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I hope Adam Goodes plays at the weekend to demonstrate that the redneck racists who boo him at games will never win. I have locked this thread because it has well and truly run its course. If you boo Adam and think you're not a racist, that's your prerogative but it has been made abundantly clear that he and other indigenous players are more than upset at the behaviour and that it clearly stems from elements among those who are booing that are racially motivated. Unfortunately, too many people are using this thread to justify boorish behaviour that quite frankly has no part in our society in the 21st Century and certainly has no part in a site supporting a club which has a rich heritage of indigenous players within its ranks.

I was at the Hawthorn/Sydney game up in Sydney the other week. To hear a whole segment of the crowd booing in full voice when nothing particularly interesting was happening (I actually asked "Huh, what did I miss? An interchange penalty?")... it was chilling. It was really chilling. And then it just kept happening all game. Stephen Milne wasn't booed this much, whether for being a general pest or while pending a court appearance over an alleged rape of a teenager. Jason Akermanis never got booed this much, despite being a full time [censored]. Spider Everitt wasn't booed this much even while in the act of grinding his forearm into Simon Godfrey's throat. James bloody Hird hasn't been booed even close to this much, not even by Essendon fans. The core group pushing the booing of Goodes is, unambiguously, racist. Whatever you're personal feelings about any other merits or flaws of his, it's time to just say "Nup, I can't be in on this." If you like, you can take a moment to get angry at the racist mob who have taken the fun out of booing a player you don't like. This is how racism makes absolutely everything worse for absolutely everyone.

Listening to Melbourne radio callers on the Goodes situation just confirms my beliefs that this country is full of racists. The number of callers who are making excuses for this booing is just ridiculous. If you bother to call up and make an an excuse to continue booing Goodes....your a racist! If you continue to boo Goodes after all this your both a racist and a A grade idiot. FFS.....this country needs to grow up

Make the banner a holographic video instead of running through paper and sticky tape. Better for the environment and the creativity is endless.

I’ve said this before on another thread sometime but I’ll say it again since you seem to be making a virtue of repetition on this topic: there’s nothing more politically correct than accusing someone else of political correctness. If you want to silence objections to your opinions then do so by producing something like a reasoned or empirically supported argument. Merely tossing accusations of political correctness isn’t and oughtn't be a way of fielding objections to anything you’ve got to say. As for the Goodes situation, here’s a proposition for you (it’s actually no more than an extension on what others, like Hardtack and Goffy have already pointed out): it is absolutely clear that a portion (and none of us knows exactly how small or large that portion is) of the crowd at match after match has taken to booing Goodes for entirely racist reasons. Some other portion appears to join in for perhaps a whole range of grievances they believe they’re entitled to hold against Goodes for the way he plays or played; and then, no doubt, there’s another element that gets involved because they think they’re being funny or it will put Goodes off and help their own team. The problem is that these other booers are now giving both cover and comfort to the racists and they really need to start recognising that this is what they’re doing or they too will, perhaps should, find themselves implicated in the racist behaviour since giving succour to racists isn’t all that far from racism itself. I’m pretty sure some people have already reached that conclusion but it worries me that this is all heading in another far too polarised direction. If everyone who’s inclined to boo for whatever other reasons they’ve got just decided to desist for a while it would leave the racists standing on their own and exposed, and no doubt they'd shut up pretty quickly. The AFL could deal with this even more efficiently, since Gillon’s already jumped on his high horse. They could take a leaf out of UEFA’s book and just close the venue for the next home game for the Eagles or whatever other team’s crowd might get itself involved in booing that the AFL doesn’t think is acceptable. But I won’t hold my breath for them to put principle before profit.

