If the players can’t hear you “sledge”, does that make it okay to do it?
“It was a flippant, off-the-cuff remark and the players would not have heard it for all the booing and banter coming from the crowd.” So said the bloke who was kicked out of WA’s Domain Stadium during the West Coast-Sydney game on the weekend. The one that everyone has been talking about ever since. The one that has driven Adam Goodes off the field.
So if “they” can’t hear you, should it be okay to holler ‘Get back to the zoo!’ during a game of footy?
How about “Get back to the zoo,” at the field of play where one Adam Goodes is running around doing his best to get on with the game, even though every time he goes near the ball he’s booed off it?
That’s the same Adam Goodes who famously called out a 13-year-old girl for a racial slur. And who copped a King Kong sledge from Eddie Maguire. But hang on, that was just ‘sledging’ too. ‘Banter’. Just a bit of fun, a bit ‘off the cuff’.
That’s the problem, right? It’s all a bit of fun, and yet, it’s not.
Ask around and you will hear that Goodes is being a bit of sook. He’s a complainer. Here’s a bloke running around chasing pigskin for a very comfortable living and when something doesn’t go his way he starts tripping over his bottom lip and having a bit of a cry. He should be tougher, right?
For those people, the biggest crime he’s committed is actually standing up for himself — for showing some emotion.
But here’s a young man who knows what he believes and is prepared to fight for it. It is cultural. In this ridiculous, brotherhood mentality, he should pretend everything’s okay because that’s what you do.
“Jaysus, Adam. If you could just pretend it didn’t hurt ya, mate. Everything’d be peachy, you know? But as long as you keep reacting, we’re going to keep giving it to ya. Only, we’re going to have a proper go at it now, because you’re being all bloody sooky! And worse, ya scarin’ the shit out of us with that spear chucking thing. Was that fair dinkum? Couldn’t you just run in circles with one finger in the air like the other boys?!”
What is that about?
There’s nothing new about booing in sport, we all know that. AFL football’s had some fantastic boo-ees: young men who’d get hold of the ball and entire stadiums would erupt. Some would thrive from it. Greg Williams, Wayne Carey, James Hird, Nick Reiwoldt and most Collingwood players. They feed off the boo.
Goodes was also infamously booed during the AFL’s Indigenous round (Post continues after video)…
But, for Adam Goodes, this is different. It’s been going on for over a year. Last September, Goodes said, “Sometimes it’s a mark of respect, that the opposition fans don’t want you to play well. It doesn’t bother me to be honest.”
Something’s obviously changed, and since today Goodes said that he is taking leave from the sport he loves, more needs to.
Goodes is clearly hurt, and with good reason. It’s not okay anymore, if it ever was.
Swans coach John Longmire says what is happening to Goodes is complicated and abhorrent. Personally, I’d like to add childish and stupid to the list. In fact, children wouldn’t act the way these adults have, and if they did, it’d be because their parents were leading the way.
I’m not sure how long it takes to build a culture, but this has got the whiff of jingoism we should be working hard to get rid of.
Rebecca Wilson and Dermott Brereton debate Adam Goodes… (Post continues after audio)
Is it racist? The Sydney Swans certainly think so. Tonight, Andrew Ireland, Sydney Swans CEO, released a statement which read:
“Should anyone choose to deride Adam through booing, then they are part of something that is inherently racist and totally unacceptable. The people involved in this behaviour can justify it any way they like. Our Club calls it racism.”
I suspect it’s become a bit like the old vaudeville villain, and every time he comes on stage someone holds up a sign saying “Booooo,” and the audience do their bit and play along. But there’s a difference between make believe and real life, even though this is being played out in the very real theatre of professional sport.
But, even if you don’t like Adam Goodes, for whatever reason, is it the way to treat him? There’s a mob mentality in all of this. A mean spirited, bullying kind of nastiness that’s beyond a good fun, off the cuff gee-up. It’s like the cyber trolls, only they’re not hiding online, but in the crowds of football games. How many of the booers would have the courage to front him and boo him face-to-face?
Adam Goodes would appear to be a decent human being.
He’s also a stunning role model of how hard work and exceptional talent can propel you to excellence.
We shouldn’t be booing Adam Goodes, we should be celebrating him.
Australian of the year, dual Brownlow Medallist, multiple best and fairest, premiership winning, leading goal kicking, 365 game playing legend of Australian Rules Football.
