Amid growing media criticism of how the AFL hierarchy has handled the Adam Goodes controversy, chairman Mike Fitzpatrick has called him an all-time great.
Fitzpatrick added he hopes to watch the Sydney star play on Saturday night against Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
The AFL Chairman’s statement on Monday followed a media report that said the commission was divided into three camps on the Goodes issue.
The report claimed one group feels that racism is a big part of crowds incessantly booing the indigenous star.
The second group is said to feel that racism is not a major factor in the abuse, while the third apparently is critical of Goodes’s conduct on and off the field.
That would reflect sharply-divided opinions nationally on the Goodes issue.
“Let me make this very clear – Adam Goodes has the unanimous support of the AFL Commission,” Fitzpatrick said in Monday’s media statement.
“When I attend the game in Geelong this week, I hope to see this great champion of our game back on the field where he belongs.”
Swans coach John Longmire has said that Goodes will return to training on Tuesday and could play against the Cats.
A week after the Goodes racism controversy reignited, Fitzpatrick also called on fans to show respect for the two-time Brownlow Medallist.
“The booing of Adam Goodes may or may not have begun for other reasons, but the AFL Commission is of the view that this is about race and cannot be condoned at our games,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
“This is not what we stand for. The AFL, this most Australian of sports, stands for a fair go for all, men, women, black, white, Muslim, Asian.
“It is broad, inclusive and the most egalitarian of sports.
Fitzpatrick’s comments follow a similar statement late last week from AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
Fitzpatrick, himself a premiership ruckman at Carlton, said he once stood next to Goodes at the coin toss in the early 2000s before a Blues-Sydney match.
“I remember assessing how I would have gone against him – he was a wonderful athlete in his prime, tall, strong and agile, emanating controlled aggression and a hint of menace,” Fitzpatrick said.
“He was Peter Moore, he was Don Scott, he was Stephen Michael and a bit of Polly Farmer.
“I decided I would have enjoyed the contest, but not the result.”
Fitzpatrick also praised AFL fans for the widespread support shown for Goodes during round-18 matches.
“The football world rose to the occasion last weekend and the AFL is proud of the way our clubs and supporters showed their strong support for Adam Goodes,” he said.
Razza
Guest
About time all the Goode crap has been buried. He made his bed, he should lay in it and take what he dished out, is he man or mouse. It seems that when any dark person calls racist, it is, but turn it around and nothing is heard or done about it. Booing has been around in sport for many years and anyone who thinks it is racist to boo a dark sports person had better visit a quack, there are many other dark players in the AFL, but Goode thinks it is for his colour, wake up my boy in any sport, if you do not satisfy the the people who help pay your wages, then you are going to get booed no matter what colour you are and if they take the booing out of sport, then sport is dead. No one, but no one is going to stop me booing, especially in my own loungeroom, so that's that.. Have a Goode day
jax
Guest
Triple M radio discussion with explosive claims. Note Eddie say that the AFL Investigator would be responsible for investigating the claims that Colless made. How can he AFL investigate itself? Sounds awfully like the FIFA ethics committee to me. Listen to the audio here. http://www.triplem.com.au/melbourne/sport/afl/news/2015/8/former-sydney-boss-richard-colles-staggering-claims-of-tirade-from-afl-chairman-mike-fitzpatrick/
jax
Guest
Richard Colless supporting my position and opening up about Goodes, the AFL and Mike Fitzpatrick. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/ashamed-of-sport-says-afls-longest-serving-chairman-richard-colless-20150730-gio2xp.html They named Colless in the article as the inaugural chairman of the WCE. They didn't mention that he held the post for 1 year. He was chairman of the Swans for approx 20 years but that was not mentioned in the article. Why mention his 1 year tenure at WC and not his 20 year career at the Sydney Swans? I couldn't find many articles about Colless on Fitzpatrick. I would have thought that this would have been a big story? The silence is deafening.
jax
Guest
The casual observer that saw the headline and news bulletin wouldn't understand that nuance Gecko. They have images of the crowd booing Goodes in their head.
holty
Guest
Nice work Sa Oerf, you really are a winner.
c
Guest
booing or not adam goodes will go onto bigger and better things
Penster
Guest
17 teams brimming forth with redneck bigots and 1 as pure as the driven snow.
Freo As
Guest
So much talkback outrage. Where's Lawsy when ya need him?
Doc79
Roar Rookie
Talk of playing in empty stadiums??? That will happen once the paying public have finally had enough of being labelled this, that or whatever the current 'stone them to death' sin of the week is. Football anyone?
Freo As
Guest
C'mon Crackers, more wobbly stories from you. Don't even pretend that's true, you can't keep your nose out of it and keep coming back for more. And you've really just got a bee in your bonnet due to the perceived shaming of your fellow corporate shareholders.
WhereIsGene
Guest
Lovely quote Gordon. Personally I feel the cultural disease of Political Correctness can't possibly be cured fast enough. The inhibiting effect it's having on the cultural landscape has reach suffocating levels proportionate to being squeezed to death by a giant snake. As for those people who choose to use it as a mask to hide their flaws or a platform from which to promote their agendas, they deserve our strictest contempt.
Sharon Kirk
Guest
I'm sorry but this is a load of rubbish from the afl how are they going to stop the booing so every time someone booes a player in a Sydney team are we going to be called racist still the media have a lot the answer for this one player has got all of Australia at ransom the afl heads need to look after the supporters they paye for the privilege to go to games now I'm wondering whether to never step foot in another stadium this has been handled wrong from day one umpires have been booed for century's now we have to stop booing when we play the Sydney swans just because of one player it won't happen can't stop it never will this has been handle wrong from the first place he should look at his own actions not the supporters who pay his wages
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Education Gecko, education. Look up the words in your encyclopedia, find the explanation, read the history and you may appreciate the symbolism. That last word is found in most dictionaries.
Gecko
Guest
Errr... who are the robber barons and who are those who torment us for our own good?
Gecko
Guest
Jax I share your views re the damage that has been done to AFL footy, but I don't think you should be painting the fans as victims. It's one group of fans, more so than AFL heirarchy, that has done most of the damage.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Well said Gordon. We live in the strangest of times.
jax
Guest
I don't want to be a part of that and to be honest I have been turned off the game just as some others have. I'm not sure that I will ever stop following my team but my feelings have definetly changed, I'm kinda numb ATM. I have had zero respect for the media for years but now I have zero respect for the AFL as well. We have witnessed history being rewritten right in front of our eyes and we have seen the media work in collusion with the AFL to twist and spin the Goodes story via a concerted PR campaign. For 17 weeks the AFL and the media did next to nothing in terms of addressing the booing of Goodes at games. Then overnight they suddenly have a change of heart and turn on a tap that spews out an outpouring of love and support for him. I see right through it and it's disingenuous to say the least. Where was the leadership from AFL House on his issue when it was needed? It was non-existent as it is to this day. They waited for the dust to settle and when they felt it was safe to make a statement (after last weekends games) they finally did. The AFL and media are in bed together. They need each other so they stick together at all times and if that means lying so be it. There is someone else they need and they have both forgotten about them and that is the fans, I don't think that I am the only person that has been turned off by the events of the last week.
Gordon Smith
Guest
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of it’s victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated: but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” C.S.Lewis
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
The AFL has an awful lot of top end officials who spend a lot of time campaigning as politicians and too little time doing their real job, of making sure the pies are hot, the beer is cold and the paying fans are so well catered that they come back again next week.
jax
Guest
How long has it taken them to release this statement? Too little too late I'm afraid. I doubt he cares about the plight of indigenous kids anyway.