Play Nice Indigenous AFL players call out Adam Goodes's treatment ahead of The Final Quarter documentary release

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Bomberboyokay

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A shameful time in AFL history.

Leading Indigenous footballers have spoken out ahead of the release of a documentary about former AFL star Adam Goodes, declaring their anger, shame and guilt over the way the Sydney Swans champion left the game.

The Final Quarter is compiled entirely from archival footage of Goodes and the events that preceded his 2015 departure from football amid ongoing booing episodes that sparked a national debate about racism.

The Indigenous Players Advisory Board includes past and present AFL players, with those still playing including Hawthorn's Shaun Burgoyne and Chad Wingard, Melbourne's Neville Jetta, Brisbane's Allan Christensen, Richmond's Shane Edwards and Carlton's Jarrod Pickett.

In a statement, the group said many of them had left a screening earlier this year with "feelings of anger, shame and guilt but also a strong sense of pride and hope".

"We were angry with how Adam, one of the greatest to play the game, was faced with clear racial discrimination from members of the public during this time.

"We are ashamed with how the game didn't provide enough support to Adam during the most challenging time of his life.

"We feel guilty that we, as his brothers, didn't do more to protect him.

"We are proud that he stood up for what is right.

"We are hopeful that this moment will be remembered as a turning point for Indigenous people.

This week The Final Quarter's director, Ian Darling, said he felt the need to make the film in August 2015, when fans demonstrated an outpouring of support for Goodes with the #IStandWithAdam movement.

Goodes, the 2014 Australian of the Year, had been the target of serial booing from fans after calling out a member of the crowd for a racial slur.

Then teammate — now at West Coast — Lewis Jetta and Goodes planned that during the 2015 Indigenous round against Carlton whichever of the pair scored a goal first would perform an Indigenous dance.

Goodes scored first and performed a war cry created by a group of Aboriginal teenagers from the football development and leadership program, the Flying Boomerangs.

The booing continued throughout the season, and Goodes retired after the Sydney Swans' finals loss to North Melbourne that September.

"This was a traumatic time for Adam and was felt by all Indigenous people," the Indigenous Player's Advisory Group said in the statement.

"However, it would've been a great shame had society moved on and forgotten the detail of what unfolded. It's important that we all learn from the experience to ensure it does not happen again.

"We want The Final Quarter to be seen by school kids across the country and we urge all Australians to commit to watching it. We strongly believe education is the key to behavioural change.

"It is a time for us to all be open, not to be fearful, or defensive, and look to shift blame or promote hate.

"We want it to start a conversation about what we can ALL do to promote reconciliation."

They paid personal tribute to Goodes, who they said was a "hero, friend or teammate" to many of them and a respected champion of the game.

"Thank you for standing up for us and we hope that one day you can look back on this time in your life with pride knowing the impact that it had on Indigenous people," they said.

"For us, your leadership on this issue already sits alongside your premierships and Brownlow Medals as part of your amazing legacy, and we know that you've got many more great things to achieve in your life."

AFL Players' Association president Patrick Dangerfield also released a statement, saying players felt "incredibly sad" at what Goodes had gone through.

"We implore all footy fans to watch the documentary and let it serve as a timely reminder of the devastation that racism inflicts," he said.

"Despite all Goodesy went through, and situations that have continued to arise this year towards other members of our playing group, racism still sadly exists in the football community.

"We hope that the public's reaction to these films remind Goodesy how many people love and respect him and that one day he'll deem the game worthy of his love once again."

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019...-adam-goodes-was-treated/11185732?pfmredir=sm

Plenty of people who booed will be keeping their mouths shut when their kids or grandkids ask what it was all about.
 
Feb 9, 2009
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The media reaction says it all about the attitude.

Most of the media defended the fans booing goodes because they paid their money and it's not harming anyone, with the flimsy excuse that he dived once and not that he was made Aus of the year and spoke out about aboriginal rights.

But god help you if you boo watson for admitting to taking drugs or ablett for being a homophobic Jesusy campaigner.

We can only hope that things change quickly.
 

caspian

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The thing I ""loved"" most was people claiming they felt "threatened" by an imaginary spear throw by one bloke, in indigenous round. Or those who claimed that it was inappropriate.. *en grow a pair. How much more of a snowflake can you get? Indeed, the treatment Goodes copped was shameful, was clearly racist, and all in all sums up an unfortunate amount of Australians.
 
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He shouldn’t have pointed at that young Collingwood girl that day...that’s what started it.
Made it all about himself instead of just getting on with the job of playing footy.
Really? It isn’t the 80’s where you can yell racist s**t over the fence and it’ll be accepted as the norm

You only have to look at the treatment Betts has had latterly to see that this attitude hasn’t changed at all

Disgraceful
 
The thing I ""loved"" most was people claiming they felt "threatened" by an imaginary spear throw by one bloke, in indigenous round. Or those who claimed that it was inappropriate.. ****en grow a pair. How much more of a snowflake can you get? Indeed, the treatment Goodes copped was shameful, was clearly racist, and all in all sums up an unfortunate amount of Australians.

The war dance he did after goaling against Carlton and the resultant booing was completely out of context.

