Why are we booing in the first place?

Articles are flying back and forth about the booing controversy of Adam Goodes. Football personalities, coaches, key media commentators are all weighing in on this alleged debate on Adam Goodes being booed.

But are we all missing the point? Why on Earth are we booing in the first place?

I am not a booer. Let’s get that clear. I don’t boo Adam Goodes, I don’t boo when the umpire makes poor decisions, I don’t boo when I see players like Angus Monfries and Paddy Ryder playing against their former side and my team in Essendon.

My parents raised me to be kind, honest and a respectful member of society. So let’s put it bluntly, if you boo then you are certainly none of these things.

What really ticks me off is the people who choose to place themselves on the side of booing, hiding behind their democratic right to boo. Who do you think you are?

You so blatantly place yourself under the umbrella of freedom and your right to boo but seemingly forget and dismiss the other key elements of democracy. Justice is an integral part of democracy and society. Justice is about people being treated equally and shown the dignity and respect.

Do you even understand the alleged democracy we apparently live in? You don’t have the right to boo at the expense of someone else’s democratic right.

Like any good statistician who only looks at data that supports a point of view, you can’t manipulate and use some parts of democracy and then ignore others. You either understand democracy in its entirety or you don’t view yourself as a member of a democratic society.

It is time to look at ourselves and our attitudes and values because at the end of the day that is what we will be judged on as a fan, family member of our game and member of society. Our continuing booing of players and umpires simply degrades our game.

What we are teaching to our next generation of citizens is not only that it is OK to boo but the respect and dignity of how we treat others stops at the sight of the white line and that ‘anything goes’ when it takes place on a sporting field. We are already seeing such awful and inappropriate behaviour in many of our junior competitions from spectators and players. Enough is enough.

Stop booing. Not just for Adam Goodes, not just for our game of AFL but for the attitudes and values we want to instil into our young supporters both on the sporting field and also in their day to day lives.