invading your space is scary and never ok.”Though the majority of comments appeared to be in support of Gough, some trolls suggested she was rude and shouldn’t have stood in a location where she knew fans would be exiting the stadium.Gough was not deterred by these comments, however, and responded to her own video by writing: “Also I wasn’t even rude lol trolls can beat it.”

Georgia Bulldogs’ next game is against the UAB Blazers this Saturday.