Mega Thread The Adam Goodes Megathread - Now with Added Poll!

[Cleric]

It was collective. But I suspect you know that.

Oh ok, kinda like the illuminati.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Goddard telling the fans on 360 that if it continues there will be ramifications very interesting making threats to the fans

Player strike?

 

[Blueboys11]

Does anyone honestly believe in this day and age that Goodes is being booed for his skin color?

Seriously?!?

He is being booed as he has used his position as Australian of the year to foster an us against them mentality and in effect saying all non indigenous Australians should be ashamed of our past and what this country has achieved.

How else did Adam Goodes expect this to play out? And booing him for disagreeing with his views is not racist.

Imagine if Tony Abbott pulled on a footy jumper. Imagine the boos that would reign down from people who disagreed with him.

Goodes is booed for his divisive words, not his skin color

 

[Bardo State]

Very well said.

Unfortunately in the 100+ pages that have been posted contributions like this that really should be read are going to be missed in amongst the tons of "Nah it's just cause he's a dickhead" posts.

Was a bit long winded but the whole issue really does make my blood boil a bit. The whole thing really upsets me. Guess I'm a bit of a softy like that.

 

[threesixpio]

the booing of goodes is because he is just a shit bloke, a whinging diving campaigner on the football field. they do not boo him for his heritage they boo him for just being a shit campaigner of a human bean

My issue with people saying he's a shit human being is because some (might not be you by the way) don't like the way he has taken a stance on race. This thread is littered with examples of how people don't like the way he went about it. I don't think this is a legitimate reason to boo him.

Booing is a weak way to discuss things like that. You're unaccountable and a total p&ssy to be frank (not you - people who boo for the reasons I stated). At least get on an internet forum (like this) and have a stoush. Hiding in a sea of booers is pissweak

 

[subaru]

in other words be a compliant black man who doesn't offend your view of the world

and what on-field tactics are you referring to?

Oh Jesus Wept

 

[bird_man]

I've heard many people say the only reason Adam Goodes is bood is because he's a flog or dirty.... Really?

Barry Hall was a thug, way worse than anything Goodes has done, he wasn't bood near as much.

Ben Cousins, a drug addict and a complete wank. Didn't cop near as many boos as Goodes.

Steven Milne was charged with rape FFS!

If you boo Adam Goodes, no matter what reason you choose to use to make yourself feel better, you are a w@nker. Have some ****ing respect for him and his family, it's gone too far and it's an embarrassment to the game!

 

[subaru]

Does anyone honestly believe in this day and age that Goodes is being booed for his skin color?

Seriously?!?

He is being booed as he has used his position as Australian of the year to foster an us against them mentality and in effect saying all non indigenous Australians should be ashamed of our past and what this country has achieved.

How else did Adam Goodes expect this to play out? And booing him for disagreeing with his views is not racist.

Imagine if Tony Abbott pulled on a footy jumper. Imagine the boos that would reign down from people who disagreed with him.

Goodes is booed for his divisive words, not his skin color

Top post

 

[Ron The Bear]

Race totally has nothing to do with it you guys!!!

My inner anarchist demands it.

 

[Go_Blues!]

Oh ok, kinda like the illuminati.

Not really, kind of the opposite.

 

[Cleric]

what would Andrew McLeod say about it do you think?

Andrew doesnt conduct himself in the same manner as Adam. As we have said before, this isnt about Adams race, its about being a knob. Macca doesnt go on about evil white men. I have spoken to him about racism in the AFL, including the Matt Rendell issue.
Maybe you should talk to him about it.

 

[up_the_lions]

no his diving & antics to the umpires.
making a stand against racism yeah thats fine, i've got nothing against that for singling out the girl. but now using the race card because he is booed!

so basically if they were attacking him for his culture, why wouldn't people be booing every other indigenous player?
you know like franklin, Jetta etc? hell why not add in every other indigenous player!

lets brand brand every one racists for booing one aboriginal but not the rest of the other players!
FFS

Big difference between Goodes and Jetta, Franklin, etc. They've never taken a political stance publicly and confronted the plight of their race. Do you reckon there might be something in that?
Everyone is happy to go along and watch indigenous players play the game, but if one would dare and force people to confront the inequities in Australian society, or the discrimination they face that presents an issue.
People need to stop hiding behind this, "he's a flog"explanation, because there are a heap of players who behave the same way. The pure and simple reason people find him so offensive, is that he asks questions we aren't comfortable answering.
And if you really, genuinely just don't like him, and that's why you boo, then stop it. Because that's not why everyone else is booing him, and you're standing alongside them and boosting their message.

 

[Righteo]

Nope, the next part of the conversation would go something along the lines of the following ... See that son, where Rockliff just came in from the side to tackle Goodes and he threw himself forward trying to con the umpires into giving him an extremely soft free kick. When you play on Saturday, if you do that you will get booed as well. Dont stoop to those levels son, it's just not worth it. And see that son, Goodes dropping his knees and ducking his head, you are better than that as well. Jono Brown never stooped to those levels.

