Boo-merang: Why booing will always return

After reading the 30 comments Dave only had one, which IMO is the true one. Agree with the toad on most. Stirling was all over the shop, and having a bit each way but as he said it is a volatile subject. Adam i am sure would do things different if he had his time over. It is a pity he is not in politics now to send his message, much more sensible than trying to combine it while playing football.

Definitely agree with your last line. The guy won two Brownlow medals, three years apart, playing two different positions! Insane! Even if we don't see completely eye to eye, thanks for engaging in a very civil and measured discussion with me on what is a potentially volatile topic.

The difficulty in all of this is that none of it is clear cut. You are correct that other indigenous players not getting booed is a marginal argument in considering Goodes being booed, but it is effectively the other side of your Matthews comments. It is difficult to extrapolate from one player to another on this. At the time, I felt awarding Goodes the Australian of the Year was a risk both for the award and for him. Quite understandably Goodes would have wanted to address many indigenous issues during his year, but it exposed him to tall poppy envy and partisan assessments of his message where the content was judged by who said it rather than on its merit. I feIt it would have been more appropriate after retirement when it would be less open to partisanship, but it is a Sliding Doors moment. It was a long time ago, but in a strange way I felt at the time that the crowds booing Goodes was in line with what I thought I had been seeing. But, in relation to all of this is sadness on my part because Goodes was fantastic to watch and now we are talking about him for all the wrong reason not for his amazing aerobic capacity, the way he covered the ground, his high marks or his great kicking.

The argument about other indigenous players not getting booed gets tossed around a lot, but it's pretty poor. Nobody is saying Goodes was booed purely for being an Indigenous Australian, the argument has been he was being booed for speaking up on Indigenous issues (Collingwood game) or celebrating his Indigenous heritage in a manner the crowd didn't like (Carlton game onwards). You have to admit that, if that was the undeniable reason for Goodes being booed (which I'm aware you disagree with), the booing would be racist regardless of how many Indigenous players actually copped it. In the end, it comes down to when and why you think the booing started. I've watched a lot of Swans games in my time and I am quite certain - apart from a game against Essendon in either 2011 or 2012 - systematic and widespread booing didn't take off until after the Australian of the Year speech between 2013 and 2014 and the war dance in 2015's Indigenous Round. As such, I find it hard to argue against the point that a lot of the booing had racial undertones. If you're adamant the booing began beforehand and in response to sliding reports, that's fair enough and I respect your line of thinking, but I think a lot of things just don't add up if that version of events is correct. Why has no other serially reported player been booed to the extent Goodes was? Why is Leigh Matthews - one of the most suspended players of his era - celebrated as one of the greats? Why did it take three years after Goodes' last report for sliding for the booing to really take off?

Your second paragraph builds a straw man. You, likewise can not assert that all booing of Goodes was racist. Clearly, it would be somewhere in between. Your third paragraph may be correct, but it does not demonstrate that Goodes was not booed by some people for reasons other than racism.

And, not for the first time or likely the last.

While understanding that booing is likely around forever, I do not like it very much nor do I see how it could be banned. Good read and thanks.

The fact Goodes was reported for sliding in with studs up was a problem, but in his last season it was his knees and other little things that were beneath him. He was a once in a lifetime athlete, and I am sorry we are talking about his down sides rather than his greatness and unique abilities.

I disagree, I am with Anon and JonBoy on this one. People at the grounds could see what was happening and if you bothered to look it was also observable on the TV, but harder to pick. If it really was racial, why were other aboriginal players not booed at the same matches. (Yes, I am sure there were some racist boos but it was much more complex than the way it is portrayed.)

Indeed it is mate

Plenty of players play for free kicks or 'constantly whinge' for free kicks and aren't booed to the extent Goodes was. His last report for sliding in studs up was in Round 3, 2012, almost three full years before the booing became systematic, while the only crowd antagonisation I can recall was pointing a fan who made a racist remark to security in 2013 and performing an indigenous war dance in 2015 - both of which occurred in Indigenous Round. People can say all they like that the booing was because 'he was a jerk', but the increases in booing undeniably coincided with the latter two incidents. If one's definition of a being a jerk (and I don't mean to imply that this is your definition) is influenced by those incidents, that definition, as well as a decision to boo based on that definition, is racially motivated. As far as not being able to react to Goodes based on his character, I think we as a society have a responsibility to exclude ourselves from certain behaviours if it has clearly been hijacked by others for unsavoury reasons. You said it yourself that you were sure racist jerks were booing him and so I'd argue, in that circumstance, joining in on the booing - no matter your attentions - doesn't make you racist, but is still somewhat irresponsible.

Goodes was happy to antagonise crowds, play for free kicks, slide in studs up and constantly whinge for free kicks when they weren't awarded. Yet when crowds saw this behaviour and acted appropriately, he played the race card. I'm sure some members of the crowd are racist jerks who were booing for those reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if the majority were booing for "football reasons". But then for the media and AFL to come out and basically say "if you boo Adam Goodes you're rascist" was what even further annoyed a lot of people and resulted in further booing. Essentially what they were saying was, we can't react to Goodes based on his character, we have to treat him differently due to the colour of his skin. Isn't that, in itself, rascist?

True again ! Never in 203 games has Stephen Hill been booed, a gentle real nice guy. Will they start booing Brad Hill for throwing grass Dalgety ? Just proves Goodes saga was not about his skin colour.

Great article pointing out the impossibility of assuming the intent of thousands of people. Booing is expressing disapproval without context. One member of a crowd may boo for an entirely different reason another does. It is compounded by the fact that being at the footy is an emotionally heightened experience when people are expressing their passions in the moment in a way they would not in other areas of their life. The only way to remove booing is to remove the passion. Just be warned you'll remove the cheering with it.

I can't recall Cyril Rioli being booed, but he never flopped for frees or slid into opponents ankles.

C’mon anonboy, embrace your puppetality.

As i thought it would be, way to hard for you. I am not going to engage with a response to thousands of words of absolute waffle. The puppets will be out next.........No thanks. Cheers !

Walking past it again I see. - On your question, your contention was that the booing was never racially motivated. While my post really didn't address that, trying to frame the argument with a yes or no question on whether there was any booing due to a perception of staging is fundamentally dishonest and an effort to run and hide. - There are plenty of people who stage and don't get booed and certainly not to the degree and level that Goodes received. - The fever and pitch of the booing went way beyond theatre, served nothing other than fan petulance. As soon as it was perceived by the target as being racially motivated it served as enough reason to stop. Continuing such a pointless activity in the face of that only served to reinforce that perception.

Comment's would have been a better word than stuff i guess, but your being a wee technical. Having answered your question see if you can answer mine with a yes or no answer. Do you think Goodes was ever booed for staging is a lie ?

XD Conflicted personality eh? But can you define “I don’t agree with a lot of stuff”? It seems the only things you don’t agree with yourself over anonboy is incidental stuff seemingly to throw off the scent.