When I read the recent headline that AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan had apologised to Adam Goodes for not acting sooner on the booing controversy of 2015, I felt a slight sickness well up in my stomach.
Not because Goodes finally got his well-deserved apology; but because the story was back. I could feel the flocks of naysayers rubbing their hands together ready to spew vitriol all over Goodes once again.
Why does it bother people so much that he has been apologised to? Something is off here and this time it can’t be ignored.
I knew what to expect when scrolling through the article’s comments, and unfortunately I was not surprised. “We will never apologise for booing that flog,” said one contributor.
Others spouted the same nonsense we all heard six months ago, “The booing had nothing to do with race! We just hate him because of who he is!” It was near impossible to find anything but negativity. The amount of burning hatred people were still expressing over this was truly mind-boggling – after all, what has Adam done? Really, I ask, what has he done?
He reacted to being racially slurred during a game specifically designated to celebrate the Indigenous people of our game. Some of us saw a man deeply hurt, in disbelief, who did an incredibly courageous thing to immediately take action and say “no, that’s not okay”. But no – they only saw a man publicly humiliate a poor young girl.
What a sook, they said.
On behalf of his ancestors, he publicly challenged the validity of Australia Day; a controversial celebration for many given the horrific links it has to the destruction of many Aboriginal people and their culture. Adam’s descendants would have been a part of this.
What a sook. Get over it.
He performed an Aboriginal war dance, once again, in a game specifically designed to celebrate Indigenous culture, and was told by this country that it was unacceptable. People comfortably sitting at home watching a man throw an imaginary boomerang were outraged.
How savage. How intimidating. Boo him until he stops playing, and when he does, call him a sook.
And then after all this, professional pot-stirrer Sam Newman arrogantly tells him to just play football and stop turning the field into a political landscape.
He, on the other hand, is met with raucous applause.
Do you think Adam Goodes would have been booed if he was a white man?
I’m sure his critics would cry out in unison, “yes!” and claim wrongly for the umpteenth time it had nothing to do with race. We all should have figured out by now that if Adam Goodes was a white man, he would have given these crowds absolutely no reason to hate him, for none of these events would have ever occurred.
I often wonder what would’ve happened if it were Eddie Betts or Steven Motlop (both popular) that were put in his position. I’d like to think they would’ve fought back just like Goodes did. What I don’t like to think of is the abuse they too undoubtedly would’ve been subjected to. Luckily for them they didn’t need to, because Adam was their face; their voice. Booing Adam was booing them all.
Australia, you booed a black man’s right to defend himself against racist remarks. You booed a black man’s right to be hurting from the horrific mistreatment of his ancestors. You booed a black man’s right to celebrate his culture when he thought it was safe to do so. You booed a black man’s right to take a stand for everything he believed in. And when you finally beat him, you celebrated.
Now, Gillon McLachlan has stood up and acknowledged he should’ve done more, and instantly you jump online and boo a black man’s right to be apologised to. Goodes hasn’t taken the football field for six months, but an opportunity arose to crush what he represented one more time and it was taken without hesitation, complete with venomous insults and the confidence of knowing that the majority is with you.
On another note, here in Australia most of us watch in disbelief as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign based off fear and bigotry keeps scarily gaining momentum. Support is growing and the mob mentality rolls on.
Did you know that despite mountains of proof, Trump has continually told journalists over and over that he isn’t at all one bit racist? What’s scarier than that is that he genuinely believes he isn’t.
Sound familiar?
Stewie
Guest
Outlandish far-left statements like respect for Aboriginal people? Blimey.
Yobbo
Guest
If a footballer started making far right political statements in the media, the progressives at The Roar would be calling for him to be ejected from the AFL or jailed. But when a player is booed for voicing outlandish, far left political sentiments in the media, everyone has to love it or they're a racist. So basically this is like every other left-right stoush for the last 50 years. Yawn.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
When I read the opening line I felt
I read on - Lord knows why - until I found are to blame. That was - well - bigoted (bigot: "a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion") so I found something better to do with my time.Stewie
Guest
Totally agree that there are many reasons for booing, and that booing can be justified by these reasons. The questions arise when we ask what justifies Goodes being booed so constantly, whenever he got near the ball.