Every single team in the league has at least 3-4 players who do what you describe which is about 60 players. How many are mercilessly booed every week?

Of all the reasons put forward by people as an excuse to boo him this is the weakest imo.

 

[sherb]

Was a bit long winded but the whole issue really does make my blood boil a bit. The whole thing really upsets me. Guess I'm a bit of a softy like that.

It was an excellent post, thank you.

 

[Bardo State]

Does anyone honestly believe in this day and age that Goodes is being booed for his skin color?

Seriously?!?

He is being booed as he has used his position as Australian of the year to foster an us against them mentality and in effect saying all non indigenous Australians should be ashamed of our past and what this country has achieved.

How else did Adam Goodes expect this to play out? And booing him for disagreeing with his views is not racist.

Imagine if Tony Abbott pulled on a footy jumper. Imagine the boos that would reign down from people who disagreed with him.

Goodes is booed for his divisive words, not his skin color

People have this moronic idea that racism is about wearing the Australian flag as a cape and screaming "**** the abos!" It's a lot more subtle than that, it's systemic, it's ingrained in our culture. No one, including Goodes, is saying that any individual or collective needs to feel 'guilt' or 'shame' for past atrocities perpetuated against aboriginal Australians. What Goodes and others are doing is trying to get people to recognise is that most people living in this country indirectly benefit from the theft, rape and massacre of an entire group of people. This has lasting impacts and the wounds are still fresh. Aboriginals were still classified as fauna less than 50 years ago. I still find it hard to wrap my head around that. Indigenous heads were sent back on ships to England. Tasmanian aboriginal people were wiped off the face of the planet.

None of this implies any sort of culpability for any one white Australian, including myself. It's not my fault that I benefit from the past slaughtering of indigenous people and I'm not going to apologise to anyone for it. But I DO. And that's the important thing. That's the conversation Goodes was trying to have. Realising that maybe young Travis being in jail or having too much drink isn't just a result of loose morals or poor character, but at least partly because of systemic injustices past and present that put him in a position that you couldn't possibly pretend to fully empathise with.

Unfortunately a large proportion of the Australian population wasn't mature or intelligent enough to have this conversation. They heard terms like 'genocide', 'theft', 'invasion' and 'race problems' and quickly jumped on the defensive. They couldn't spurt out 'but I don't hate aboriginals' quick enough. And unfortunately, this is how real racism is perpetuated. Not because your old fashioned uncle (believe me, I have several) openly said 'you can't trust them' but through the failure of everyday Australians to recognise and own the role they inadvertently play in systemic injustice. So then Goodes is a 'flog', a 'grandstander', 'divisive' and other such nonsense.

This is the reason Goodes was initially booed. Maybe a tiny percentage of Hawthorn supporters (and now seemingly every other club's supporters) that booed him are openly distrusting and resentful towards aboriginal Australians. But mainly because they couldn't handle or understand a conversation that while uncomfortable for them, is a tragic and real necessity for someone like Goodes. Then tribalism kicked in people started booing him because everyone else was and retrospectively performed mental gymnastics to come up with reasons why they did join in.

Like other people have said, the booing stemmed from racial elements, still has a dark racial undertone and is deeply upsetting for the indigenous AFL community as well as Goodes and his family. Initially I'm willing to give many a free pass for getting caught up in the tribalism. That's a lot of what footy is about. But at this point, if you join in, you're overtly racist, subtly racist, or just not very bright. The latter contingent probably constitutes the majority, but why would you even want to be associated with it at this point?

The only people fostering an us against them mentality are the people who can't see the issue for what it is.

 

[Spook]

I did say before there is a racial element to the booing, and I understand you would have genuine issues with his advocacy that's not racially based, and I certainly don't think all the booers are racist, only a small minority.

But there are definitely racists in there - as seen by what happened on the weekend - and why would you want to associate with racists anyway by booing with them?

I don't boo, I hate it, I really hate booing double faults in tennis that happens at the U.S. Open and staring to happen in Australia now. So why do West coast supporters boo at everyone and everything else then? Booing just sux full stop. Do you suggest we don't Boo Adam Goodes because of his race? Well according Goodes him self from his AOTY speech "the ultimate reward is when all Australains see each other as equals and treat is other as equal". I agree all people should be treated equally. But Goodes doesn't really want that, he wants to be treated special because of his race, to me that is racist.

 

[hardon]

Goddard telling the fans on 360 that if it continues there will be ramifications very interesting making threats to the fans

i saw this. really though, what option does he have but to fall in line with his peers, those who pay his salary and give him a platform? he could no more flap his arms and fly to the moon than say anything else on the matter.

 

[Ugottabjokin]

You don't follow much footy media do you?

You mean what was just being said on AFL 360 and the players association stuff.

No i don't see what the media says.

Like the players association is going to come out and say Adam is wrong and we shouldn't create a new socially accepted rule for him exclusively.

