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Sportradar, the agency which tracks betting patterns and data from a range of sports, says its new service can help fight anonymous online abuse.

Data firm Sportradar has launched a troll-tracking service designed to help leagues and sporting organisations safeguard against anonymous online abuse.

AFL veteran Callan Ward recently revealed he was subjected to death threats on social media, prompting a wider discussion about the prevalence of similarly vile attacks throughout that league, the NRL and other competitions.

Sportradar, which helped expose a match-fixing syndicate at Victorian Premier League soccer club Southern Stars FC in 2013, wants to empower athletes to unmask those individuals responsible for online abuse.

The Swiss-based intelligence agency counts NRL, Football Federation Australia, Rugby Australia and Tennis Australia among its partners in Australia.

Much of Sportradar's work relates to charting match data and betting patterns, helping bookmakers and those involved in anti-corruption.

But pleas to help fight troll abuse and protect the mental health and wellbeing of athletes have become increasingly common from the 80-plus clients that use the company's intelligence and investigation services.

Sportradar's troll investigators will seek to provide as much information as possible about an individual, including a clear picture of how they conduct online abuse.

The findings could then be passed on to law enforcement agencies in the most serious cases.

"(It) can act as a deterrent to future online abuse and create real change, particularly when people see the impact it has," Andreas Krannich, managing director of integrity services at Sportradar, said.

"We believe this safeguarding solution can have a similar positive impact on sport as our fraud detection system has had on match-fixing, where we've reported more than 5000 suspicious matches across global sport in 11 years."

Sportradar trialled its new service during exhibition tennis events earlier this year in the United States and Germany, when players from the ATP and WTA tour shared anonymous messages of abuse.

Sportradar successfully discovered the identity of some trolls, passing on their details to tournament organisers, social-media companies and - in some cases - local authorities.