To the people calling Adam Goodes a sook, instead of going to work today, take the tools of your trade to the nearest stadium and do your job from there.
Ignore all those people insulting you from the stands, the ones leaning over the fence and into your face spitting bile and hatred. The better your output, the more vicious they’ll get.
And don’t even think about fighting back because that’ll show what a fragile fish you are. Just weather it for eighty minutes.
And then you can come back next weekend and do it all over again. And the weekend after that. And every weekend until you retire.
Why so pale suddenly?
There has been so much garbage trotted out to justify the kind of treatment Adam Goodes cops on a footy field.
“They’re booing him because he acts like a pillock from time to time.” That was Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine.
“Adam Goodes would do well to look at what he’s done bad or good or indifferent and work out what he can do to change that.” That was former AFL player Dermot Brereton.
“People aren’t booing you because you’re Aboriginal, they’re booing you because you’re acting like a jerk.” That was The Footy Show’s Sam Newman. If there was a Gold Logie for acting like a jerk, he’d win it.
“There’s still a great deal of resentment for what he did here at the MCG a couple of years ago when he called out that 13-year-old girl.” That was sports journalist Tony Jones.
* * *
24 May, 2013. It’s the opening match of the AFL’s Indigenous Round, Sydney versus Collingwood. If there’s one time an Aboriginal player should feel at home on the footy field, surely this is it.
Goodes is having a blinder and the Swans are on their way to a historic win.
And then he hears it. “Ape.” And he calls it. He stops and points his finger in the direction from which he heard the racial slur.
It’s a 13-year-old girl. “It just broke my heart,” he said.
It sets in train a series of events that will see Goodes named Australian of the Year eight months later.
That’s when things really get ugly.
Aussie NBA basketballer Andrew Bogut says he knows what it’s like to cop a serve at the office. And I’m sure he does.
But what’s happening to Goodes is not casual heckling. It’s sustained bullying, targeted at one person, weekend in and weekend out.
If this was happening in a playground, there’d be expulsions. If it was happening in the workplace, there’d be big fat juicy lawsuits.
Oh, hang on. It is happening in the workplace. Adam Goodes’ workplace.
Only four months ago, the AFL paid a $200,000 settlement to a staff member who had been repeatedly bullied by a senior league executive.
So what is the AFL’s duty of care here?
One writer has suggested we shouldn’t make footballers Australian of the Year. As if that’s a solution.
In Adam Goodes, Rosie Batty and Patrick McGorry, we have had Australians of the Year prepared to shine a light in dark places. Through them, we have learnt the nuances of racism, domestic violence and mental illness.
They are difficult discussions, revealing inconvenient truths about us, the personal prejudices we all have and the society we live in.
These are not roles that Goodes and Batty, in particular, sought. They came to this place through circumstance. But they choose how it defines them. This doesn’t suit some people.
So, back to the hecklers. Why should Goodes tolerate your abuse? Would you?
Don’t tell him to harden up. How about you grow up.
As for the rest of us, we can’t just say this is a problem for the AFL. It’s a problem for all of us. Our actions shape our society.
So let’s point the finger. Let’s call out the behaviour. Let’s demand more of ourselves.
Our cheers have to drown out their boos.
Reality
Guest
As a neutral non AFL non Australian person I'll throw in my 2 cents. 1) A very good player shows some pride in his indigenous culture 2) player doesn't know his place like the other indigenous players, he should just keep his head down and play footy 3) because he doesn't know his place he is accused of everything under the sun to justify the booing 4) The booers are without doubt racist, but they'll deny it because they actually don't think they are! It's all very interesting to an outsider and just shows racism has deep roots here.
George
Roar Rookie
BREAKING NEWS: AFL umpires taking indefinite leave after 100+ years of booing.
Jameswm
Guest
So that means 8 years later he deserves to be booed every time he touches the ball? No one else has ever done that?
Jim
Guest
Griffin Mcdonalds should be deported back to England.
Tom Oliver
Roar Rookie
"There then becomes a rump of people that form their opinion on Adam Goodes based on things that he never actually occurred. There is a saying that you can have your own opinions, but not your own facts. But when people want to defend those opinions, then I think that it’s reasonable that they are defended with facts, not just vague recollections of events that never happened" Perfect Andyincanberra
andyincanberra
Guest
My point is that people are putting words into Adam Goodes' mouth, accusing him of being divisive, yet nobody has provided any quotes. When so many people hear things like ‘…Adam Goodes has done himself no favours with his divisive comments…’, it becomes ingrained in many people’s psyche that he has been running his mouth off, making divisive comments, yet they just can’t quite remember exactly what he has said. The fact is that he really hasn’t said anything. There then becomes a rump of people that form their opinion on Adam Goodes based on things that he never actually occurred. There is a saying that you can have your own opinions, but not your own facts. But when people want to defend those opinions, then I think that it’s reasonable that they are defended with facts, not just vague recollections of events that never happened.