I think most supporters agree that Roos was the right man to galvanise the club at the time. But some, like Scoop, sheet home nearly all of the blame to the players. Perhaps they think he's got the most out of the group and that they're performing at the level they should be - at prerequisite levels. I can't agree. I believe they're performing below expectations and that the game-plan is either too complicated, or deficient. In the preseason there was evidence they were going to use the corridor more and focus on faster ball movement. Clearly, this was short lived. Either the players can't follow instruction or the message isn't getting through. Ultimately, this falls at the feet of the coach. The boys from Champion Data show that Melbourne start their attacks from near the last line of defence. Simon Goodwin acknowledged this a few weeks ago in a prematch interview and stated we wanted to start attacks from near the middle of the ground. It's not happening. I acknowledge we have talent deficiencies, who doesn't, but I also see a club like the Dogs, who sacked their coach and CEO, had their captain walk out, and lost their best mid with a knee. Are their talent levels so superior to ours, or do they have an easier to understand and implement game-plan ? The answer seems obvious to me. Roos may not want to coach like Beveridge, I get that, but I also remember him in year 1 stating that by round 6 supporters should start seeing what type of footy we were going to play. Yeah, I see it and it's unedifying. Roos would rightly accept the accolades if we were winning. Conversely, it's a nonsense to absolve him of criticism when nearly 2 years in we're regularly seeing performances like the weekend.

I have no doubt that a lot of people who are booing are racist, another good chunk are just doing it as they know it annoys him but then there are also people who just don't like the man and boo him for that. All top players have copped boos at some point in time. My issue at the moment is that anyone who boos is considered racist, no matter what their actual reason is. My mate is a sydney supporter and he boos him, not because he is racist but for the fact that he has met Goodes on multiple occasions and he has tells me that he was rude to his wife. You can't dislike someone anymore. If they have any colour skin, religion, sexual preference that is different to yours, you cannot dislike them as you are deemed racist/homophobic etc and that has to be the reason for the dislike, not that they could be flogs/idiots/rude etc. I use an example of a woman I work with, she is rude to clients, gets messages wrong and just has a bad demeanor in the workplace, she also happens to be gay. If I voice that I don't like her, it's because I am apparently homophobic, not the fact that I believe she is just not a nice person.

What are you booing him for? It only started after he stood up for the Indigenous people of the country, no one boo'd him before hand so the only conclusion is that you are booing because he stands up for Indigenous rights. Wouldn't that be a little racist?

Roos might have made some mistakes on game day, but some of the revisionist history in this thread is ridiculous. People saying going after Roos was a mistake, the same year Neeld was sacked? The same year the club was on its knees? Spare me.

You don't like Adam goodes therefore you are racist. Good logic there mate.

Adam Goodes says things that are uncomfortable for people to hear. I don't think that the majority of people booing believe that they are racists, because they feel like the issue of indigenous rights has already been solved. The problem is that they are wrong. So, rather than confront the uncomfortable issues Goodes raises, many would rather confront Adam Goodes. Those that claim the booing is about his football (not about his stance on indigenous rights) are either willfully ignorant, or racists (even if they don't realise it).

putting rights and wrongs to one side, it's a classic case of pouring petrol on a fire you never appease an anonymous mob by further inciting them, including giving them all a convenient label

he's acted like a complete [censored]. i don't see Rioli, the Jettas, Yarren, Garlett, Betts getting booed. He's a petulant sook pulling the racist victim card. Fans can see it for what it is and hence the booing.

People love to hate Bucks but lets be honest, if he was a Demon, we would absolutely love that guy

The DOgs were a basket case at the end of last year. They lost their CEo their coach and their Captain. They booted out Higgins and a bunch of others wanted out. No one wanted to go there and coaches pulled out of interviews because they didn't want to kill their career, PLease don't tell me they were well ahead of us. Its simply not true. What they have done is nothing short of miraculous. I take my hat off to them. It makes our stinking club even worse that for so long we can't drag ourselves off the bottom of the [censored] heap.

It would be good to know the race of the people in this thread too, that way we can make correlations about that particular race and the comments made and use those correlations to make assumptions about all people who are of that race.

You pays your money you get to express your feelings. Wonderful thing free speech funny how some only want it when it suits them.

Roos has greatly assisted in transforming this club for the better. His legacy will live on for a long time. This thread's ridiculous.