And Adams view that booing of him is racial villification, as Brendon Goddard just stated, now impinges on my freedom of speech and expression. So now any booing of Adam is now racists because Adam said so.

What a sanctimonious w***er. The racial insinuation makes me dislike him even more, not that i ever liked him anyway.

 

[Pea Nut]

To which he could just retort with his original comment, because if you don't throw the same vitriol at Lewis, Johnson and Thomas from the opening bounce, you're engaging in a double-standard and it's worth taking a moment to consider why.

Son listen, I dont boo Lewis cos he earns me heaps of dream team points and I need to win this week. I dont boo Stevie J cos I have met him and was a genuine good dude, who was keen for a chat on Saturday night when me and the boys were out on the turps. He even took a photo with us. And son, you already know that I boo Lindsay Thomas way more than I boo Goodes, so stop bothering me.

 

[arakaan]

no his diving & antics to the umpires.
so basically if they were attacking him for his culture, why wouldn't people be booing every other indigenous player?

Simple, because those other black fellas know there place in society. They can be tolerated.

 

[subaru]

Andrew doesnt conduct himself in the same manner as Adam. As we have said before, this isnt about Adams race, its about being a knob. Macca doesnt go on about evil white men. I have spoken to him about racism in the AFL, including the Matt Rendell issue.
Maybe you should talk to him about it.

Manages to get the message across loud and clear without wearing the victim tag

McLeod would never behave the way Goodes does - on or off the field

 

[mike14]

So having read 100+ pages on this there's a theory that a mate and I have been discussing and I'm curious if others think it has merit:

I certainly agree that for some there is a racist element to the booing of Goodes because they simply (and stupidly) don't like people of certain colours or backgrounds. I also think there's a 'casual' racism element based on people's persevered notion that Goodes has 'called-out' the country over the treatment of Aboriginals, as we've seen over the past 2 decades, Australian's on the whole are pretty thin skinned when they think someone is having a shot at them and their country (especially when it comes from a minority group within the country).

The other element is wrapped up in the 'diving/sooking/staging/didn't deserve brownlow/protected by umpires and the tribunal/whatever else' on field stuff, some of which Goodes is responsible for, some of which he's not. How much of this also has to do with the fact that Goodes, through no fault of his own, basically became the face of the AFL?

For the last decade Goodes has been one of the most visible and best players in the game, rightly appearing on ads etc and being a spokesperson for the game. He's also the recognizable face of the Swans, a team that has been successful in the same period but also has copped criticism for COLA, 'lenient' umpiring and basically being looked after by the AFL. Coupled with some elements of the games' fan based feeling more and more alienated from the game they loved by the powers that be, is there a chance that Goodes has become the face of the game that fans are annoyed with and a lot of the anger directed at him is actually directed at the games administrators and decision makers, who the average fan will never see and so have to vent their frustration elsewhere, with Goodes being an easy and unfortunate target due to the other reasons outlined above?

 

[threesixpio]

Top post

Even if what this poster said is right re him being AOTY
(a) how does booing deal with this?
(b) how does it make things less divisive.

Top Post? Man ...anti logic at its finest

 

[Cudi_420]

I think that's what clear out of all of this, is that irrespective of your thoughts or Goodes, the people booing, the commentators, the AFL, whatever, the football community is now divided. It's ugly. This is not what football is about.

And you know what's funny? The most engaged people in this debate are...white.

From the white rednecks who tell him to "harden up", to the condescending self-hating white people that speak like as if they know what's best for the indigenous. Both sides are white. It's comical. White people debating the feelings of...a black man.

I am so sick and tired of hearing people say "Australia is racist", and I'm sick of people pretending like they're not offended by Goodes' past comments.

And seriously, please spare the rest of us your guilt-riddled self-hating trash about how ANYONE -- white, black, pink, yellow -- is EVER justified in dividing by race. I don't give a [censored] what you have been through: racism is antagonism as much as it is discrimination, and if you even attempt to paint me as morally inferior because of the colour of my skin, I will shout you down like the hypocritical moron that you are. I am not responsible for another person's plight. I judge a person on their character and their actions. Spare me the "white people can't be victims of racism" crap. You're just justifying a barbaric, vile narrative that fuels the fire.

That said, everyone, please, shut up, get over it, so I can get back to feeling miserable about Melbourne Football Club.

Trust me, you'll all feel better for it. At least then we can (mostly) agree on something and get along.

Go Dees.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

I posted this on the Adelaide thread but it equally belongs here:

Some people boo Goodes because they're racists, some people boo him because they don't like him as a person, some boo him because they think he's a dirty player, some people are sheep following the crowd and others are just morons. The reason they boo him doesn't really matter, and here's why:

The booing has gotten to the point where it is being interpreted by the aboriginal community as being racially driven. Now knowing that fact, and still choosing to boo him makes you a what:

Option A: racist
Option B: moron
Option C: troll
Option D: all of the above