Penster
Guest
Agree with most of this. Declaring "war" on the cellar dweller opposition's raggedy supporters who've travelled interstate to watch their team get flogged (as predicted), instead of the Carlton players onfield is never going to get you a round of applause. It'll get you booed. I thought it was premeditated to produce the result it did for whatever reason Goodes thought was a good idea at the time. I was at the game and thought he'd been abused because his actions looked pretty aggro - none of the Swans supporters around us recognised this as a cultural war dance - that fact emerged much later - the reaction was "What's he doing, what's happened?". Goodes was an excellent choice for Australian of the Year, an intelligent man who provoked discussion and I hope to see him use his political capital make some real changes to the lives of indigenous Australians. As an aside, it's pretty insulting to indigenous players past and present to claim that Adam Goodes is the only player to "speak up" against racism. He's not the first and he wont be the last.
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Are you his brother? Or a kindred soul that likes to self hate and draw conclusions that are ridiculous ? Apparently AFL crowds now represent all of Australia
Fiddlesticks
Guest
Let me know how you can read the minds and thoughts of other people I would like to learn
Agent11
Guest
So many assumptions made in this article and in the comments that lack any common sense. How about this, does anyone know whether any of the booers in the crowd were indigenous? would they be racist too for booing their own kind? Or we just assume that they wouldn't boo, or even worse, we assume that indigenous Australians don't attend the wonderful game of AFL along with all the white folks?
Paul D
Roar Guru
Yeah, I don't think the booing is remotely defensible, and I've never bought into any of those explanations. It's clutching at straws and nothing more than a fig leaf for racist behavior. My objection is when people make claims like the author does: "Australia, you booed a black man’s right to defend himself against racist remarks." No, Australia did not do that. The entire nation did not do that. The vast majority of people in Australia disapproved of this behavior and condemned it. This episode was used by far too many barrow-pushers with an anti-Australian agenda and as such it's difficult to take their criticisms seriously. I put them in the same category as the booers themselves. Outliers, who are part of the problem, and not willing to be part of the solution.
Chris Vincent
Roar Pro
When it's boiled down, you've got a bunch of people defending their right to repeatedly boo one particular player because [insert tenuous reason here that also applies to other players]. To me, that's a bit pathetic really.
Kris Hateley
Roar Rookie
That was a sensible measured response Paul. There are so few on this issue. So often comments on this issue are either people who are obviously racist. Alternatively they are holier than though do gooder's who fail to accept that whilst much, probably most, of the booing of Goodes was racist, not all of it was. It also saddens me to see the torrent of abuse Goode's cops. In my view his 'dance' was totally inappropriate. If someone pulled out a cultural dance like that and directed it at the crowd playing soccer in Europe it would be career over for that guy. Plenty examples of that happening in the past. It's simply not done. Having said that though Goode's was a man pushed to far and had to suffer oceans of unwarranted abuse. I mean seriously, if any of us had to put up with that would our behavior be as tolerant as Goode's? I think not. Guys a champ. I'm proud he's Australian.
Don
Guest
Well Dirk, you've put me in my box and labelled me as well, nice work......I suppose my opinion is racist? I have never booed Goodes. I simply have an opinion on how the matter got out of hand. At least I show some objective thoughts. My empathy and compassion for Aboriginal people is the same as my empathy and compassion for all people. I don't need to deal with anything, but I will move on. Cheers
Tom
Guest
I go to footy to watch a contest and celebrate the skills and athleticism of the participants. If I want to imbibe on issues of culture, race, religion or sexual orientation there are appropriate forums for this - that's what freedom of choice is about. Make a stand against prejudice by all means, but don't ram your issues down my throat when I'm there to watch footy. Adam is an extraordinary footballer who chose to make the latter part of his career about his race. Did his teammates know he was going to do a war dance that day? To call his war dance a celebration of his culture is a nonsense, it is a call to arms, a provocative act that got an appropriate response.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Samantha you are deadest kidding yourself if you think this didn't have anything to do his skin colour. It was a pretty unedifying moment in Australian sport. Not a great deal that can be done about it now, and I doubt there was ever going to be any way to put the cork back in the bottle once Goodes cracked off that war dance. It's reflective of an element in society that we all know exists, and so far, is proving pretty difficult to alter from its view.