Bring back the priority pick. I believe the "Melbourne tanked" debacle and consequent angst towards us by all and sundry with the overall sentiment being "they don't deserve a priority pick" made it easy for the AFL and those with vested interests (the powerful clubs) to take it away. I was surprised and disappointed at the lack of support for one of the enjoyable idiosyncrasies of the draft that added a bit of spice for those supporters who had had to endure a poor year of performance on the field. One question that was rarely asked in the debate that conspired against Melbourne was did we actually deserve a priority pick. Clearly the answer was yes. I know people also said that teaching a footy club to lose games goes against the grain and creates a poor culture and I think Melbourne were definitely guilty of those sins. In fact Melbourne were pretty bad at everything they did. Maybe they still are. But even so the priority pick was never intended for such lowly purposes or to give incentive to poorly performing teams to perform even poorer. It was intended to even up the fortunes of the teams on the field in the coming seasons. To create a cycle that allows teams the opportunity to rise back up the ladder irrespective of whether they were a crap club that would blow the chance anyway. Eventually if they keep getting draft assistance they will rise. GWS are proof of that. Remember this is based on the correct presumption that if your team rises up the ladder you can achieve a much better off field result as well. Obviously it was abused and the criteria for receiving the priority pick needed reviewing but I think it was a mistake to scrap it, or indeed put it at the discretion of the AFL. What with umpiring and the MRP you can guarantee they'll get that wrong. Melbourne have been down the bottom for far too long. Its no good for anyone. The AFL isn't robust enough to sustain a club that performs as badly as we have over the past decade. If we remain in the bottom four next year we would have to consider folding. People suggested we got paid overs for Frawley leaving last year. I certainly don't. If the power clubs can take a KPS leading player from a bottom 4 club in his prime at about 25 and lose nothing themselves, the only restriction being to fit him in the salary cap then the bottom 4 club has been given a massive disadvantage. Massive. If Brisbane or Carlton go through a decade similar to our last decade the drain on the competition will be enormous. I think this way because I can't see us ever getting back on an even footing with the more powerful clubs. I don't believe we can get there without help. I know some people hate the idea of a welfare system but they better get used to the bottom 4.

he doesn't love you

I just cannot accept all the Roos criticism. You can't just fluke a premiership. His Sydney team were famous for their consistency, their adherence to the game plan, their "buy in" to their coach's message and their intensity out on the field. The bloke is a fantastic leader and he knows how to coach. I also cannot accept the comments from those who suggest he is just a mercenary and doesn't really care about the club. What are they basing this on - his press conferences? Roos is a master at handling the press. He doesn't want to inflame the situation by getting angry and singling out players in public. He is too smart for this. He would do it all behind closed doors and out of the public eye. If you would prefer a coach that rants and raves and brings unwanted publicity then go hire a hothead - for me, I would take Roos' ability to stay measured and level-headed in a press conference every day of the week. Now that's not to say there haven't been tactical errors. The loose man against Collingwood, the last 41 seconds against St Kilda, overuse of the footy in our defensive half of the ground yesterday...I can accept that there have been tactical errors. However, as I said after the Essendon game, the reason for our woeful performances is the mental fragility of our players and our overall lack of class. In other words, it's the players. We cannot consistently bring our intensity week-to-week. When we bring it, and match the opposition in the contest and tackles, we can compete with most teams from about 6th down to 18th. We might and probably will lose out on class but if one of those teams is slightly off, like Richmond, Geelong and the Dogs were, we can snatch an upset. However, when we don't bring it, given our skill/class levels are terribly low, we get shown up by even lowly teams like Essendon and St Kilda. Hawthorn can be off their intensity and still win out on the back of their class. When you are a team devoid of class like us, your attitude and intensity must be 100% to be able to compete. People criticise our defensive game plan but what difference would an attacking one make. Based on the current skill level of the team, not much at all. We still have chances to score but we kick inaccurately (21.40 the last three weeks). We butcher the inside 50m kick. We start a chain of possession from half back and turn it over. All of this affects our ability to score and it all comes down to skill, not the game plan. Even when we are on top in games, our lack of class means we can't convert the dominance on the scoreboard. Who currently gives us drive and precision kicking off half back? I can only think of Salem and he's out injured. Who gives us sheer pace and run and carry through the middle? Who nails targets with inside 50 kicks? Who other than a first-year player is a viable marking option inside 50? This is why we struggle to score. We need players that are both desperate and aggressive and have the requisite level of skill. We simply don't have enough. And we will continue to be a poor footy team until we get them (and the young talent that we have who do display these attributes fully develop).

