Adam
Goodes Controversy – What's really going on here?
I have a
confession to make. I don't like Australian Rules Football. The first
9 year of my life were spent in Punchbowl in Sydney where Rugby
League was king and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs were Gods. The
Mortimer brothers were my sporting hero's growing up.
In time my
family moved to the St George area but I didn't lose my love of the
blue and whites. My first sporting memory is of the 1979 grand final
where St George beat Canterbury. I was 4 years old and devastated.
An Indigenous Football Player
Now I'm no
stranger to booing players, in my Rugby League following days I used
to boo Anthony Mundine. Anthony Mundine is an indigenous man who I
felt at the time had an ego that had to be heard to be believed. I
used to joke that Anthony Mundine couldn't make the game today
because he was detained by a full length mirror.
In my more
lucid moments if pushed I would have told you that Anthony Mundine
was an excellent player and to break him psychologically on the field
would give my team a match winning edge. I would also have told you
that in no way was my booing of Mundine racist. I would have believed
it when i told you that too, but 20 years later i can now understand
that what I resented was an unaustralian (as i saw it) way of
relating to fans, players and sponsors in professional sport. I
disliked him because he didn't act like a product of my culture where
humility is valued in its Sportsmen.
Men like
Mark Taylor, Peter Sterling and even Sir Donald Bradman were grounded
in this more humble culture. When Mundine came along saying I'm the
greatest play-maker in the world, I found him offensive.
She Called him What?
The current
controversy surrounding Adam Goodes is driving the media into a
frenzy. I think we need to take a step back and get some context.
In 2013
during the Australian Football League's (AFL) Indigenous round, Adam
Goodes (playing for the Sydney Swans) was called an ape by a 13 year
old female supporter of Carlton. Goodes told officials what had
happened and pointed the fan out. She was subsequently ejected from
the arena. This news report from the seven network shows the
incident.
The
perpetrator of the abuse was indeed a 13 year old girl. Goodes gave a
thoughtful and heartfelt press conference the next day. He said he
did not blame her, but that society needed to be educated.
The
Collingwood fan did call him after the press conference as he
announced on twitter
"Just
received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions.
Lets support her please#racismitstopswithme #IndigenousRound
"
- Adam Goodes (@adamroy37) May 25, 2013
So what
should Goodes have done? Should he indeed have called out the racist
taunt or ignored it? Many Australians feel he should have ignored the
girl because she was so young. He even admitted that she could not
have understood how the taunt would be understood by him.
To that I
say BULLSHIT! Should minorities all over Australia be subject to
racism because people don't know any better? Of course not. It doesn't
matter if you are 13 or 93, racism is wrong and should be called out.
To ignore
the girl would be to accept the status quo. To call her out would be
to cause considerable trouble for her on that night, but remember she
did call him an ape. That is a clearly racist statement.
The problem
for Goodes though is that he tripped one of the unconscious nerves
in white Australia's subconscious. That of the black man dominating
the white woman. To make it worse she was 13, not even a woman.
That's how it started.
So from
then on Goodes was booed whenever he touched the ball. He was called
a sook, because he couldn't take being called names.
This year
during the AFL's indigenous round (the jerseys, the ball, etc were
all themed Aboriginal) Goodes was receiving boos from the Carlton
supporters. So after he kicked an aboriginal themed ball through an
aboriginal themed goal wearing an aboriginal themed jersey he did an
aboriginal themed wardance as celebration. Here's the video:
EVERYONE
LOSES THEIR MIND!!!!
What ever
happened to sport as entertainment! That was awesomely entertaining
and in the best tradition of crowd/player interaction. Frankly I
wouldn't have been surprised if Goodes had walked up to the TV camera
at the end of the match and yelled "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!!"
Now Goodes
isn't the first sportsman or woman to have a go at the crowd after
scoring a goal, but of course as the 1st aboriginal player
to do so, Goodes tripped another unconscious nerve. The angry black
man.
Australia
tends to be a tolerant and accepting society, minority figures are
embraced and loved. People like Christine Anu, Ernie Dingo, Ahn Doe,
to name just a few. However that minority figure must not question
the status quo. Minorities should be grateful for the country we
provide for them.
Of
course that the riches we enjoy were indeed hard won, they were hard
won from another people. Those people are still here, and when they
(the aboriginal people) remind us of that fact, and that they have a
powerful, distinct, ancient culture white Australia loses the plot.
So Adam
Goodes is an (unconsciously scary) sook. He needs to calm down and
stop bullying the Carlton supporters and that poor white girl.
Bullshit.
White
Australia has 228 years of keeping the black man down. white Australia systematically dispossessed and then ethnically cleansed black Australia. white Australia attempted genocide. Frankly
Aboriginal Australia has been more forgiving than we would be under
the same circumstances.
Herein lies
the problem for white Australia. Many in this country find it
difficult to come to terms with the genocide perpetrated by our
ancestors on Mr Goodes ancestors. It's a difficult journey.
It's a
journey that I 20 years ago on the sidelines at Kogarah Oval booing
Anthony Mundine had not yet embarked on. It's why one half of white
australia looks at the other half and says "stop being so goddam
racist" while the other half who haven't made the journey yet
look back in horror and say: "I'm not racist, the big scary
black man threatened me". They don't understand their own
triggers.
One final
thing, if you are hit by Adam Goodes imaginary spear, lie still until
the imaginary paramedics come to your aid and take you to imaginary
hospital.
YA BUNCH OF SOOKS!
A.Russell
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