Adam Goodes: Australian rules footballer, former Australian of the Year, role model. This final point is the most significant.

As a 16-year-old Sydney Swans fan, I have been watching and supporting Goodes my whole life. As such, I got to watch one of the most incredible footballers to ever grace our game dominate in virtually every position.

Put him in the ruck, on-ball, half back, full forward, on the wing, or anywhere else, and he would not only assist the team in every way possible, he would always be a standout.

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Goodes’ incredible career spanned 17 years, over which time he won two Brownlow medals, was All-Australian four times, won a Rising Star and two premierships – there are very few players with a record like that.

However, a lot of the talk following his retirement has been about his recent treatment at the hands of many fans. The issue brought large amounts of media attention because racist undertones in our society is bigger than football. And as much as I would like to simply write about Goodes’ fantastic achievements, it is near impossible to mention him now without talk of the booing.

Booing Goodes began around the time he pointed out a young girl in the crowd during a game for directing a racial slur at him – which is what it was, whether she intended it that way or not.

It increased as time went on, especially after his war dance in the AFL’s Indigenous Round, and got to the point where whether home or away, choruses of boos rang out in the stadium.

But why?

The reasons that seem to come up on social media from people who do not believe that they are racist tend to be that they just dislike him as a person.



When asked for more reasons, a number of excuses come up, all of which are flawed:

“He is a sook”

Stan Grant summed this up perfectly on ABC radio, saying, “How do you think Adam got there? Adam was raised by a mother who was a victim of the stolen generations, Adam was raised without a father… Adam took himself to the Sydney Swans on his own and sweated it out and trained and disciplined himself to make it. Adam is a dual Brownlow medallist winner, he is a premiership winner and how dare anybody tell him to harden up.”

“He makes everything about himself”

People even used this after he retired quietly, letting his teammate Rhyce Shaw take the spotlight and be chaired off the ground. It is simply false.

“I found his dance to be inciting the crowd”

He did an Indigenous dance, during the Indigenous round, to show he is proud of his heritage. The boomerang he was pretending to throw was not real! Why do people love the Haka, a much more aggressive dance, but react negatively to this?

“He thinks everything is racist”

He never directly stated the booing was racist, although it was, that was said by educated members of the public and media.

“It’s just part of the game”

So why isn’t every player treated like this? People being booed when taking shot to put them off is part of the game, not this targeted attack on one player. No other player in the competition has to endure this constant taunting every time they go near the ball.

“He is a dirty player”

Check his tribunal record. He has made errors, but none of these were intentionally injuring someone, or anything out of play. Players who are constantly taking cheap shots off the ball (something Adam has never done) are hailed as heroes by many but Adam is somehow a “dirty player”.

“He dives”

He has dived before, as have many players in the competition. He actually only did it maybe once or twice, but somehow people still think this is the reason he is constantly booed where other players that dive much more are not.



“If it’s racist why aren’t other Indigenous players booed?”

Other indigenous players are not booed because they have not taken the stance Adam has, they haven’t stood up against racism in the manner or the magnitude that Adam has.

“He called Australia Day, Invasion Day”

In his Australian of the Year speech he said, “There was a lot of anger, a lot of sorrow, for this day and very much the feeling of invasion day. But in the last five years, I’ve really changed my perception of what is Australia Day, of what it is to be Australian and for me, it’s about celebrating the positives.”

Is this really having a go at Australia Day? And even if it was, could you blame him? Because the truth of it is, to many Indigenous Australians, Australia Day, as we call it, is really Invasion Day.

“I didn’t like how he reacted to the comments by that 13-year-old girl”

He was called an “ape” by this girl. Whether she intended it as a racial comment or not, it is difficult to blame him for taking it to be racist, especially considering it is a very commonly know racist term.

To how he reacted, what do people want? For him to just cop being racially abused and continue? Not reacting to this would’ve been a statement to say that racism is okay, which it clearly is not. Following this incident Adam went on to support the young girl and called for people not to blame her. Adam’s response to this incident is a testament to the amazing man that he truly is.

Adam Goodes is a hero, and should be hailed as one. I’ve met him on several occasions and he has always been warm and friendly, even when he would be exhausted, and has been around meeting fans and signing autographs for much longer than any other player.

He is a White Ribbon ambassador. He is a role model. He is someone that everyone should grow up wishing to be like. He is a champion.

I have never heard a bad word about him from anyone else that has met him. I know that if I grow up to be anywhere near as good a person as Adam Goodes is I will have succeeded in life.



When asked what the highlight of his career was in an interview on Sunday, his response was “hopefully that’s yet to come”. I sincerely believe it is.

Thank you Adam.