Feel free to point out where i made those quotes in your signature also. I'll give you a thousand dollars if you can prove I wrote them. I thought Mitch Clark was your fave sensitive tough guy. Now you are a Goodes man. Strumpet.

LOL you are delusional mate I boo Goodes for the same reason I boo Brent Harvey. Youre a fool for labeling everyone a racist Its a disgrace actually, and you are much worse than those you claim are racist

This is not about Goodes. It's about middle Australia taking a stand against political correctness being relentlessly foisted upon them when they have personally felt they've done nothing wrong. And if making deeply hurtful noises at an indigenous football player is their form of protest then that is why we have political correctness being foisted upon them.

Goodes, and the PC media are fueling this fire. I don't like the man for being so precious, and boo him. I also booed Stephen Milne for other reasons and Lloyd for his habitual diving . I boo Selwood for being a cheat, Harvey for being a sniper etc etc. PS they are white.

Gee I boo umpires, I must be racist against little green maggots....

Lol, who knew Simon Godfrey had such league wide appeal.

I've had my say, I don't like the booing and I don't think it is fair but neither is labeling someone a racist without knowing their true motivation for booing.

And what exactly did he do in the political arena that made him a prat? Stand up for his people? Bring up historical fact? Provide organisational support for the Aboriginal community? Yeah, what a prat hey...

I think I know what you are getting at but I don't think it follows age lines.

There is no doubt racism associated with the booing of Adam Goodes, but it is also because he is a Rooster Smoker of the highest order. With that said, multiple players are boo'd for varying reasons and i remember reading one article drawing attention to the fact that Heritier was boo'd against collingwood and how it was further evidence of racism in sport. The fact that this issue is continually having attention drawn to it, Essendon players, namely Jobe Watson, were boo'd last year most of the year and it was worse over in WA, i remember him even leaving the ground crying. Booing of Mitch Clark happened earlier in the year and umpires every game. People are getting on their high horse about one player also suggests a tone of casual racism in the fact that he should be exempt due to race.

I have no doubt that the majority of people booing him do it because he is a divisive figure and often times a bit of a [censored]. A small percentage of those people probably do it because they are racist. However, to say that 'If you boo Adam, you are racist' is bloody ridiculous. How many other indigenous or players of other race get booed in the league? Anyway, there's no doubt that he is a great footballer and has done a lot of good for a lot of people. Not quite deserving of an Australian of the year award though in my book.

Our captain has regressed back to his selfish ways of wanting that stupid little handball running behind the player with the ball. Twice he actually ran in front of the player with the ball forcing him to stop as he would have kicked it into Jones. The problem is in grained and Roos can't break it. We have stupid, selfish players. No blocks, they would rather run next to them for the possession stat.

In no certain order. Not creative but simply what we must do and that (i'm sure) every other team does, or at least most of them. 1. give a damn. 2. relish your opportunities to play football professionally. 3. be hungry for every contest. 4. go first, don't wait for others. 5. know your deficiencies and work on them, in your own time if need be. 6. think/care for/about your supporters 7. aim to win not just to be competitive. 8. care for your team mates, and play for one another. 9. be embarrassed, and learn from it. Shame has a place as an emotion. 10. build your own team's legacy/history/reputation (positive) 11. listen to your coaches, trainers, leaders, parents, team mates etc.

