Indigenous round seems to bring out the worst in us. It’s meant to be a celebration and give us a warm fuzzy feeling that we’ve come a long way and embraced reconciliation.
We’ll still get the occasional racist idiot, but they’re throwbacks to the old days when you could stand in the outer and let loose with any form of abuse. Anything went back then.
We think all this is outlawed now. The clubs and AFL have pulled their supporters into line. Racial abuse won’t be tolerated.
But it still goes on, especially in the build up to Indigenous round. It would seem we have a long way to go.
It’s a year since Adam Goodes made his on-field stand and we haven’t learnt much. African football players are still subjected to racist taunts from the European terraces by banana-throwing bigots. West Indian-born Australian cricketer, Andrew Symonds, was subjected to similar abuse on a tour of India in 2007.
When Adam Goodes was abused by a 13-year-old kid, it was just another incident in an established pattern of racial abuse. The kid should have known better. So too should have Eddie McGuire. This was not casual racism. It was the full bottle, and to see it in any other way is a cop-out.
It’s not surprising Goodes no longer speaks to McGuire. If a player made similar comments on the field, he would have copped a suspension and been rostered in for counselling. Eddie copped the counselling but not the suspension. It was another cop-out.
We haven’t learnt from McGuire’s so-called gaffe. Racists are still around. A few weeks ago, a Bulldog supporter racially abused Demon Neville Jetta. Goodes was back in the news when a Bomber fan had a go at him.
But it doesn’t stop there. Twitter has become the vehicle of choice for the racist abuser. The racist on the outer is now the coward on Twitter, and they are there in droves.
It is not hard to find Twitter abuse directed at Goodes, or Instagram attacks on Hawk Cyril Rioli.
As Goodes said when launching Indigenous Round with new AFL CEO, Gillon McLachlan, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Goodes is the Australian of the Year and it’s a timely appointment. He’s what this country needs to prick its collective conscience about racism. He’s vowed to fight it and to date he’s done so in a dignified manner.
During the ‘ape’ episode he maintained a silence which shamed us all.
When he pointed to that young girl he pointed at all of us. Some non-Indigenous Australians focused on the girl and said Goodes was a bully, or that Eddie was tired, and how could Goodes pick on them?
The girl, McGuire and the rest are products of a society that has peddled these views. Those insults based on the colour of someone’s skin are racist hand-me-downs from the days of White Australia, when Indigenous Australians were largely segregated.
We should have learnt, but we haven’t. We’ve got the long walk to the ‘G and the Dreamtime match. We’ve got a football code across southern Australia that has been at the forefront in recognising the Indigenous contribution to this country. We’ve had an AFL CEO in Andrew Demetriou who’s said enough is enough, racism is out.
But we’ve still got racists. We haven’t yet shrugged off the White Australia blinkers. We like to think we’re tolerant, but we’re not. We might want to close the gap, but we don’t care enough. It requires greater sacrifice than we are prepared to make. We still play the race card to assert superiority.
Indigenous Australians let their actions speak. Look at the photo of St Kilda’s Nicky Winmar pointing to the colour of his skin at Victoria Park in 1993. The photo has outlived the racist taunts of the Collingwood crowd.
Michael Long also forced footy to confront racism. His club, Essendon, backed him.
But they were fighting entrenched attitudes that persist today. Contrast Winmar’s photo with the words of the then Collingwood President, Allan McAlistair. When he said Indigenous Australians should try and “conduct themselves like white people, well, off the field, everyone will admire them and respect them,” he sided with the racists.
Last week Nathan Lovett-Murray related how his grandfather, Doug Nicholls, was sent packing by Carlton because players and staff thought he was on the nose. That’s the stench of racism.
A more cynical form was employed by Carlton in the 1970 finals. The club had recruited a brilliant West Australian, Syd Jackson. It was a time of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and civil rights movement, and there was growing clamour for greater social equality and an Indigenous voice.
Jackson was the most visible expression of this voice in the VFL, but he chose to let his football do the talking. In the second semi-final he was reported for hitting Collingwood’s Leigh Adamson. When the case went to the tribunal, Jackson said he had been racially abused. Jackson’s charges were dropped, while Adamson became the guilty party.
Jackson’s defence was a lie. Adamson had not racially sledged him, though many others had. The whole thing was concocted by Carlton president George Harris, who told Jackson what to say to the tribunal. Adamson lived with Harris’s lie until Jackson revealed the frame-up.
Before the tribunal Jackson was in no position to speak for himself. As an Indigenous Australian he had to put up with racial abuse from the other side of the fence. As a Carlton player, he had to do and say what the club wanted.
His Aboriginality could be used and abused by Carlton’s hierarchy while he himself had no voice. That’s racism. The 1970 grand final was won in part because of it.
