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

[MWPP]

Come off it, we love booing (and Jobe Watson's booing attracted a lot of attention along with Chris Scott's comments a couple of years ago) but Goodes was nowhere near booed this loudly or persistently since 2012. I wonder why?

Why? Drawing attention to it makes it a self perpetuating cycle . People don't like being told what to do or mislabeled . And Goodes off field actions have given people an additional reason to boo (as he now comes across as antisocial off as well as on field )

 

[JackOutback]

This thread makes my brain hurt.

Goodes wasn't booed on a mass scale after he did something dirty or got suspended. Goodes wasn't booed after a run of dubious free kicks. Goodes wasn't booed after his brownlow win. Can we dispense with the ducking and weaving and at least agree that there are a few clear incidents that kicked the whole thing off?

Goodes was booed after being racially abused by a young girl, and subsequently, after years of work with the indigenous communities around Australia, winning the Australian of the Year award and opening up some very serious, yet uncomfortable conversations about race.

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?

Superb post. Everyone should read this and if they still want to boo Goodes, read it again.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Sam Newman needs to do the blackface thing this week. I'd even watch The Footy Show.

 

[bombersfan4000]

But you went past football, you called him a shit bloke and a campaigner of a human being.

You know very little of him as a person. You are in no position to make that judgment.

his antics constantly carrying on to the umpires.

 

[Forward Press]

I agree It might not be OK but saying it is racist is just wrong. I don't boo him but just because I don't like his politics (see his constitutional change agenda) doesn't make me racist does it?

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?

 

[Pea Nut]

And then your kid asks "Then why don't you boo Steve Johnson whenever he touches the ball? Or Jordan Lewis? Or Lindsay Thomas?" and you say "Well, the rest of the herd wasn't doing that, son!"

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.

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

White man gets booed its all part of the game, black man gets booed its racism.......go figure.

White man performs an act of aggression towards the crowd its unacceptable, black man does the same and its acceptable.......go figure.

Please refer to the post above yours, the first sentence of the sixth paragraph is referring to you.

 

[Cleric]

What does that even mean?

This evil white man that he needs to bow before. I want to know who this prick is. You mentioned him in your post, I assume you have some info on him.

 

[MWPP]

Well, clearly that's not the case is it? 106 pages and counting and the AFL boss imploring the booing cease contradicts your claim just a tad. You should also tell Lewis Jetta how inoffensive it is.

Those 106 pages aren't from people claiming its offensive - if we all agreed the thread wouldn't have anywhere near as long . It just shows that it is debatable

The AFL doesn't have a good track record when it comes to handling these issues

Seriously , what's so offensive about booing? Booing is immature (hence the saying wouldn't say boo to a goose , and also the reference to ghosts and kids saying boo to scare people), not offensive . Nobody cares when umpires are booed.

 

[up_the_lions]

And then when he asks, "why don't all the other players get booed as consistently and ruthlessly?" what will you say then?

 

[Cleric]

Hmmm the Hadlee chant was a bit of fun mostly because he was killing us with the ball THEN he went on TV and complained about how we were all uneducated morons and cried and THEN he copped it big time from the crowds and the chant followed him for the rest of his career.

Exactly. It became a thing with him and the supporters and it mirrors exactly what is happening with Goodes now.

 

[spinynorman]

This thread makes my brain hurt.

Goodes wasn't booed on a mass scale after he did something dirty or got suspended. Goodes wasn't booed after a run of dubious free kicks. Goodes wasn't booed after his brownlow win. Can we dispense with the ducking and weaving and at least agree that there are a few clear incidents that kicked the whole thing off?

Goodes was booed after being racially abused by a young girl, and subsequently, after years of work with the indigenous communities around Australia, winning the Australian of the Year award and opening up some very serious, yet uncomfortable conversations about race.

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?

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.

 

[subaru]

Because he didn't rock the boat. And asking for reconciliation is not "harping on it". Show some empathy.

I have
Read my posts
Move forward with a positive and inclusive agenda or harp blame and carry a chip on your shoulder about the past .....
His choice - and he chose the latter as well as his on field tactics I find quite off

Compare him with McLeod and get back to me

 

[Reg Grundy35]

his antics constantly carrying on to the umpires.

this is just getting sad now. so much mindless hate

 

[SydCrow]

This evil white man that he needs to bow before. I want to know who this prick is. You mentioned him in your post, I assume you have some info on him.

what would Andrew McLeod say about it do you think?

 

[bombersfan4000]

Yeah, always winning browlow medals, getting all Australians, best a fairest, I mean really, what a fool. And just look at his actions off the field, supporting remote disadvantaged comunities, making a stand against racist behaviour at the footy, winning AotY, what a fool.

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

 

[up_the_lions]

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.

And then when he asks, "why don't all the other players get booed as consistently and ruthlessly?" what will you say then?

 

[bigfarter]

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.

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.

 

[Santana]

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

And the pro Goodes side just don't get it. This is just throwing more fuel on the fire.

 

[sherb]

Hmmm the Hadlee chant was a bit of fun mostly because he was killing us with the ball THEN he went on TV and complained about how we were all uneducated morons and cried and THEN he copped it big time from the crowds and the chant followed him for the rest of his career.

Very astute observation on his part.

 

[Go_Blues!]

This evil white man that he needs to bow before. I want to know who this prick is. You mentioned him in your post, I assume you have some info on him.

It was collective. But I suspect you know that.

 

[kranky al]

And then when he asks, "why don't all the other players get booed as consistently and ruthlessly?" what will you say then?

From what ive seen all day on fb - change the subject, deflect, etc etc

 

[SydCrow]

I have
Read my posts
Move forward with a positive and inclusive agenda or harp blame and carry a chip on your shoulder about the past .....
His choice - and he chose the latter as well as his on field tactics I find quite off

Compare him with McLeod and get back to me

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?

 

[aCunningPlan]

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.

But like he said, what about Lindsay Thomas? They introduced a whole new interpretation of the rules just for him yet he doesn't cop it like Goodes.

 

[ashep]

Sam Newman needs to do the blackface thing this week. I'd even watch The Footy Show.

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