A brilliant article - Adam Goodes showed us the festering sores of Australia's history can rip open at any moment

And this one, focused on his playing career is good - Retiring Adam Goodes leaves a hole that only the truly great can fill

Henrietta, your earlier post was disgraceful.

WJ was right to delete it, wrong to not boot you off the site.

Explain how it was disgraceful....it wasn't racist.

Explain how it was disgraceful....it wasn't racist.

It was deleted for a reason.

It was very racist (the last line), you can PM me if you want to discuss it further.

Greg Baume piece in the Age covers it well - though he's not Robinson Crusoe.

"Boo-gans."

Nice one Greg.

please ..i rate you.. dont be so naive to the reality of political doctrine.

Goodes was convenient.

even if the rabbott used him as a political footy, for the Lib's benefit, Goodsey still thoroughly deserved his nomination... he does our Indigenous peoples, & this nation very proud.

My favourite Goodes moment

Is it really that hard to work out??

Some people obviously have to smash their own heads hard into a brick wall before the imformation gets through OD

Anyway i am sure it will reply again only because rhat is what it does....

..... just one thing SWYL, just one thing. The game didn't giver Goodes'y his fame, he took it via becoming a strong player who dominated for a period of time, & the people took him into their hearts. respect...

& now sadly, he is miss understood, for his recent actions. This is the sad thing, but he's now taken on a bigger challenge than footy. Changing peoples perceptions, from their fixed thinking on some home grown issues.

Adam Goodes is now to some, but will truly come to historically represent the most iconic figure in Australian Rules Football since Tom Wills as the nominated creator of the game.

As a man of both Indigenous and Colonial heritage, in a game which by many is considered to have some roots in the Indigenous game of Marngrook filtered through a British sporting awareness, he perfectly harmonised those two influences.

As the figurehead of all that is remarkable about the percentage over-representation (~ 8 times) of indigenous players in our only indigenous national sport, he was twice awarded the best and fairest player in the land. As some have stated here, he was arguably the perfect fit for our game, and the perfect example of an indigenous talent. Skill, size, strength, speed, endurance, and durability, with a mercurial awareness and an inspirational influence on his teammates, he played for and captained the first club of the modern era, The Sydney Swans. A club from the birthplace of the game, the first to take the premier competition to the whole nation, he won two premierships with that pioneering club, and after decades without the ultimate prize.

He remained a one club player, which is still and will remain a measure of loyalty despite growing commercialisation.

He was awarded Australian Of The Year for everything that he unconsciously represents (sorry stuie, but footy is at the heart of his award, and rightfully so) and has chosen to represent.

Make no mistake, Adam Goodes is monumental to and exemplary of everything that this game is, and strives to be.

It's our privilege that we saw him play and create history.

thanks Webber for righting that great piece. it highlights much that has been so easily forgotten, through the long course of Adams fantastic career.

he is a great Australian.

.

This board has been used for general AFL topics for a very long time without any objections I'm aware of. The has been running for 4 years! And yet it's this thread you object to. I get it.

yep, & I haven't been involved reading that "No T$ No B$ Thread" since its original early times, & I went back recently to make a comment, & got chased out, I was so wrong, because that thread had changed, from what I thought it still was.

the easy answer is, don't go in there blzb.

My favourite Goodes moment

He did the same thing to Simon Godfrey when he was being beaten pointless( yes, Godfrey killed him, and Robert Harvey, and Mark Riccutto).

A brilliant article - Adam Goodes showed us the festering sores of Australia's history can rip open at any moment

This could not have been better put. Congratulations to Stan Grant with whose views I don't always agree but he has it the mark with this one.

On 24 May 2013 Adam Goodes, assimilated Aboriginal man, came face to face with a bigotry rooted in the Australian imagination.

It came from a 13-year-old girl but it echoed from a darker time, in attitudes formed about Aboriginal people at first glance. Here were a people, to 18th-century European eyes, barely human. My ancestors were at best deemed the lowest rung on civilisations ladder.

There are mixed reports on whether Adam Goodes will join the retiring players motorcade on GF day.

Everyone, especially the image conscious AFL, is afraid that he will be booed which would be a sad blight on the game and on many Australians at the game. So they may not try to hard to get him there.

Carro game up with a great suggestion last night on how to avoid the risk of booing: Put Chris Judd in the car in front of Adam. (She mentioned someone esle equally famous for the car behind but I didn't catch it). Altho if WC fans are there en mass they would probably boo anyway.

He is a proud Australian from a persecuted minority who has reached the pinnacle our sport and our country can give.

In a motorcade there would be only one reason to boo him and it isn't pretty.

At the end of the day, it is Adam's call.

He deserves to leave football with a final appearance at the mighty MCG with cheers ringing in his ears.

Edit: I think Carro's suggestion for the car behind Adam was Dustin Fletcher...not sure

Edited September 21, 201510 yr by Lucifer's Hero

There are mixed reports on whether Adam Goodes will join the retiring players motorcade on GF day.

Everyone, especially the image conscious AFL, is afraid that he will be booed which would be a sad blight on the game and on many Australians at the game. So they may not try to hard to get him there.

