AFL boss apologises to Goodes

"Had he still been at his 2003 form people will forgive him for everything " What did people have forgiven Goodes for exactly Winston? What did Goodes do wrong?

We can forget about Goodes, sure. How do we forget about the mass bullying by some, not all, of the crowds? There's an issue here, and it's one that shouldn't be forgotten.

Hey, you should be thanking Demetriou for the tip off, without it EFC would never had time to make all those records disappear.

How is what I said racist? I didn't even say I don't like him. I'm saying everything happened one after another which caused a snowball which should never have occurred. In case you don't know, unfortunate things happen all the time to good people. Sometimes it's just unfortunate.

Cmon Jax stop being a "statist" against Victorians Lol.

Gil is "raising" it by making an official comment in the AFL Annual Report. That's why it's news.

I just listened to the 3AW interview. When asked about the apology Gill said 'I wish we'd come out a week earlier' One week earlier? He just doesn't get it does he! It started in 2014. He was very cagey and didn't want to talk about it, hmm. Can't have been that important then. If he genuinely wanted to ram the apology and message home he should be shouting it from the rooftops. Interestingly AFL.com.au showed vision of Freo v Swans game when covering the apology in its footy feed today. That's a sly way of ensuring that people mentally associate the booing with Subi oval instead of with e.g. the Pies and a few other clubs. These images burn themselves into the subconscious mind and are hard to shift. See and hear anything often enough and one can be led to believe anything. You can listen to the interview for yourself and draw your own conclusions here. Don't take my word for it. http://www.3aw.com.au/news/gillon-mclachlan-explains-adam-goodes-apology-locks-in-2016-grand-final-time-20160317-gnlqik.html

I have been saying this for as long as I have been posting on this site and I'll say it again. The AFL is a reactive organisation and it is slow to react more often than not. Not always, but most of the time. It's a niche club with many conflicts of interest. It is run mostly by Victorians, for Victorians. They are a disgrace in my books. They should run a broom through the place, clean it out and start again. They need to keep the majority of clubs from Victoria so as to keep their voting stranglehold on the game. Each club should have one seat on the Commission for starters. Even then the VFL interests will dominate but at least the interstate clubs will be much better represented. It reminds me of FIFA without the public bribing scandals.

Leaks from AFL House during the entire saga to the media for starters. The phone call from Demetriou to Evans' home to tip them off only then to deny it. Why weren't the phone records subpoenaed? I'm not defending Essendon but the AFL doesn't come out of this smelling like roses. Different topic but very serious nonetheless - no investigation into Colless' claims that Fitzpatrick tampered with the trade period, therefore comprising the AFL's integrity and neutrality by doing his best to ensure that Buddy ended up at GWS. Or Fitzpatricks' phone call to Colless after Buddy went to the Swans when he was alleged to have told Colles that their would be retribution. The Swans lost their COLA allowance not longer afterwards. Fitzpatrick concurrently being Chairman of Stadium Australia and the AFL. I could list dozens of things of of the top of my head that the AFL should apologise for, but they won't.

That's up there with the worst nonsense written. Funnily enough the game tends not to forget 350+ games, 2 premierships and 2 brownlows. Closet racists such as yourself will though

James Hird and his mates actually caused it and haven't apologised, the AFL just handled the aftermath badly which is their way for anything outside normal operations.

No apology is needed for Goodes. It was never about Racism. Only the media, the AFL boss and all the narrow minded people who made it so.

Why does he need to apologise to the Essendon 34? They knew the rules and they broke them. They should be accountable for their actions instead of wanting sympathy

We tend to view drug cheats in a pretty poor light in this country.

I don't know why he's raising this again. What happened to him was very unfortunate, but for some reason everything that shouldn't have happened just happened. Had the Collingwood fan not been a 14 year old girl but a feral middle aged man, the public's reaction would be very different. Had he not been diving, people can't say they're booing because of that instead. Had he still been at his 2003 form people will forgive him for everything instead of every conversation about him turning into "is he playing a year too long?". And so on. It's very unfortunate, but that's life that sometimes the stars align and someone suffers for it. We should just all move on. Goodes is a retired player, and we can easily just pretend he never existed. Sports fans only ever cared about him because he was a good player. Now that he's retired, people will just forget about him. We should just think of him as Voldemort and never say his name ever again.

So when will he apologise to the Essendon 34? Condemn the club all you like, but those players were deeply let down and abandoned by the AFL from well before 2012 up until today. Perhaps Gil will wait for public sentiment before he feels it politically astute to treat those 34 as human beings, and AFL players.

All I want to know is, when are we allowed to start booing again at the footy?

My thinking exactly. Where were he and the rest of the big cheeses at the AFL when Goodes really needed them?

Apologies are never too late, but sincerity sure can be...

Copout Central. Much easier to wait a year and then offer an apology in the pre-season, then actually deal with the issue in any manner other then fence sitting. Now we want to laud McLaughlin? Gimme' a break.