Our average over the last 3 weeks is 48.33 inside 50s. The league average is 50.6, so we cannot say the last three weeks represents a lack of volume of scoring opportunities. However, we have only kicked 7 goals instead of the average of 12.4. This is partly because we have been kicking badly, but moreso because we are bombing it into congested packs, often in spots where scoring is difficult from, even if the contest isn't completely nullified in the first place (hence lots of behinds). Why in God's name are we wasting the superb marking/goalkicking talent that is Hogan, and the textbook freak crumber that is Garlett, by bombing it in there to packs of 8-10 players, often way out on the boundary, creating totally useless entries that are easily killed? Why can't we play a super basic, super traditional forward setup that is designed to give Hogan and Garlett as many prime, uncongested opportunities as possible? Just clear out the 50 and make everyone know that the idea is to find this pair in prime goalkicking position every single time we go inside 50. - 4 of our 6 forwards are stationed about 65 metres from goal at all times, leaving the 50 totally clear except for: - Hogan and Garlett, who start way inside the goal square. They stay there at all costs until: - Any other player has the ball and is ready to kick from 60-65 metres away from the goal line. It doesn't matter how the ball got to that position or who exactly has it, this is what their instructions are. - When this midfielder/HF is gearing up to kick inside, Hogan bolts straight up the field to the hotspot 25-30 metres from the goal line, Garlett is to be nowhere else but directly front and centre of Hogan. - Whoever has the ball knows this is exactly where Hogan will be leading and therefore he passes it a distance of 30-40 metres low and hard trying to Hogan on the chest. It doesn't matter if this player is right on the boundary 50 metres out, he centres the kick to that prime position. It doesn't matter if he is under so much pressure that he can't even see the hotspot and needs to snap it checkside out of a pack, he will know exactly where to put it. If somebody else has it at CHB they can kick it 60 if they want and hit Hoges about 40 out. This automatically we move faster because nobody is umming and ahhing trying to workout where to give it, handballing backwards etc just kick it to the hotspot son! All roads lead to the hotspot! - Every other player is to stay OUT of the 50 while this is going on, don't charge in there dragging your opponent and creating congestion. Just stay out and be ready to rebound it straight back in should Hogan/Garlett be unsucessful and the enemy is rebounding - they will then have their OWN wall of congestion to get through, on our HF line. -The kick goes to Hulk at the hotspot - As he always does, if he doesn't take the grab he will bring it to ground front and centre where the classy Garlett has a chance to snap one from dead in front 25-30 out. If Hogan does take the grab he of course has a regulation shot at goal. - If the enemy counters this by 'dropping a man in the hole' in effect, double-teaming Hogan, well that means we have an extra number somewhere around that half-forward line (say, Watts, for example) and we launch plan B. It then becomes his job to be loose and everywhere and utilise the extra man to overlap run etc and create other scoring opportunities apart from the now-nullified Hogan/Garlett pair. This will mean players like Jones and Vince will get chances to get loose and kick from around 45-50, which they have shown they can do. The enemy will then be forced to counter back by manning up that damaging loose half-forward and away we go back to plan A. Why does it seem as though so many people, coaches included, act like a spare man in defense is like the enemy having a 19th man!? Obviously if they take this tactic that means they have left one of ours unguarded, so there should always always always be a counter-attack plan to use this loose man to exploit them right back. Can you imagine 40 times a game where Hogan gets a 1-on-1 duel 30 metres from goal in front, with Garlett ready to snaffle up every loose ball the contest creates? It only relies on two basic principles - the other 16 players keeping themselves and thir opponent out of our 50 at all costs, and knowing that kicking it to the hotspot is the prime directive always. We know JH and JG are both very adept at their particular jobs. They should kick 10 between them if they have any sort of day at all and if the blokes kicking it to them at least give them some sort of delivery. Absolutely anything is better than the last 3 weeks where we have been getting a return of 1 goal per 7 entries, it's just not working. Thoughts?

I'm back od but I stumbled onto the 'Radio and football racists' thread. It looked very dangerous in there so am seeking refuge back here with just the angst of my football team to deal with.

This idea that the booing only starting since the war dance is a false narrative. it started early 2013 and intensified late last year after the dive against Richmond.

So if an indigenous bloke in the crowd was booing a white player, is that racist?