Carro game up with a great suggestion last night on how to avoid the risk of booing: Put Chris Judd in the car in front of Adam. (She mentioned someone esle equally famous for the car behind but I didn't catch it). Altho if WC fans are there en mass they would probably boo anyway.

He is a proud Australian from a persecuted minority who has reached the pinnacle our sport and our country can give.

In a motorcade there would be only one reason to boo him and it isn't pretty.

At the end of the day, it is Adam's call.

He deserves to leave football with a final appearance at the mighty MCG with cheers ringing in his ears.

If he doesn't go the afl should do a video tribute and play it on the big screens. This is their opportunity to make a real statement.

hmm thread hasn't been locked yet

are dlanders getting soft or are the pc mods doing mad monday?

If he doesn't go the afl should do a video tribute and play it on the big screens. This is their opportunity to make a real statement.

Great idea 'binman'...with the '1812' or the 'William Tell' playing loudly across the ground so that any idiots that decide to boo will be drowned out!

As early stated - a champion for a long period time but not without blemishes ( fined $1000 in his last game for kicking at Thompson.)

This does not diminish his accomplishments on field - he is a champion of the game - as was the likes of Matthews and Carey who were also not squeaky clean.

His off field accomplishments are a matter of personal opinion. Whether he would have had such a "voice" if not for AFL football to me is a moot point. We will never know. I would rather recognise what he has achieved both on and off the field and say well done.

A PRICE FOR BEING ADAM GOODES by Whispering Jack

Adam Goodes first came to my notice during the TAC Cup finals of 1997. It was a year in which Melbourne, having performed miserably, had finished last and was about to receive the first pick in the AFL Draft. The 17 year old Goodes starred for the North Ballarat Rebels kicking six goals in a best on ground performance against the Dandenong Stingrays. All eyes that day had been on Travis Johnstone, a Stingray player described as the "Rolls Royce" of that year's draft pool.

I was overseas in New York at the time of the draft, the internet was just starting to take off and there was nowhere to simply log on and find out who was selected. It took until we embarked on the Qantas flight from LA and I was offered a copy of a day old Australian newspaper that I finally discovered that Melbourne got the Roller and I was equally surprised that Goodes had been drafted by Sydney with a pick as low as No. 43 overall - their third round draft pick.

It was an inspired selection but also a clever one. In those days, clubs could only select one 17 year old player. The Swans had selected Jason Saddington with their first pick and waited for others to make their selections, allowing them to take the last of the 17 year olds with such a low choice.

It was another year and a half before Goodes would make his debut senior appearance after spending 1998 in the reserves. When he finally made his debut, he quickly leapt ahead of the rest of the pack of his young contemporaries and in the end outlasted all of them (Chad Cornes who retired two years ago came closest to him in longevity). He was the last Rising Star of the last century and he went on to hold an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, dual premiership player, four-time All-Australian and a member of the Indigenous Team of the Century. He also holds the record for the most games played for an Indigenous player - 372 games. He also kicked 464 goals and his playing achievements include:-

* 2 AFL Premierships (2005, 2012)
* 2 Brownlow Medals (2003, 2006)
* 3 Bob Skilton Medals (2003, 2006, 2011)
* 4 times All Australian (2003, 2006, 2009, 2011)
* 3 times Sydney leading goalkicker (2009, 2010, 2011)
* AFL Rising Star 1999
* Indigenous Team of the Century

But that's not all ...

When I arrived home from the States, my family had taped the AFL's draft and when I got around to watching it, I was taken as much by the small snippets of the Goodes family as I was by Melbourne's Rolls Royce pick up and the others like Nathan Brown and Guy Rigoni who were taken with later picks and who also turned out to be good players with the Demons.

Of course, their careers all paled into insignificance next to that of Goodes, the shy awkward looking young kid whose family was a single parent family with three young boys (the father had long ago drifted away interstate).

His mother's story was one of deprivation, much like that of many of her indigenous contemporaries but how proud must Lisa May Goodes have been that day when her son Adam was chosen to play in the country's highest sporting competition?

How proud must she have been to see him achieve those many honours in the almost two decades that followed?

And how proud must she have been that her son did not stop at achieving on the football field but that he stood up for the rights of his people and was named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his community work through the Go Foundation and advocacy against racism?

We can never divorce ourselves from who we are. Adam Goodes did for his people the best that he could and much more than anyone could have expected on that day eighteen years ago when he picked to play for the Sydney Swans but he also paid a price for being Adam Goodes.

You see, we all have our flaws and the same goes for kings, prime ministers and sporting heroes. Both on and off the field, a player can do things that might not please all.

And the crowd can boo you if it likes, for the odd act or mistake that you might later regret, they can be angry that you've stood up for what you believe in, that you've achieved more in a single day than they have in their dreary, miserable lifetimes. They paid their admittance so they can even boo and then feign indignation that you had the gall to react to racism in your work place.

But when they do it constantly and incessantly and let others who do much the same and in many cases far worse off the hook, then it's something else altogether.

Goodes said the fan's offensive remarks had shocked him.

