Mark Robinson on Adam Goodes booing: Haters will ruin our grand day

ON Grand Final day, Adam Goodes will be booed as he does a lap of honour with all the other retirees and when that happens, all of football should hang their heads in shame.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 02: Adam Goodes of the Swans celebrates kicking a goal with team mate Lewis Jetta during the round 14 AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the Port Adelaide Power at SCG on July 2, 2015 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

OUR greatest fear is yet to ­unfold. On Grand Final day, Adam Goodes will be booed as he does a lap of honour with all the other retirees and when that happens, all of football should hang their heads in shame.

It would mean they — the booers — couldn’t be stopped, despite heartfelt pleas.

What a horrific spectacle it will be.

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On the day when football and footballers are celebrated for their genius, a large bunch of boneheads will continue this appalling attack on Goodes, and the MCG will reverberate to racial overtones and bigotry.

And because the game is beamed around the world, and presumably the pre-match entertainment, there will be millions of people wondering why, in this great country of ours, a black man is being booed and jeered while he is driven around in the back of a car.

Adam Goodes celebrates a goal with an indigenous dance. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Did he murder someone? Did he assault someone? No and no.

The answer — it is said — is because he plays for free kicks, that he used to slide into contests, that he dives and that he is a whinger.

And if you believe those to be the reasons, you’re an imbecile.

Booing Goodes is now a hobby.

There are those who boo because they believe Goodes is a flog and there those who boo because others are booing. And there are also those who boo because they are racists.

Altogether it is a pathetically shameful moment in the history of the AFL.

I’ll give some unwanted credit to the racists. At least they tell the truth about why they boo Goodes.

It’s because of what he did to the 13-year-old girl at the MCG and it’s because he was an undeserving Australian of the Year and proceeded to highlight Australia’s history of “invasion’’ when he received the honour.

I don’t agree, but knock yourself out.

What is frustrating is those people who boo for the hell of it. Don’t you know you are protecting and encouraging these racist boofheads and, as we know, most of the racists are cowards and hide like snakes in the grass.

What is going to happen is Goodes will be booed into retirement because he made a stand against racism.

The AFL can’t do anything but plead for common sense and decency, which is what AFL boss Gillon McLachlan did yesterday.

People can either listen to McLachlan or ignore him.

If you want to listen to him, then stop the booing. It’s as simple as that.

And if you choose to ignore him, then congratulations — you are now part of one of the most shameful episodes in the history of the AFL.

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