Blues were down and out, Swans well on top and he takes that moment to stand in front of a bay of Carlton fans and do this dance. He got booed for rubbing it into a bunch of frustrated fans, not because he was indigenous or doing an indigenous war dance.

The media turned that incident into a racial one, lumping it in with the Collingwood girl incident and that's the way history is viewing it now.

If Josh Kennedy kicked a goal and did a square dance in front of them, I dare say he would have got booed too. Of course I can't talk for individuals within that group who may have a different mindset.
 
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Coolangatta

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Really? It isn’t the 80’s where you can yell racist **** over the fence and it’ll be accepted as the norm

You only have to look at the treatment Betts has had latterly to see that this attitude hasn’t changed at all

Disgraceful

The arguments I saw defending her were:

1. What about when "they" call "us" a white [slur].
2. She's just a 13-year-old girl!
3. She didn't mean it in a racist way.
4. He's a sook, get over it!
5. He could've handled it better.

All piss weak arguments if you ask me.
 

Frank Gallagher

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He shouldn’t have pointed at that young Collingwood girl that day...that’s what started it.
Made it all about himself instead of just getting on with the job of playing footy.
I'm no fan of Goodies mainly because of that incident but the booing was poor form.
 

bigfarter

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The thing I ""loved"" most was people claiming they felt "threatened" by an imaginary spear throw by one bloke, in indigenous round. Or those who claimed that it was inappropriate.. ****en grow a pair. How much more of a snowflake can you get? Indeed, the treatment Goodes copped was shameful, was clearly racist, and all in all sums up an unfortunate amount of Australians.

My favourite bit of historical revisionism the booers resorted to was claiming he was a bully for pointing to a young girl in the crowd who yelled "Ape" at him. I was watching on the night and I remember the context perfectly: he heard the word, pointed at who it came from and not until WELL AFTER was it known it came from a young girl. He heard the slur and instinctively pointed the source out to security, as was his right. People who've since claimed he went out to deliberately vilify and bully are young girl are being SO disingenuous that they need to reflect on just why they'd resort to such a blatant lie.
 
I quite enjoyed his football until 2007 when he noticeably started to decline and rely more on the niggling aspect of his game. Nobody likes a player that is perceived as an umpires pet pleading for free kicks, striking/attempted strikes throughout the latter part of his career (still lol at his attempted punch of Bruest in the 2014 grand final!).

Football is a sport where you can cheer for your heroes and boo the villains, this player became a villain in the twilight of his career.

Would I have booed him during the retirees lap of honour ? NO

A shameful time in AFL history.

Plenty of people who booed will be keeping their mouths shut when their kids or grandkids ask what it was all about.

Actually it will be a fine example of the wrong way a system tells someone NOT to do something (re: Gill and co telling the fans not to boo), only for it to blow up in their faces.

The thing I ""loved"" most was people claiming they felt "threatened" by an imaginary spear throw by one bloke, in indigenous round. Or those who claimed that it was inappropriate.. ****en grow a pair. How much more of a snowflake can you get? Indeed, the treatment Goodes copped was shameful, was clearly racist, and all in all sums up an unfortunate amount of Australians.

The war dance he did after goaling against Carlton and the resultant booing was completely out of context.

Blues were down and out, Swans well on top and he takes that moment to stand in front of a bay of Carlton fans and do this dance. He got booed for rubbing it into a bunch of frustrated fans, not because he was indigenous or doing an indigenous war dance.

The media turned that incident into a racial one, lumping it in with the Collingwood girl incident and that's the way history is viewing it now.

If Josh Kennedy kicked a goal and did a square dance in front of them, I dare say he would have got booed too. Of course I can't talk for individuals when that group who may have a different mindset.

He may have had good intentions but doing a war dance celebration after kicking a goal when his team was already thrashing the opposition at the time, was a dumb move.
 
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The arguments I saw defending her were:

1. What about when "they" call "us" a white [slur].
2. She's just a 13-year-old girl!
3. She didn't mean it in a racist way.
4. He's a sook, get over it!
5. He could've handled it better.

All piss weak arguments if you ask me.

My favourite was once hearing Andrew Bolt say "but he kind of looks like one".

How he avoided that blowing up in his face is kind of beyond me, though I guess people didn't expect any better/listen to his shitty show.
 

ashep

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Those same people who boo Ablett are racist as well. Goodes is a flog of a bloke and is doing everything he can to get back in the spotlight
He shouldn’t have pointed at that young Collingwood girl that day...that’s what started it.
Made it all about himself instead of just getting on with the job of playing footy.
so everyone that booed was a racist then.

It's ok to label them all racists is it?
I can't work out why all the other indigenous players aren't booed if it was racist booing.

Kind of makes me think people thought Goodes was a flog.
Perpetual victim is an accurate description of Adam Goodes.

He got booed because he was unliked, not indigenous . Thought we'd all established that by now. Plenty of other indigenous players getting around to applaudes and cheers even from opposition fans. Goodes never did anything good for the game imo.

Just imagine being on the same side of history as the following luminaries....

Eddie McGuire
Miranda Devine
Barry Hall
Alan Jones
Rita Panahi
Andrew Bolt
Shane Warne
 
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