Sean Gorman has documented the problems the Krakouer brothers had when they ventured across the Nullarbor to play for North Melbourne. The football authorities suggested they were weak to hit back – it’s not what disciplined footballers do.
The Krakouers were right to hit back. Nobody deserves to be racially abused. It may not have been the act of disciplined footballers, but it was the act of human beings.
Some of those who dished out racial abuse are now footy talking heads. Some like Tony Shaw and Dermott Brereton have apologised. Brereton has admitted he racially abused Winmar and Eagles player Chris Lewis.
Indigenous players make up over 10 per cent of AFL lists, but are barely present among the footy media. They are seen but rarely heard.
They use actions, not words, like Goodes last year when he pointed at the girl and maintained his silence. As Australian of the Year he’s acted with uncommon dignity.
To continually abuse him on Twitter shows that non-Indigenous Australians have not come very far. To racially abuse other Indigenous footballers suggests we are still a racist lot.
Maybe it’s time for Indigenous Australians to tell everyone Australia doesn’t deserve Dreamtime at the ‘G until they get a bit more respect.
Tom Heenan lectures in sport at Monash University
thank Goddard
Guest
Nice
Jason K
Guest
I would also point out the title of this article is "Do we really deserve Dreamtime at the ‘G?" I'm assuming from the tone of the article that "we" refers to white people. Shouldn't the question be: Do they really deserve Dreamtime?" And should they answer be, yes, they (indigenous) do deserve recognition of their culture?
Jason K
Guest
As a (white) fan of AFL from the USA, I thought indigenous week was really great. I would like to see a full gallery of photos of the jerseys. The teams could play full time in those jerseys, week in, week out. I would never get sick of it, the designs just look so cool. In future, please don't lump me and all white people into one big racist group. Others may be into it, but it's not my thing and I will speak up about it whenever I see racism going down -- and so would a lot of white people I know.
Dalgety Carrington
Guest
It's outrageous isn't it Axle, everybody from the left generalising like that?
MRL
Guest
Just because Afl has racism issues does not mean the entire country is racist?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I see that after I finished composing my thoughts and submitting them, a few other people including yourself think the same. Very poor article indeed and some people really need to think before they post.
Pete
Guest
What a great article... If you're a self-absorbed, narsassistic, smug know it all. Do you want to put a solution forward? Or a theory as to why or how these problems have come forward? The only answer I seem to be able to get from your article is that I don't deserve the right to watch and celebrate the dream time game, because I as a non-indigenous australian, has not come very far and still considered part of the racist lot. That a lot assuming you're doing on my behalf. So... The end result of your article is that because the ENTIRE non-indigenous population of Australia is still racists, we should cancel the Dreamtime at the G' effectively disallowing indigenous players to have a round to celebrate heritage and achievements and also disallowing any of 'US' to also celebrate and enjoy the round of footy. Hmmm, Monash uni you say.
PaulD
Guest
Great response Rick. We have had a couple of moralising articles here on aboriginality in the AFL and I don't think any of them have really nailed it. Most seem happy to preen for their own vanity and tar everyone with a broad brush, while not actually proposing a practical solution to the issue.
Wilson Flatley
Roar Rookie
Your poor students... i hope they're not paying for this drivel?
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Careful Tom - you may be a so called expert on sport, but after reading this you are certainly not an expert on how to deal with racism. This is a terrible article on so many levels and I will more importantly point out why to you so you don't write an article like this EVER again! Firstly, you have structured your article to suggest that racism is running riot and in many ways is just as ripe as the bad old days of the 80's and 90's by making reference to players like Shaw, Brereton and Winwar who played in this era. Now this may be the case, but do you have any statistical evidence to back this up, or have we indeed improved as a society when it comes to this very sensitive issue? Yes, this is an opinion site, but this is not the topic to start making 'stuff' up without some solid credible evidence to support it. To make matters worse you don't even agree with the premises of your own article because you started with this paragraph: "We’ll still get the occasional racist idiot, but they’re throwbacks to the old days when you could stand in the outer and let loose with any form of abuse. Anything went back then." You mention 'occasional' racist idiots. This suggest that you actually believe there are far less of these so called 'idiots' making racist comments at football games compared to the 80's and 90's when it was common to hear these inappropriate remarks. So which is it Tom, because as an 'expert' I'm confused as to what you are actually trying to say? Secondly, your solution to the problem is to take away Dreamtime at the 'G' because that's the best way to punish these so called 'occassional' idiots. Lets not worry about the actual good it does by continuing to educate this small section of society that indeed racism will NOT be tolerated in a society, despite it being their bigotry right to do so. Lets also forget about how well it markets the game and how much a success it has been for the AFL along with Richmond and Essendon at putting on a wonderful display of football for most of it's inception. Thirdly you made this ridiculous comment, which is just unacceptable: "To racially abuse other Indigenous footballers suggests we are still a racist lot." You just opened a can of whoopass on yourself there, because you, like most racist have decided to stereotype yourself. Don't ever say 'WE' as a society are a racist lot. Many on here will take offence to that. Finally, you make reference to social media sites like Twitter as a medium in which to express ones racist views. I would suggest that this medium in itself is one of the reasons racism is perhaps more in our face today than 20-30 years ago. I'm not suggesting racism is more prevalent with that comment - far from it, because I firmly believe as a society we have come a long way in that time. However, social media does make it a lot easier for people to express their views, whether that be in a positive, negative or totally inappropriate manner. It is also much easier to quantify for it is there in black and white literally for everyone to see. I remember as a kid hearing racist comments all the time at the footy, but 'Champion Data' was not around then taking stats on how many people in the crowd percentage wise were actually being racist... As such I would not jump to too many conclusion about whether as a society we are indeed more or less racist today based on this. Can some of us as Australia's do better when it comes to racism? Absolutely. Would canning Dreamtime at the 'G' be of benefit? Well in my opinion 'no' because it punishes the majority of people who have embraced it for the good of the game. It also more importantly takes away a very important platform for promoting and acknowledging the many wonderful past and present indigenous players in the AFL today.
