Rex Hunt in road rage incident at Beaumaris shopping strip

Friends have rallied around Rex Hunt after the footy identity armed himself with a small garden fork in a road rage outburst.

Concerned friends have rallied around footy identity Rex Hunt following a road rage outburst.

Hunt brandished a small pitchfork and asked a motorist “do you want to die” during the confrontation in Beaumaris.

Dashcam footage shows Hunt, who was listed at 191cm and 97kg in his playing days, towering over a short, aggressive, ponytailed male Commodore driver.

The driver appeared to throw a punch at Hunt, 73, who was standing beside his black Nissan Navara in turquoise boardshorts and leggings.

Hunt then grabbed a weeding fork from his boot and approached the retreating man.

A bystander told Hunt “Rex, just leave him, Rex” as Hunt hobbled towards the target of his anger.

Hunt brandished a small pitchfork. Picture: 9News

The former broadcaster put a worrying social media post up late on Tuesday.

He claimed he had been admitted to hospital for minor surgery after a fishing accident.

Worried friends are rallying around him and urging him to get well soon. Hunt has previously detailed his battles with mental health.

A witness to the road rage, Byron Hughes, told Nine News: “His wife was there … and he was just threatening the guy.”

“His wife is just trying to tell him to get back in the car, but he was just losing his s---.”

No official report had been made to police last night, who said they were not investigating the incident.

Hunt was a police sergeant before he shot to fame as a fishing broadcaster and much-loved football commentator with the Seven Network.

The road rage incident is not the first public confrontation Hunt has been involved in.

The incident was captured on camera. Picture: 9News

Football broadcaster Rex Hunt has been involved in an ugly, violent road rage incident at Beaumaris. Picture: 9 News

Last year, while commentating a boxing event at the Melbourne Pavilion, Hunt knocked out a “low life” assailant who he confronted in the VIP toilets for trying to steal another man’s briefcase.

“I went whammo with my right … the next thing I remember he was lying next to one of those yellow lollies in the urinal,” Hunt said at the time.

“A few minutes later his mates helped carry the low-life out and one yelled to me, ‘You are f---ing mad, old man’.”

“I said, ‘Watch halfway through Gran Torino (where Clint Eastwood plays the ageing hero Walt Kowalski) and learn not to f--- with old blokes’.”

The road rage incident comes on the heels of a spat in which he criticised football broadcasters for having “equal genders everywhere” including in the commentary box.

“Call me a fossil or whatever,” Hunt said.

“But our game has been ruined by people who are making rules to appease soft penises. For gods sake … give us some biff. Give us some spice.”

Hunt’s comments were taken as a swipe at respected commentator Daisy Pearce, who he said was “terrific”, and kicked off weeks of debate.