FOOTBALL fans at a club known for its socialist heritage have been angered by a right-wing Christian for “hijacking” their stadium as a backdrop to his extremist broadcasts.

Dave Daubenmire, a far-right Christian who goes by the name ‘Coach Dave’, has developed an online following on the fringes of ultra-conservative politics, with his rants on YouTube has appearing in several broadcasts featuring Sunderland’s Stadium of Light in the background.

The extreme internet personality, who has spoken offensively about gay pride events and repeats anti-Semitic myths about Jews, has used an image of Sunderland AFC’s home ground in his videos since June 6.

There are reports that the club is using legal channels to deal with the issue.

|Paul Dobson, co-editor of the fanzine A Love Supreme, said: “The easy option would be to ignore him. However, using our stadium as background, especially with means we can’t. I never knew about the postings until yesterday. I was absolutely gobsmacked when I saw them. We are not the only victims.

“He obviously has no interests outside of his part of the USA, but he seems to have gone around the world and pinched pictures of football stadia.”

Mr Dobson added: “Some of them are a bit anondyne and you cannot identify them but if you look over his shoulder you can see ‘Ha’way the Lads’ in full view, which we can’t ignore.

“His videos would be funny if the content wasn’t so obnoxious. You can’t go around using images like that without permission. The club, I understand, are quite rightly taking some form of action.

“If I was in a position of authority at Sunderland, I would certainly doing something about it.

“Even if he had used an image of Newcastle’s stadium and I watched it I would have been quite angry as a Sunderland supporter. I don’t care what your views are. If they are that extreme you shouldn’t be using someone else’s iconic image.”

Mr Dobson said the use of the Stadium of Light as “extremely detrimental” to the image and reputation of the club. He said: “It looks as though he is sitting north-west corner. I’ll bet a lot of money he has never been out of his home state.”

There was no one available at Sunderland AFC for comment.

The club was embroiled in controversy over far right views in 2013, when it appointed Paolo Di Canio as manager. The Durham Miners' Association protested and said it would end its opposition to the appointment only if the club agreed to join it in an anti-fascist campaign. Di Canio described the controversy surrounding his appointment as "ridiculous and pathetic".