Mum of teen who called Adam Goodes an ‘ape’ says booing should stop – but he deserved it

THE mother of the teenager who called Adam Goodes an “ape” has called for the booing to stop but claims the Sydney Swan brought it upon himself.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 22: Adam Goodes, wearing the Sydney Swans Indigenous Round guernsey designed by his mum Lisa Sansbury, poses following a Sydney Swans AFL press conference ahead of next weekends AFL Indigenous round at Sydney Cricket Ground on May 22, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

HER daughter was singled out by Adam Goodes over her racist comments during a clash between the Sydney Swans and Collingwood two years ago.

Now the mother of the teen who called the star player an “ape” wants fans to stop the booing him - even though she believes he deserves it.

Speaking to Fairfax Media, Joanne (surname withheld) said she thought Goodes shouldn’t retire over the recent booing controversy - instead, she thought he should “man up and just take it if he wants to play the game”.

“I do think people shouldn’t boo him at the football, they should be trying to encourage him to be a better person than what he is,” Joanne told Fairfax.

Goodes pointed out the 13-year-old to security guards after she abused him at a Collingwood-Sydney game during AFL’s indigenous Round in 2013.

Joanne said she thought the dual Brownlow medallist owed her daughter an apology for the “unfair” treatment she received from MCG security staff and police after the incident.

Following the public backlash after the match, Goodes said the girl should be supported rather than criticised. He also never pressed charges.

Joanne’s comments came after the Sydney Football Club confirmed Goodes would not play this weekend.

The star player had asked for time off following the booing controversy which escalated in Perth on Sunday.

Swans chief Andrew Ireland said the club was working Goodes to support him through this “really difficult time”.

“Adam is sick and tired of this behaviour. It has been happening for too long and it has taken its toll,” he said. “We will give Adam all the time he needs. We will keep supporting him and he will return to the Club whenever he is ready.”

The teen’s mum told Fairfax she thought Goodes was entitled to be upset after her daughter called him an “ape” but also should have recognised she was very young.

And while she wants the booing to stop, she believes it all stems from Goodes treatment of her daughter Julia.

“Picking on a 13-year-old child I thought was absolutely ridiculous and having her questioned by police without an adult being present was absolutely disgusting on the part of himself and the AFL,” Joanne said.

“I don’t think Julia was treated fairly at all. It was the way he carried on the ground that made them do what they did. If he hadn’t have carried on like a pork chop it wouldn’t have mattered.

“It would have gone on exactly the same as any football game any other week. He just happened to pick on the wrong kid.”

She added: “If he hadn’t have done it he wouldn’t be having the problems he’d be having now.

“He probably should apologise because maybe he should have picked his target a little bit better.

“She’d only turned 13 five days beforehand. She was technically still 12. She had no idea what she was saying.”

Asked how her daughter was now, she said she was “going on quite nicely, she’s at school, and she hasn’t worried about this event at all.”

Sydney Swans star player Adam Goodes pictured leaving his North Bondi home today after taking a few days off training. Pictured allegedly swearing at a Ch7 camera man.

For the past week media commentators, sporting identities and politicians have all weighed into the booing debate about whether it was racially motivated and if Goodes deserves it.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews slammed the behaviour as disgusting.

“People who are booing Adam Goodes, many of them are nothing more than racists,” Mr Andrews said.

“They’re booing him because they have no respect for him and no regard for him as an Aboriginal man and that is shameful. I am disgusted by that behaviour.” Mr Andrews said it would be “a great tragedy” if Goodes’s career was ended because of the booing.

WA Premier Colin Barnett condemned the West Coast Eagle fans’ treatment of Goodes at the Eagles-Swans clash in Perth on the weekend as racist and unfair, but says Aboriginal players shouldn’t “overdo” the traditional war dance either.

Federal Labor senator Nova Peris, an indigenous woman and Olympic gold medallist, said people booing Goodes did it because he had spoken out on indigenous issues and taken action to stop racism.

“He’s become a target. There are a significant amount of other Aboriginal athletes or footy players that are not subjected to the constant mocking, the criticism and the booing and the hissing, but it’s because Adam has spoken out,” Senator Peris told ABC radio. Senator Peris’s colleague, Labor MP Richard Marles, said it would be tragic if Goodes was booed out of his career.

Some commentators defended the booing as not racist but instead a response to Goodes’s on-field actions, including his defiant “war dance” at Carlton fans in May and his pointing out a 13-year-old girl who yelled racist abuse at him during a 2013 game.

Radio 2GB host Alan Jones, speaking on morning TV, said people booed because they didn’t like Goodes, who was “always a victim”, while some rival supporters claim the dual Brownlow medallist is booed because he stages for free kicks and complains to umpires. Five-time Hawthorn premiership player and now commentator Dermott Brereton said earlier this week Goodes could consider changing his on-field behaviour.

“Adam Goodes would do well to look at what he’s done bad or good or indifferent and work out what he can do to change that,” Brereton told the Herald-Sun.

NSW Premier Mike Baird said he hoped Goodes would play on, while South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill urged him to play against Adelaide on Saturday.

“I’m confident Crows fans will treat you with respect this weekend and you’re welcome in SA anytime,” Mr Weatherill said in a tweet before it was announced Goodes would not play.

Federal Government frontbencher Jamie Briggs sought to play down the matter, saying it was a football issue and not an indigenous one.