The sinister movement, entitled 'Stealth Photography . . . Stalking Thread', began on the premiership message board, Football 365. It involves men from all over the world . . .

including Ireland . . . taking pictures of unsuspecting women and posting them online for other members to view. Most of the photographs are focused on women's bottoms, cleavage or bare legs.

Many of the users posting to the forum are from Ireland, and some of the pictures depict women at recognisable Irish locations such as the Red Cow roundabout, Luas stations and well-known Irish shops. In some of the pictures, garda patrol cars can be seen parked in the background.

The members of the forum speak openly about 'going out stalking tonight'. They swap tips on how to silence the shutter sound on the cameras on their mobile phones and how best to take a photo without the woman realising. When the members see a photograph they really like they post little icons depicting masturbation beside the picture.

The thread was started on 29 May this year and already runs to 21 pages. The first photograph, which is said to have been taken in Dublin, depicts a girl walking down an empty street. In the foreground, there is a shadow of a man standing watching her. This picture, which has clearly sinister connotations, is listed as a 'favourite' by many of the users. Two reconstructed versions of the photograph are posted later in the forum, having been edited to include the titles 'No-one can hear you scream' and 'Rapetime'.

Repeated efforts by the Sunday Tribune to contact the moderators of the Football 365 forum for a comment about the thread were unsuccessful.

"It's disturbing, disgraceful, and very worrying, " said Fiona Neary, director of the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI). "This type of message board is totally unacceptable. It demeans women and completely objectifies them. It is colluding with that type of mentality that thinks it is all right to speak about women in this way. And this in a country where rape is a real problem. Women do get raped here. It is a reality. For men to be talking about it in this way is very disturbing."

Neary said the editor of the website should look "very closely" at the thread. "They need to be aware of what kind of community they are trying to promote. I've no doubt that it is mostly young men on this forum and the moderators need to be very clear about what ethics they are seen to support."