Fed up with the stream of negative commentary dogging the sport over the years, fans have now launched the “passion is not a crime” campaign.

Some supporter groups will unfurl banners at games and begin chants at seven minutes into matches in a united protest at what fans see as overwhelming media bias against the game.

But not all football supporters are backing the protest with Melbourne Victory and Adelaide United fans among those unlikely to take part.

The matter came to a head following the match between Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.

The game attracted a crowd of 26,000 but some television reports focused almost entirely on the arrest of of just three fans after flares were released.

Supporter groups condemned the actions of the few but news outlets were blamed for exaggerating isolated incidents.

The Facebook page of Channel 9 – seen as a main culprit in the latest case – was bombarded with “passion is not a crime” posts from outraged fans.

Within hours of hitting Twitter the hashtag #passionisnotacrime was trending across the nation, led by veteran news reporter and football tragic George Negus who added the hashtag to his twitter profile.

The slogan has now spawned a website urging fans to mobilise and join the “PINAC army”.

Forum posters lamented the mainstream media’s lack of football understanding which resulted in activities such as pre-game marches painted in a sinister light.

Callum McConnell posted on Channel 9’s Facebook page, detailing incidents where dozens of fans were evicted from non-football sporting events without the mention of hooliganism.

“Since you seem to favour baseless reports on football fans, whom you incorrectly refer to as "Hooligans", I've taken some time to compile some statistics that make your attack on football seem childish and unwarranted,” he wrote before listing the stats from cricket and rugby league matches.

He added: “You're afraid of what you don't understand, that is the PASSION of football fans.”

Channel 9 acknowledged the flood of ‘passion is not a crime messages’ before asking people to judge for themselves: “Were we right to report this story? Was the reporting fair?”

Football Federation Australia last night acknowledged the fans' anger - but stopped short of endorsing the Passion Is Not A Crime hashtag and campaign.

On their official A-League Twitter and Facebook accounts, the FFA posted: “Your passion is being heard over the reporting of the Sydney derby.  All fans have the right to defend our game. #WeAreFootball”

On their Brisbane Roar supporter group Facebook page, The Den posted: “Passion is not a crime. flares, yes they are illegal. but the bias reporting of football fans nationwide needs to come to an end.”

It is understood The Den will have displays and include a special chant from the 7th to 10th minute to protest against the media bias.

Newcastle Jets active support will also take a stand. “Up here in Newcastle we get bashed left, right and centre when it comes to media,” said Squadron spokesman, Tim Verschelden.

“You see the same thing happening right across Australia – they don’t let the truth get in the way of selling papers.”

But Verschelden said there was no support for importing a flare-culture to the Australian game.

“Just because it happens in Europe it doesn’t have to happen here – that’s not at all what The Squadron is after,” he said.

“We try and make our own atmosphere taking the good things from Europe and making them even better, that’s what it’s all about.”

Sydney FC fans are expected to lend their support although with track work disrupting train schedules it’s unlikely that a big crowd will make the trip to Newcastle on Saturday.

The Cove spokesman Grant Muir said: “We’re not very happy at all with the media characterisation of what happened at the football.

“They’re pouncing on relatively minor incidents and characterising them as criminal – it’s ridiculous sensationalism.”

But the spokesman for Melbourne Victory’s Blue and White Brigade, Adam Tennenini, said they were unlikely to “feed” the media war.

“From experience you always have to be careful when we engage in this sort of media battle,” he said. “It has the potential to backfire if some fans continue to engage in illegal activities."

Tennenini said football, like all sports, had the occasional unsavory incidents but the knee-jerk reporting was over the top.

“It’s been nearly eight years now and it still happens,” he said. “I used to get upset and angry in the beginning when I read those type of stories.

“Now I just laugh it off and don’t worry about it anymore because the haters are always going to hate as the saying goes.”

Spokesman for the Adelaide United fan group, Shaun Brennan, said the club’s active support would be “steering away” from the campaign concerned that some fans intent on illegal activities were “hiding behind the slogan”.

Wanderers' fan site westsydneyfootball.com stressed the importance of stamping out flares in the A-League to stop giving news stations a chance to attack the sport.

One fan posted: “Most important thing this weekend is NO flares at all because we all know what will happen.

"Put the focus back on the FTA stations and their bias, not back on us.”