Oh, and Adam Goodes is a human being we’re very close to losing from the game, and as such, a role model for young players, particularly young Indigenous men who would have thought it’d be pretty good to play at the highest level and stand up for what you believe in.
How do you feel about the treatment of Adam Goodes?
For more posts like this one, be sure to take a look at these:
Footy fans have been booing Adam Goodes for months. And on the weekend, his team mate had enough.
Waleed Aly owns the debate over Adam Goodes’ ‘war cry’.
Today, Mick Fanning did something that made him a role model. And it wasn’t punching a shark.
Top Comments
This entire thing hurts me; it hurts me to be Australian. Adam Goodes is being treated appallingly. What white Australians all need to understand is that we will NEVER understand racism or how it feels to be discriminated against based on the colour of our skin. We cannot tell an Indigenous Australian whether or not they are being subjected to racism because we have never experienced it. Singling any person out in any area is just not on; whether it be in a sporting space, a working environment, or at school, university, etc. There is only so much a person can take before they can't handle it anymore; imagine growing up as an Indigenous Australian and being taunted from a young age. Imagine how much it would hurt every time you are taunted from that point forward. Imagine people telling you to, "Get back to the zoo" or being called a "gorilla" due to something that you cannot change. People booing on top of these calls will harm Adam's soul. Of course he is going to associate the booing with racism. That's how he feels and we cannot tell him that he feels differently about it. He says he can't play the sport he loves because of all the taunting and we tell him to "man up"? Yes there are many Indigenous sports stars who are not subjected to the same discrimination as Adam Goodes, however they did not receive an Australian of the Year award and use their speech to address racism in this country, resulting in the country being enraged and disliking his character.
The thing that upsets me most is that almost every Australian is up in arms about bulling in schools and in workplaces. Why do we think that professional sportsmen or women are immune to feeling hurt by bullying? So many people are missing the point of this entirely. Adam Goodes is standing up against racism and we are pulling him down for it. If he feels he is being racially taunted then we have to accept that he is feeling racially taunted and need to stop it.
The poor 13 year old girl who called him a gorilla? I'm surprised anyone even refers to her as a "poor girl". She needed to be given a wake up call for her behaviour. Obviously her parents weren't doing that, so Adam Goodes had to take that into his own hands. I would have done the same thing. When I was 13 I knew what racism was; I knew what would hurt someone else's feelings and I'm sure she is no different.
Isn't it interesting that people keep saying that we can't keep telling Goodes how to feel about the booing, we need to stop that. Yet, when he threw the "imaginary" spear into the crowd, people who said they were possibly offended by it were mocked, even Adam Goodes told people to "Chill Out" over it?
And that girl was a CHILD, even the most sweetest, kindest caring children can say the most stupidest things sometimes, she needed education and forgiveness not to be publicly humiliated like that. The fact that the AFL weren't criticised more over how they handled that incident is beyond me, she was taken BY HERSELF from her Grandmother in tears walked up past the crowd and held for two hours? Yes, she called Adam Goodes an ape, which she didn't even actually realize was racist. Perhaps Adam Goodes could have handled the situation better?
When he pointed out the girl he could of realised her youth, maybe he could of asked the security guards to give her warning about her language? Perhaps he could have at half-time called her onto the ground, had a chat about what she said and how it was offensive to him? What a hero he would of been then, what a lesson that little girl would have learned. Maybe he was just in the heat of the moment and I often wonder he thinks he could have handled things better, yes he came out after and said that it wasn't her fault that the was innocent, but the damage to that little girl had been done, but that was after he had branded her the face of racism.
I do agree that the booing has perhaps gone a little too far and it should stop, but it did start for a reason, and no matter how much people want to pin it all on it's because of his race, I just don't buy it.
Have you actually researched what happened or are you just going on headlines?
The first thing Goodes said after that game that although he was gutted that a 13 year old said that to him, it wasn't her fault, she didn't understand how hurtful it was.
He talked to her on the phone the next day and she apologised, and he went on Twitter and told everyone she had apologised, and that should be the end of it, and for everyone to get behind her and support her now. The girl herself said she would think about what she said to others in the future, and by all accounts is not traumatised by the situation and has moved on with her life.
Goodes was in the middle of the game - he was working - all he did was point her out. He had no control over the guards being asshats and not letting her grandmother see her. When the police asked if he wanted to press charges he immediately said no.
