AFL: Adam Goodes’ Hall of Fame shame

Adam Goodes has been browbeaten into silence by the boos and the abuse Picture. Phil Hillyard

Did you boo Adam Goodes? Were you part of the lynch mob that drove him from public life?

Maybe you weren’t actively complicit, maybe you were just one of those keyboard warriors with hate in your heart, part of the mob at home urged on by the jeer squad leaders.

Take a bow. Great work. The sound of your hatred still echoes in the stands and poisons the atmosphere long after the champion has left the field.

Mark Robinson has revealed in the Herald Sun that Goodes has rejected a unanimous nomination to elect him to the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

It is consistent with his decision to not participate in the lap of honour at the grand final.

Consistent with his decision to turn his back on football and have nothing to do with the game that brought him into public life.

Consistent with his decision to cancel the publication of his autobiography.

I don’t know because I’ve never asked him and I don’t want to put words in his mouth, or ascribe to him feelings he has not expressed, but this withdrawal suggests a man brow beaten into silence. A man so bruised by the boos and the abuse that he seeks the shadows and has lost his love for the game he played so well.

How good are we going? In the week we find out another refugee child detained and abused has — eventually — been given access to the medical treatment she needs, we discover that this champion footballer is still curled in the corner recovering from a beating that stretched across seasons.

Adam Goodes during the AFL Indigenous Round match v Carlton at the SCG in 2019. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Those that booed swore they weren’t racist, but they continued to boo after it became apparent the toll it was taking on the man, continued with the hate even when they could see its impact.

Maybe they weren’t racists, but they sang from the racists’ song sheet and it takes a special type of human being to continue with the vilification when you can see its impact.

Adam Goodes, dual premiership player, dual Brownlow medallist, gentle man and former Australian of the Year.

Adam Goodes whose words of reconciliation were twisted and selectively edited by those whose greatest skill appears to be maligning minorities.

The bigots have all sorts of rationalisations for their booing. Some were offended by the activism of his Australia Day speech in 2014. The jeer squad leaders called him out for being divisive.

Jesus wept, the bloke’s crime appeared to be aspiring towards an Australia for all and even backed the divisive January 26 date for national celebration.

Here’s what 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, that we are still here as indigenous people, our culture is one of the longest-surviving cultures in the world, over 40,000 years.

“That is something we need to celebrate and all Australians need to celebrate.

“There are people out there thinking that today is a great day for Australia — well, it is.

“It’s a day we celebrate over 225 years of European settlement and right now, that’s who we are as a nation, but we also need to acknowledge our fantastic Aboriginal history of over 40,000 years and just know that some Aboriginal people out there today are feeling a little bit angry, a little bit soft in the heart today because of that, and that’s OK as well.”

The cancel culture mob were outraged by this. Just using the term “invasion” was enough to send some of them into hysterics.

They had a second line of attack to fall back on and that surrounded him apparently bullying the 13-year-old girl he pointed out in the crowd during Indigenous round for calling him an ape.

Again this is disingenuous crap. Here is what Goodes said about the girl the following morning: “I just hope that people give the 13-year-old girl the same sort of support because she needs it, her family needs it, and the people around them need it.

“It‘s not a witch-hunt, I don’t want people to go after this young girl. It‘s not her fault, she’s 13, she’s still so innocent, I don’t put any blame on her.”

He spoke to her on the phone to ensure she was OK.

What a monster, eh?

Adam Goodes points into the crowd alerting security to comments made during the 2013 AFL match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Sydney Swans at the MCG. Picture: AFL Media

And let’s not get started on all the snowflakes who claimed he threatened the crowd with an imaginary spear.

Only last week Steve Georgakis, a senior lecturer of pedagogy and sports studies at the University of Sydney, told The Australian that Goodes is “like a scarecrow for other Indigenous people”.

Goodes is a warning, the angry mob will accept you only if you keep to your lane, only if you don’t get too uppity.

Here’s a little bit more from his 2014 Australian of the year speech.

“It’s an honour to win an award for doing stuff that you love and that you believe in,” he said.

“I believe we are all connected whether we like it or not. We are all equal and the same in so many ways. My hope is that we as a nation can break down the silos between races, break down those stereotypes of minority populations, indigenous populations and all other minority groups. I hope we can be proud of our heritage regardless of the colour of our skin and be proud to be Australian.”