Scary how much the world is going old Orwell and no one even sees it. PC = the distortion of facts to fit a comfortable or preferred narrative

I reckon he gets booed because he speaks out. Good on him for that. The people who boo him are the same sort of rednecks who booed Mohammed Ali for the same reason.

oh please, this thread needs closing as it is going to spiral into even more BS about "he's rude, he's a diver, he whinges, he didn't deserve AOY". God help us if this is where the mentality is still at in this country.....plain and simple, if you stand at the ground like a pathetic sheep and boo this guy, you are either a redneck simpleton or a racist. To claim that a crowd full of opposition supporters would waste their time standing up and booing for any other reason is absolute shizen and you all know it.

Whatever they want to call it, I think the booing is childish...

I guess the OP was directed at you then, quality stuff Munga

Dear Melbourne, this is what Adam Oxley looks like:

Dawes should never pull on the red and blue jumper again.

i expext f<ck all, & i get it every week.

I just see no good coming out of this CONSTANT reference to the past bogging everyone down. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. "I don't want to mention it but..." So don't then. Prefacing your statement with that doesn't make a difference. You're talking about it. Continually. So stop doing it. It's just deflection at this point. Talk about where things went wrong on the weekend and what you're doing to fix them. That's your job. There was a lot of talk pre-season about a greater attacking intent this year. That has been a pretty dismal failure. Why? What are you doing to fix it? Supporters don't meltdown over a loss. They meltdown over a largely non-competitive loss against a fellow developing side. And rightly so. We need to have moved past performances like we saw on the weekend. Roos was asked if the development is real. He used it to bring up the past. Again. It's disappointing.

To resemble a properly functioning football team without collectively dropping into putrid form for 3 consecutive weeks or more

Finally. I just don't get the hate for Michie. He has played 5 games, 3 as sub and been dropped the next week. He has not been given much of a go. And yet people on here expect miracles from a player who has played 10.5 part games. Vanders was poo this week but I have read he "had a virus" or he had a"migraine". JKH is seen as a future star but (IN MY OPINION) he has done very little since his 3 goals in the nab cup against Richmond last year. On the weekend Roos' son got as much as JKH at Casey and he was the 23rd man. Stretch and Brayshaw are just going at the moment and are contributing very little. They both have more game experience than Michie. Interesting stat from the weekend Michie got more possessions in the last qtr than anyone else on the ground. Give the poor bloke a break and play him a few games in a row.

Don't think this is the case any more Nasher for the majority and the knowledgable suporters We have been through so much and seen the team on to many occassions respond for 1 week only, they become content with themselves it is an ingrained culture amongst the playing group Roosy gat a grace period and whilst we can see small improvement and the players we moved on (barring Martin) have done little to suggest we were wrong for moving them on, The players we brought in generally showed more potential and improvement in the side. However taking this all into account teh fact that we still can't string 2 wins together is just to much to take, it is not like we haven't had opportunities to do so Suns & GWS Round 1 & 2 Bulldogs & Port Round 8 & 9 Saints & Cats Round 11 & 12 Essendon, Brisbane & Saints Round 15, 16 & 17 The team group has been found wanting in all of the above gone missing, expected the usual suspect to do the job, no leadership. Even in those games we had the opportunity to get the two in a row. Basic mistakes made by a so called professional team leading into and during these games we were comfortably in the lead in two of those games and became complacent which is so common for this team Nobody stood up and stopped the run ons in the GWS and Port games or teh Bombers in the 3rd quarter nobody on the ground realised there was only 40 secs left (FMD the security were out around the ground and there had been SFA goals scored) in the Saints game at Etihad no leader stood up and nailed opportunities against the Bombers when we had them on the ropes and doubting themselves in the 4th No leader yesterday realised in the conditions it wasn't a day for run and carry with handball after handball These are basics in leadership and even now into our third rebuild we continue to disapoint our members. I advocated a few weeks ago and will again that should we win our next game we do not sing teh song because we will have accomplished little until we put two together. We have imporved but other sides improve quicker and that is what irks the majority of our supporters