Dirk
Guest
This attitude is reflective on many older white men in Australia, I've found. The idea that Adam Goodes is a sook is born from that fateful day he told white Australia they are racist, and that we all need to work together to fix it. Somehow, people say that he's a sook because he doesn't accept the status quo of Australian aboriginals having a lower quality of life than the ancestors of white colonials. This is what makes it racist - no amount of whining about it will change that it's race-related, and that white Australia's empathy and compassion to Aboriginal Australians is close to non-existent. Deal with it, move on Don.
johno
Guest
But the issue is Lloyd wasn't booed every game everytime he went near the ball, neither is Thomas. Goodes was for the pathetic excuse that he's a flog (read into that comment what you will) or a diver. For over a year It's not the booing on its own that racist, it's the consistency and repetition every game (with supporters being thrown out for actually making racist comments to go with the booing) I cannot work out another reason that explains what happened. I can't think of another example in AFL during my watching time that rivals it. Can you? Aker definitely didn't cop this, Lloyd didn't either .... If not racism then would this consist of workplace bullying? Fans don't want a certain player to keep playing (for whatever reason) then keep booing until he cracks then accuse him of not being able to handle it and for being a sook The whole saga stunk
Arnold Krewanty
Guest
The booing dramatically escalated at Swans games after an Aboriginal man's expression of his culture. What happened with the booing after that, happened simply because of this fact. Que denials and/or justifications.
Samantha
Roar Rookie
I am a Cats fan, I don't boo my own, don't try to make it about skin colour. Those just happen to be the contemporary examples that came to mind. Would you feel better if I add I booed Matthew Lloyd for his diving antics too?
johno
Guest
So Samantha you are saying Goodes wasn't booed at every game he played for every possession last year? And let me get this straight you boo Goodes and Lindsay Thomas for diving for frees but not Bartel ..... hmmmm
Paul D
Roar Guru
Articles like this give me the pip – because there’s nothing that can possibly be achieved by them, apart from making the author feel good themselves. You’re looking at online comments (presumably either under the article, or on the AFL facebook page) and taking that as representative of Australian society. Come on. Seriously. Online punditry in those sort of formats is anonymous, unaccountable and generally is driven by people trying to be as outrageous as possible, fishing for likes. Using that as a base to attempt to draw conclusions about Australian society is rather like judging someone based on your experience of them at 4am on Saturday morning after they’ve had a night on the turps. In terms of facebook commentary, I’ll give you an example – I recently tagged a Richmond friend on an article about Chris Yarran on Fox Footy’s facebook page that maybe Richmond could give him a heart at the same time he was getting surgery, and that I didn’t realise liposuction was a 6 week out. Fully tongue in cheek and not intended seriously. Lo and behold the next day it had about 70+ likes and comments below from various people lining up to either call me a flog or cheering me on. Is that my real view of Chris Yarran? Of course not. If you asked me, I’d give a more nuanced explanation. But the format demands brevity and outrage. There was always, always going to be people out there who were going to lace up the boots to give Goodes another kicking if the opportunity presented itselves. Just as there was always going to be people racing to jump online and write puff pieces preening about their own self-worth and piety in the face of it. “When I read the recent headline that AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan had apologised to Adam Goodes for not acting sooner on the booing controversy of 2015, I felt a slight sickness well up in my stomach. I could feel the flocks of naysayers rubbing their hands together ready to spew vitriol all over Goodes once again.” You really need to get some perspective in life if these sort of people can make you feel ill. You’ll feel so much better if you just disregard ignorance and move on with life. “Something is off here and this time it can’t be ignored.” Actually it can be, and it will.