Axle an the guru
Guest
That is why Big Fish there will always will be a problem. Its because everybody from the left treats the rest in the same boat, unless you absolutely agree with them and never question anything,they brand you, and people dont like it. This world will always have its radicals,that dont mean everyone thinks that way. At the end of the day the left are nothing but a bunch of radicals themselves,and they do more harm than good.
The Big Fish
Guest
My pet hate. WE are not all racists. WE by in large in the public are not racist. Non indigenous twits on twitter are not representative of the general public. Australia by in large is fairly tolerant (especially compared to many other countries). Did we have issues in the past? Do we still have issues? Yes and yes. But lets not paint everybody with same brush. I in fact feel offended by this thinking.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
Haha I would hardly call England, Scotland and Ireland multicultural, but I see your point.
PaulD
Guest
How quick the left is to brand all of us racists for the actions of a few. This article is just a catalogue of racist moments by a few misguided fools used to tar all Australians. McGuire doesn't speak for me, nor does Allan McAllister. I was at the dreamtime game and enjoyed every moment pre and during the game. Was a great night, even if Richmond didn't show up to make it entertaining. You've got this article all wrong. Rather than taking away indigenous round and a celebration of aboriginality because of racists in the community, their presence and remarks should encourage us to redouble our efforts, celebrate it more. Make it very clear we are proud to have indigenous athletes in our great game, and that we all enjoy the remarkable feats and brilliance that they bring to it.
Chop
Roar Guru
When he pointed to that young girl he pointed at all of us. We like to think we’re racially tolerant, but we’re not. We might want to close the gap, but we don’t really care. It requires greater sacrifices than we are prepared to make. We still play the race card to assert superiority. Talk about sterotyping....so every, EVERY non-indigenous Australian is a racist? Not one, not a single non-indigenous person cares about closing the gap? I don't think comments like that help the argument when there are plenty of people, both in and out of government and sporting officialdom who are actually committed to the cause.
Shouts Chen
Guest
I think that the Indigenous Round should be replaced by Multicultural Round. Most of Australian AFL players are indigenous and a few players are from England, Scotland, Ireland, and many parts of the worldl.
swannies05
Roar Pro
Agreed Johno, it is a ripping TV show. I was lucky enough to be a part of a live aduience a few years ago now and the atmosphere on set was exactly as it is on tele, lighthearted and fun. Tom- great article as well. Although AFL is probably a national leader in advocating increased voice and appreciation for Indigenous Australians, racism at both the elite and grass roots level is still far too prevalent. I believe that we are definitely making progress, but to ensure continual improvement, AFL, club (both AFL and grass roots) administrators and players need to enforce a zero tolerance policy towards it and punish offenders both swiftly and harshly.
Axle an the guru
Guest
I will agree with you on that one johno. I think its the best footy show going around. That crew have some good fun without anyone like Crawford on Newman acting like a complete d::khead. Its nice to watch a show like that,without it being fabricated to be funny.
johno
Guest
The Marngrook footy show is that indigenous voice in the media, or was until the ABC cut it in 2012 due to costs It's now on NITV, a channel few would know exists - strange how this channel can afford such an "expensive" show. It's humourous, genuine and the best family footy show on a Thursday night by a country mile. It's grass roots footy from people who know the game is bigger than themselves. Geez even has female show regulars in Shelley and Leila.