So what should he have changed in your opinion? And let's not minimise this girl's maturity - she was 13. I'm sorry but I have an 8 year old, and if he said that to somebody tomorrow it would not be acceptable.
I would never have abused someone like that, racial or not, at 13. If you don't know respect by then, it's a sad state of affairs.
And if you would like to go back and look at the footage you will see he DIDN'T THROW his imaginary spear, or boomerang, as the CREATOR of the dance advised he designed the move to be.
Isn't it interesting how white Australia get all up in arms about a perceived attack, so they get right on the offensive and attack with 100 times the venom? That's what led to the Pinjarra massacre.
You don't have to buy that this is about race, it's being dumped at your feet for free, you just have to see it instead of stepping over it.
I've read a lot on all of this actually.
Yes, he did say we have to give her support and to leave her alone and not bully her, but he still branded the face of racism, What did he expect would happen when he pointed her out to the security guards? Honestly, perhaps he didn't know they would take her away like that? Perhaps he thought maybe they'll just warn her? You're right, he wasn't to know exactly what would have happened. But after all his support he was offering the little girl, he never ONCE said and I am sorry she had to get taken away like that, past the jeering of Supporters and publicly humiliated, and held for two past midnight. Whether or not she knew the word was racist or not o name she called anybody justifies the treatment she received.
So you've never said anything a little nasty or horrible to anyone in your youth at all, not in the playground, high school? Out and about with her friends when you were a teenager?
Isn't it interesting that when someone comes out on the other side and puts opinion fourth that it's not racism, they are automatically branded racist. You're either standing by Adam Goodes which makes you not racist, if you're against him, sorry you're racist. Ridiculous.
This is a little excerpt from a fantastic blogger Dallas Scott....which sums up how i'm sure a lot people feel about Adam Goodes...
"As for Adam, well, in the end, I think he got what he really wanted. Before the game, he spoke of Nicky Winmar and his now historic stand against racism. As a man whose days are numbered at the top of his game, he really wants to be remembered like Nicky was. He wants a legacy. And as he inches closer to retirement from football, a job afterwards would be nice – perhaps the victim theatrics were just his way of auditioning for a job in the Industry. Viewing his performance from that angle, I give him an A++. They’re gonna love him. As for me, I can’t look up to you Adam. I’m ashamed of the way a child was used as a pawn to achieve your goal, and you should be too."
Dallas wrote another recent blog post about this also, however it goes against the This is Racism card..So maybe you won't read it. I'll add the link anyway.
If it were about Race, then we would despise the other 70 indigenous AFL players currently playing in the sport? We boo them also, of course not at the relentless level Adam Goodes has been booed, and yes I have to agree now it's probably gotten a little ridiculous, but that happens in Football, things take on a world of their own.
http://theblacksteamtrain.b...
I'm sorry, but if you don't think calling Adam Goodes an ape is not racist - you ARE a racist. It wasn't the first time he had been booed - BUT IT INCREASED IN TIME AND SEVERITY AFTER INDIGENOUS ROUND. THAT. IS. NOT. A. COINCIDENCE. That girl could possibly not have known that using ape was a racist term, but regardless it was shitty shitty behaviour, and NOT acceptable. And no - I NEVER abused ANYONE like she did, and I guess it says a lot about the community you grew up in if you think it is normal behaviour to publicly abuse people.
The things you have written show you have done lazy research based on people's misinformed opinion. As far as that blog you posted, it's one man's opinion. And yes, there are some Aboriginal people who think the same as this man, but that is irrelevant - Aboriginal people are allowed to have different opinions without representing the whole Aboriginal community. It can never be a war that has been won when a portion of the population live in third world conditions, or are suffering from third world illnesses .
Why don't the other Indigenous players get booed? Because they are suitably humble and don't call out racism they encounter from a sensitive white society. People are booing Adam for not knowing his place. And what have these players now learned? DO NOT speak out lest you receive even more harsh treatment. And what have young Aboriginal people learned? If a high profile celebrated Aboriginal athlete gets this for making a stand, what will happen to us?
And since we are swapping links, how about you read these ones, from academics, with actul references to research:
https://theconversation.com...
https://theconversation.com...
https://theconversation.com...
https://theconversation.com...
Adam Goodes forces us to turn a mirror on ourselves and reveal the uncomfortable truth about our dealings with our indigenous brothers and sisters.