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The booing of Adam Goodes has now become a full-blown furore, with Sydney Swans chairman Andrew Pridham labelling it racist. Even AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has called for the booing to stop, although he stopped short of calling it racist.
A range of articles have called the booing racist, whereas the commentary has been ardent in its position that it is not racist.
The reasons for booing Goodes include that he is a persistent diver, that they did not appreciate his apparently divisive commentary on Indigenous rights, or for pointing out a young girl in the crowd who sprouted a racist slur, sadly unbeknownst to her at the the time.
Some have even blamed the media, highlighting that the promotion and denouncement of booing Goodes has led to a sheep mentality.
Sadly, I know I could be adding to this.
Over the past two or three years, I have noticed Goodes’ tendency to dive and I was disappointed with his actions. Thinking about this now, I am not really sure why. I am generally against diving, but that has not stopped me from taking a dive or two when I play. The only defence I have is that it is the only way I could get a kick.
I also consider Goodes a role model, and hence have been disappointed with his growing rap sheet for dives, which has only started to occur because his skills have started to fade as Father Time inevitably catches up to him.
Few AFL players have been a leader in such a public way on social issues facing our society as Goodes. Heritier Lumumba is the only other current player I can think of. Michael Long began his championing of Indigenous issues after his career, although the racist altercation with Damian Monkhorst sits in my memory. Nicky Winmar had the famous guernsey lift, but generally has chosen not to engage the issue of racism further.
Overall, many AFL players support various social causes, however most do it in a less public fashion, and also try to avoid making comments that could be construed as provocative, unlike Goodes.
Perhaps the booing is a culmination of these factors. Goodes, being construed by the public as a provocative promoter of Indigenous rights is now engaging in the frowned-on activity of diving. A simplistic rationale would call this ‘tall poppy syndrome’. A more nuanced version is perhaps that people have taken offence to Goodes’ comments and actions on how he promotes Indigenous issues, then seeing his fallibility when he dives and taking exception to it. Basically, calling out Goodes for falling into the trap of ‘he who is free of sin cast the first stone’.
This leads to the question of whether the booing now become racist?
There are players specific team fans love to hate, and some players are generally hated by football opposition supporters everywhere – Stephen Milne and Hayden Ballantyne spring to mind. However, no player has been persistently booed over a season like Goodes has.
Perhaps the best way to answer the question of racism is to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. If I was watching a sports bulletin highlighting similar incidents overseas, my first thought would be ‘what a bunch of racist pigs!’ This is now the public perception.
It really does not matter why you are booing Goodes now, the public perception is that the people booing are racists – and that is all that really matters.
So I would implore anyone who is considering booing Goodes to think twice unless you are comfortable with being painted with the same ‘racist’ brush.
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