Sensible
Guest
He's being bullied? Oh I see. Short memory! Take us waaaay back to May 2013 you say. I'll take you back to 28th April 2007: Imagine this. You won the brownlow last year. Played in your second grand final in a row. You're playing at home and you're 45 points up in the last quarter against the team on the bottom of the ladder. What do you do? This? https://youtu.be/dGHmcKeqVw4 Unprovoked. You go to the tribunal. They say "You're a good bloke - we'll let you off on this one". Who's the bully? Some of us know and remember what this bloke does/did.
tezza
Guest
Ok, so when Quade Cooper was booed by the New Zweland crowds he didn`t come out and say that it was racist, and I don`t think anyone can say that Daley Cherry- Evans being booed by his own QLD fans and then by the Gold Coast was racist, it was because of there morals, and yes as a sporting nation we are extremeley hard on our stars but we are definatley not racist.
Jameswm
Guest
And now we have the girl in question's mum in the press saying Goodes should apologise to her. Yes, the person who MADE the racial slur should be apologised to. Interestingly, the mum said the girl had turned 13 only 5 days before, so was technically still only 12. These are the types of people booing. It's ganging up on one person, and the nature of it is wrong. It just amazes me that people continue to justify or defend the booing.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
That's an interesting question. Swans crowds are certainly different. In fact the footy experience at the SCG, even with over 35k present, is a unique one (as far as footy experiences go). I first had the opportunity to attend a Swans game in the late 80s, and marvelled at the fact that you could buy calamari and wine (no doubt a prelude to the chardonnay sippers tag that Sydney Swans fans used to have). I once had the opportunity to sit in the members, courtesy of Coke, and learned very quickly that I could not be my usual vocal self. One thing is for sure, it's an extremely well behaved crowd with decent representation from across Sydney (except from perhaps hard-core blue collar workers from the outer western suburbs). It's certainly a different footy experience at the SCG.
andyincanberra
Guest
That's exactly what I'd like to know, I'm not a Swans supporter, but I would never boo him, so you're asking the wrong person. It's time for people who claim he is saying divisive things to provide some quotes. Adam's quote above: 'he’s made a few mistakes in his comments and now he chooses to use his color card so to speak which is what a lot of people do when confronted by something.' Nordborg's quote: 'People are booing him because he questioned the morals of people' If people are claiming that he is making these quotes it is incumbent upon them to provide the evidence.
tezza
Guest
So Andy, tell me why then is he the only indigenous player out of 4 football codes in Australia that is being booed?
Basil
Guest
hehe, that's a good point. Clearly Swans fans are the only non-racist fans! But don't say it too loudly, the logical paradox might cause the screaming lefties brains to explode!!
andyincanberra
Guest
I'm absolutely dumbfounded by this opinion that Adam Goodes is questioning our peoples' morality, or he is calling all white Australians racists. People need to start providing quotes and sound bites to back up what they're saying.
Nordburg
Guest
I'd like to add that according to the AFL media and whoever else is claiming this is racist,are they suggesting that the Sydney Swans are the only AFL club without racist supporters? -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
fadida
Guest
One of my favourite Seinfeld moments SpongeBob. Also pretty apt. Don't know if anyone saw the comments of Griffin McMaster, a 2 bit former A-league goalkeeper. He suggested that Goodes be deported, and the classic "he's un-Australian" for not celebrating Australia Day. He then went on a ramble about how good the indigenous community have it! The above moronic comments sum up what I'd consider to be a very commonly held view from the broader Australian community. It isn't that one sports code is racist and uneducated, it is across the board, all walks of life. We remain to a large degree an uneducated and racist country The only surprise is that he didn't start his rsnt with "I'm not racist but.."
Nordburg
Guest
This has become an absolute joke.People are booing him because he questioned the morals of people,which he is entitled to like all of us,but if he's going to do that he must make sure his moral compass is pointed in the right direction.Many sports players take dives or throw their head back trying to milk a penalty,but they are not standing there questioning someone's morals -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Adam
Guest
Kazblah, everyone is having there opinion which is great for the game as we get a broad view of people's thoughts :) I believe your view about Goodes being in a harsh work place is unfounded as it is not his fellow players that are booing or mis treating him. If that was the case then yes he could very well claim some sort of harassment but it's not. It's the fans, and who are the fans Kazblah ? They just happen to be the ones who support this great game of ours that we love so much and when you have something that you love so much it's only natural that there is more opinions out there. The fact that Goodes is running away from it all also points to the fact that everybody is correct in there assumption that Goodes is simply hiding behind the color of his skin by suggesting fans are booing him because they're racial when in fact they're not because he knows they're Booing him because he's made a few mistakes in his comments and now he chooses to use his color card so to speak which is what a lot of people do when confronted by something. They take there main source of power to mask over there own mistakes!!! So, I say, Man up Adam Goodes and stop hiding and come forward and say that you could possibly have handled things better. Don't be shy, we all make mistakes and I'm sure if he did that then there would be more fans cheering for him then Booing!
Ray
Guest
Been in the Police? Been a Parking Inspector? Been an umpire? Been non union in a union workplace? Been in the Defence Force in a foreign country where we are not "liked"? Lets call it perspective hey?
SpongeBob
Guest