"I was just like, really? Wow could that happen?"

"I don't know if it's the lowest point in my career, but personally I've never been more hurt.

"It felt like I was in high school again being bullied. I dont think Ive ever been more hurt by someone calling me a name. Not just by what was said, by who it came from."

...

Goodes later revealed the girl had called him to apologise. He tweeted: "Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions. Lets support her please #racismitstopswithme #IndigenousRound."

The price that the Sydney Swans paid for Adam Goodes was pick 43 in a long ago national draft. They received great value for their choice.

All of us did.

Absolute gun who started a bit soft but worked really hard to develop his game. Ended up one of the best and for a period of maybe 8 years did not have an obvious weakness in his game. Ruckman, midfielder, forward, defensive, tackled, contested marking, big body, super-quick, great reader of the play... he had it all. I rate him as not the best, but probably the most complete footballer I have seen.

I was invited by my brother-in-law to a Sydney v Collingwood game at the MCG. Goodes absolutely tore up the MCG - the best game of football by an individual player I have ever seen live.

The game is less for him leaving. And I believe he was the heart and soul of the decade of achievement and success at the Swans. With him leaving they will decline slowly but surely now.

A PRICE FOR BEING ADAM GOODES by Whispering Jack

Absolute ripper of a piece, thanks for sharing it.

The Goodes Judd matchups in the mid 2000s when they were at their peak was just simply sublime to watch. Two absolute superstars going head to head!

A very Goode piece WJ.

I hope he does take his rightful spot on GF day. He might just be startled by the applause

Not sure where to put this story but this seems a good place

Caro is reporting that the 'Indigenous Round' will be renamed after Sir Douglas Nicholls. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-indigenous-round-set-to-be-renamed-after-sir-doug-nicholls-20150923-gjtafn.html

It is quite amazing that he achieved so much given the norms of the day. Or maybe it is amazing that he achieved any of these given the norms of the day!

Here is an extract from his Wikipedia page:

• 1957 – appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
• 1962 – chosen by the Father's Day Council of Australia as Victoria's Father of the Year for "outstanding leadership in youth and welfare work and for the inspired example he set the community in his unfailing efforts to further the cause of the Australian Aborigine".
• 1968 – promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
• 1968 – met Pope Paul VI at the Ecumenical Conference held in Melbourne.
• 1970 – among Victorians invited guests to greet Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Australia.
• 1972 – became the first Aboriginal person to be knighted (Knight Bachelor^[18]) and he and his wife Gladys travelled to London to receive that honour.
• 1973 – appointed King of Moomba.^[19]
• 1976 - appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Aboriginal person appointed to vice-regal office.
• 1977 – appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)^[20]
• 1991 – the Canberra suburb of Nicholls was named after him
• the new chapel of Northern Community Church of Christ in Preston is named after him.
• 2006 – to commemorate the centenary of his birth, a statue of Nicholls, one-and-a-half times life size, was approved for the Parliament Gardens, beside the Parliament of Victoria;^[21] it was officially opened in December 2007^[22] and was the first statue of an Aboriginal erected in Victoria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Nicholls

He didn't get the honour of Australian of the Year but that would only be because it hadn't been invented.

This is a good step in the right direction for the AFL.

Not sure where to put this story but this seems a good place

Caro is reporting that the 'Indigenous Round' will be renamed after Sir Douglas Nicholls. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-indigenous-round-set-to-be-renamed-after-sir-doug-nicholls-20150923-gjtafn.html

It is quite amazing that he achieved so much given the norms of the day. Or maybe it is amazing that he achieved any of these given the norms of the day!

Here is an extract from his Wikipedia page:

• 1957 – appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
• 1962 – chosen by the Father's Day Council of Australia as Victoria's Father of the Year for "outstanding leadership in youth and welfare work and for the inspired example he set the community in his unfailing efforts to further the cause of the Australian Aborigine".
• 1968 – promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
• 1968 – met Pope Paul VI at the Ecumenical Conference held in Melbourne.
• 1970 – among Victorians invited guests to greet Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Australia.
• 1972 – became the first Aboriginal person to be knighted (Knight Bachelor^[18]) and he and his wife Gladys travelled to London to receive that honour.
• 1973 – appointed King of Moomba.^[19]
• 1976 - appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Aboriginal person appointed to vice-regal office.
• 1977 – appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)^[20]
• 1991 – the Canberra suburb of Nicholls was named after him
• the new chapel of Northern Community Church of Christ in Preston is named after him.
• 2006 – to commemorate the centenary of his birth, a statue of Nicholls, one-and-a-half times life size, was approved for the Parliament Gardens, beside the Parliament of Victoria;^[21] it was officially opened in December 2007^[22] and was the first statue of an Aboriginal erected in Victoria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Nicholls

He didn't get the honour of Australian of the Year but that would only be because it hadn't been invented.

This is a good step in the right direction for the AFL.

Being King of Moomba really doesn't stack up in that list of acheivments. Almost seems an insult.

Being King of Moomba really doesn't stack up in that list of acheivments. Almost seems an insult.

spoilsport