My dear Dad said something the other day that rang so true to me, “I challenge every opposition supporter to applaud Goodes every time he gets the ball.”

What an awesome move that would be. There are so many Australians who are horrified at the treatment of Goodes right now. Instead of arguing against the ignorant and fueling their small minded justifications of their racist and bullying language and behaviour, let’s show our admiration to this great Australian and drown out their “noise” with our applause.

Let’s stand up and show our respect for his contribution to football, and to our society by applauding him. Let’s applaud him at the football, let’s applaud him in our communities, let’s applaud him in our family homes, let’s applaud him in our schools, let’s applaud him in our work places.

Adam speaks clearly and honestly about the ingrained racism that exists within our own constitution through to our communities, workplaces and homes. He talks about the history and the reality that exists today. He doesn't condemn anyone. If you listen closely to what he is saying, he just wants to TALK about it openly and honestly, bring it out into the open, so Australia can head into a new space.

There are a majority of loud and vocal Australians who don't like what Adam "says and does" because he is not staying in his box. They don't like him talking because of what it says about them. This is why the majority of the people are booing and justifying it with their comments saying "it's nothing to do with him being aboriginal". Sorry, but it's got everything to do with him being Aboriginal, he knows it, every Indigenous player and person knows it, and every logical, reasonable compassionate human being knows it.

Back when he stood up after winning the Brownlow with Bucks and Roo in 2003, he was a champion in everyone's eyes, and again in 2006 winning the prestigious award on his own. In years to follow I don't recall stadiums of people "booing" him, he was revered as a legend of the game.

Something changed in recent years after he made a stand against racism, and has since leveraged his celebrity to bring to light the issues being faced in our country of systemic and ingrained "racism", "discrimination" and subsequent disadvantage faced by most Aboriginal Australians. These two words make MANY people feel "uncomfortable", and talking about the realities faced by Aboriginal Australians makes the same people feel even more "uncomfortable".

Adam has a voice on these issues - who cares if you don't agree with everything he says or "how he says it" – let’s show respect where it is due, because we need more people to open up these conversations. It's not easy for someone to do, and I applaud him. Let’s all applaud him.

So often those of us who “just get it” struggle to communicate effectively and stand up to the ignorant, the bullies, because they speak a different language and operate using a completely different emotional and psychological currency. Often we just let their “noise” wash over us, stay firm in our beliefs, because we all know that arguing feeds their behaviour.

I want him to know that we don’t want him to stand down, and that we all want him to stand strong. Keep playing Adam, and keep talking. While they might be louder, we are stronger. So many Australians have your back, and are proud of the conversations you are opening up.

Let the applause fill the stadiums. You’re not alone Adam, we’ve got your back.

As sports broadcaster and DJ Francis Leach recently wrote: "Blokes like Goodes tend to have a finely tuned radar for racism. When you have been living with it all your life you learn to speak it's many ugly languages. So when he tells you what it means to him and you choose to boo, you're confirming to him and every other indigenous footballer what you're really about."