Melbourne: It was supposed to be a weekend honouring Australia’s indigenous community and its contribution to Australian rules football both on and off the field. Instead, a 13-year-old girl’s racist comment directed at one of the sport’s top Aboriginal stars created more headlines than any goal-kicker’s exploits in the Australian Football League.
Adam Goodes, a two-time title winner with the Sydney Swans and twice winner of the league’s most valuable player award, the Brownlow Medal, was left visibly upset after a racial taunt from the young spectator at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Sydney beat Collingwood 15.12 (102) to 8.7 (55) Friday in the opening match of the AFL’s Indigenous Round after Goodes kicked three goals and had 30 possessions. The round coincided with national Sorry Day on Sunday, which acknowledged the historical mistreatment of Aboriginal people in Australia. Goodes left the field shaking his head late in the match after pointing to the girl in a Collingwood jumper, and the supporter was led from the venue by security staff. More than 65,000 attended the match.
“To come to the boundary line and to hear a 13-year-old girl call me an ape, and it’s not the first time on the footy field I’ve been referred to as a monkey or an ape, it was shattering,” said Goodes.
Praised all weekend for his dignified reaction to the incident, Goodes urged those on social media and others not to take issue with the girl, who later apologised. “She’s 13 years old, still so innocent. I don’t put any blame on her,” Goodes said. “Unfortunately it’s what she hears and the environment that she’s grown up in has made her think that it’s OK to call people names.”
He said he was convinced the girl would have no idea how calling somebody such a name would make them feel. “Unfortunately it cut me deep and affected me so much that I couldn’t even be on the ground to celebrate a victory and to celebrate the Indigenous Round,” Goodes said.
Later Saturday, Goodes said the girl had telephoned him to apologise. “Just received a phone call from a young girl apologising for her actions. Let’s support her please,” Goodes tweeted.
Two incidents of racial abuse were also reported at AFL matches in late April, including one involving North Melbourne’s Sudanese-born Majak Daw. Television reports said Daw, who escaped to Australia with his family from civil wars in Sudan, was racially abused by a Hawthorn supporter during a match at the MCG.
Earlier this month, the AFL said some of its top players would be asked to deliver personal appeals to fans to stop verbally abusing players during games, with those pleas potentially being broadcast before each game on scoreboards at all venues.
On Sunday, Hawthorn trailed by 11 at half-time but rebounded with a third-quarter spurt for an 18.10 (118) to 14.8 (92) win over the Gold Coast Suns, moving them back into first place with 32 points. In matches Saturday, six goals by spearhead Tom Hawkins helped Geelong beat Port Adelaide 18.8 (116) to 9.14 (68), leaving the Cats in second place behind Hawthorn on percentages.
Essendon was in third place after a 13.13 (91) to 9.8 (62) win over Richmond, while Carlton won its fifth match in nine starts, beating Brisbane 13.20 (98) to 12.13 (85). Elsewhere, the Western Bulldogs rallied for a nine-point win over St. Kilda, 17.8 (110) to 15.11 (101), only their second win in nine matches this year. And the West Coast Eagles beat the last-place Greater Western Sydney Giants 23.17 (155) to 8.7 (55) after leading by 66 points at half-time.