Yes, that's his argument. Kudos.
EDIT: Mmm, to give a very brief summary of the article...
The booing started after Goodes had the ‘bad taste’ to call out a teen for calling him an ape. It then intensified after he wrote a ‘divisive’ article (while Australian of the year, no less!) about the racism at the base of Australian colonial history. The author argues that the hatred Hawthorn fans have for Goodes is c
If onnected to these things, as it comes into being with these incidents. He thus claims it's not to do with staging, etc, as that would mean many players would be booed in the same way. Yet they are not. And he wonders if it’s a political/class prejudice, due to Goodes politics being at odds with the Hawthorn supporter base, which is historically right/conservative leaning. So yeah, that is his argument. What’s good about the article is seeing someone actually thinking about sporting events and our reaction to them as a political entity, rather pretending these things exist in a separate bubble. Good for him.
Problem with his argument is his basic premise is flawed and supported by contrary data. First, Hawthorn supporters (indeed other supporters) were booing Goodes prior to either incident as demonstrated by these articles
http://m.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/roos-defends-heckled-star/story-e6frf3au-1111113489726
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-05-14/goodes-abuse-inappropriate
Secondly, he has made a massive assumption that all Hawthorn fans are private school educated rich kids. Hawthorn's number one demographic is Croydon.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/in...rship-heartlands/story-fni0fiyv-1227255772155
Thirdly, while undoubtedly Hawthorn will have more Liberal/Conservative voters than some other teams, the split between ALP, Liberal and Greens voters is nowhere great as stereotypes would suggest.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-...ans-of-your-afl-team-lean-politically/5919062
If it's totally politically driven, why don't other clubs with conservative leanings (Melbourne, St Kilda and Alomes' own team Geelong) boo with the same venom? What about the rest of the clubs - even a club like the Western Bulldogs should have a large number of conservative voters at any game.
Look as I've said throughout the thread I don't doubt some of the abuse is racist. But to boil it down to a single cause when there is evidence to the contrary is sloppy research pandering to stereotypes and does nothing to add real substance to the argument. Martin Flanagan, in my view has nailed it. It probably started out as football related, it has offered a cover for those who want to boo for political/racial reasons (hence the increase in the intensity), there's no doubt a sheep mentality to some of the booing and the fact he plays for Sydney has to be brought into it from a Hawthorn point of view (and other clubs/supporters are going to have their reasons for not liking the Swans). A more reasoned analysis would look for all the factors (again, of one which is undoubtedly racially driven) before singling out a single driver of the behaviour. Research into the game from a political science point of view is welcomed - as long as it is thorough and evidence driven.
That being said, I'll reiterate what I said earlier in the thread. I loved the war dance because it gives us a proper focus for discussion. I thought it was a great response to the situation. I didn't find it inflammatory or aggressive - I thought it was a great bit of theatre with a great message. The response to the war dance says more to me than anyone booing during a game.