Wanderers were hit with a “show cause” notice by FFA for the “offensive” banner unveiled by the Club’s Red and Black Bloc (RBB) supporters during the derby at ANZ Stadium.

Western Sydney made a statement on Tuesday afternoon, condemning the actions of those fans and said the banner was “an affront to many on a multitude of levels and is completely unacceptable”.

Wanderers said they would respond to the “show cause” before the Thursday noon deadline, working with the venue, security and the FFA to identify those involved.

Joseph Roppolo is the president of Sydney Rangers, the city’s first and largest gay football team, and he’s called for the incident to lead to meaningful action.

“There needs to be an action not just talk. Let’s not make it a negative, let’s make it a positive,” Roppolo told FourFourTwo.

“We’re all human. Let’s build relationships. Maybe it needed to happen for us to wake up that this is something that’s unacceptable. I’d rather it didn’t.”

Roppolo acknowledged Wanderers’ statement as positive and didn't entertain the idea of a points deduction.

He instead suggested the upcoming Mardi Gras football tournament on Sunday which will see approximately 140 gay players participating, male and female, at Lambert Park in Leichhardt as a perfect opportunity to build relationships.

“It’d be awesome to see a Western Sydney Wanderers player or Sydney FC player come down and help build relationships in our community to let everybody know that football is for everyone,” Roppolo said.

“A club like Sydney Rangers, we’re in our 20th anniversary year, we’re really happy to bridge that gap and to help promote those messages.

“If we’re going to be serious, FFA signed up for the Anti-Homophobia and Inclusion Policy about a year and a half ago, we’d like to see a bit more strategic direction about how teams are to react when something like this does happen.”

The RBB put out a statement on social media on Monday evening, which was dismissive of the criticism of the banner, ridiculing the FFA for labelling it “offensive”.

The statement also included the line, “football belongs to the people, not a dictatorial body or the likes of so called expert commentators”.

The Sydney Rangers president argued the RBB’s banner was segregating “the people” and explained his stance on the importance of the issue.

“There’s a disconnect between people who see that as football banner and the messages that that sends LGBT people, supporters and their families,” Roppolo said.

“For me, as a gay man and also as a football fan, seeing banners that depict a homosexual act is quite confronting because it sends out the message that it’s okay to mock people based on sexuality. It says it’s okay to make a joke of people’s sexuality and to also laugh at people based on that.

“I think it was quite unsavoury, quite offensive, not just to Sydney FC fans but to the LGBT community.

“One of the things we strive for at Sydney Rangers is to promote positive messages of tolerance and acceptance.

“We have to be really careful sometimes the mainstream community aren’t aware of the issues that confront LGBT people as they’re coming out, it’s a really sensitive time.

“That’s probably one of the reasons LGBT are 14 times more likely to attempt to commit suicide. I think we need to be really careful and the FFA must clamp down hard.

“We’d like to see more from the clubs, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers. We’d like to see them engage with the LGBT community in more positive and meaningful ways.

“We want to help them build relationships within the LGBT community to send the message to everyone that football is a welcoming space and it’s for everybody.

“I think that’s why this incident brings up a lot of negativity for our community.

“FFA needs to step up, Sydney FC needs to step up, so does Wanderers.”