rpfc

Nah, they are doing it to support a mate. Sounds pretty Australian to me - whichever way you define Australian...

Supporting a mate. At some point, you don't get to decide when others take offence at something.

Well, that's a depressing reaction...

Not really a problem in Australia... I don't mean to be glib but the Indigenous race has seen the opposite - successive colonies and governments have attempted to do preserve the white race over any other. I don't want to open up a can of worms but if someone else does, I don't mind getting my hands in there.

Can I just point out that this is the tightrope I have been trying to walk for days - people from both sides want to push you either way - and of course I don't agree that it is entirely race based. Another gross generalisation is that all booing is racially based whish is the asinine argument that I am seeing everywhere as a way of ignoring all of this talk.

Please take this the best way possible is what I would say to all Dees fans who think that this is unnecessary. Nev and co. evidently think it is and at some point - others don't get to say it isn't.

From 2013? I can barely remember the lead up to that...

I don't really identify with that P-man - I don't want to have these discussions with my friends on FB. I don't feel the need to bait anyone or prove I am more enlightened than the next disingenuous white fella. I simply don't like the arguments that people are using to base their hatred of a bloke - the booing is a sideshow to me - aside from the fact that those people are ALSO (please note also) booing alongside those that boo Goodes, Harvey, Selwood, Lewis et al.

Spot on, CB, those piling on have ruined it for those of us who didn't like how he played the game. I was never a big fan of his - likened him to Boomer Harvey (shudder), but this has gone beyond his style of play and that is the unfortunate aspect that we are dealing with now.

Or a 13 year old girl coming to your office and calling you an 'ape'...

That Goalkeeper that said that 'Goodes should be deported' had a subsequent tweet about the previous 200 hundred years of pain that a follower brought up: "Australia said sorry, couldn't everybody move on?" ... To me, this is worse than the 'deporting' nonsense. The country apologised for the Stolen Generations - where government acted as judgment over lifestyle and culture and removed people from their families (in their best interests of course...). That apology isn't the end of racism, and the Stolen Generation isn't the sum of the calamities endured by indigenous Australians. And here we are telling them to put that inflammatory card back in their pockets when they have the gall to bring up issues that are important to them in our Democracy. The 'Race Card' is lazy, boiler plate nonsense that just tries to provide cover for racists to pass off criticism as 'whinging' or 'entitlement'... Well, I reckon the country is strong enough to discuss this - my friends haven't, I think it is about time. No, it is not ok to call someone an 'ape' and yes, I think we should change the date of Australia Day, and I applaud people that use their position to speak about things that are important to them.

I wouldn't be a disappointed or surprised if it wasn't for that game down at Mordor... And when we lose well, people on here say that is a façade - it doesn't exist. If you lose, you lose. But I have argued that there is a difference between a loss like the one we had last week and the loss we had against Collingwood. I think we would be better off extolling how we played more than just the results - because what Roos is trying to do is grind out wins rather than build a style of confident footy that the players and fans can embrace.

Just explore with your mates why they boo him or don't like him. Self-reflection is a good thing and if you, or your friends come up with some non-paper thin arguments or veiled racism - kudos to your post-racial dislike of a person. Have that discussion.

We blew through expectations against Geelong - raised them through the stratosphere. And that is on Roos too. I would hazard a guess that the view of the average MFC fan prior to that game would have been a ten goal loss down at Mordor being 'par' for this team. And then that performance happened. And we went from glorious enjoyment to cold, hard expectation lift very quickly. And, again, that's fine, but don't forget that Geelong game happened and it happened under Roos' watch.

I don't want us to 'agree to disagree' and 'get on with it.' I want people to reflect on why they boo this bloke. If it is staging for free kicks then great, you can stop any time now... If it is because of what he did to that poor little racist girl, or the fact that he won AOTY, or for elegantly explaining why Invasion Day is a torrid time for some people in his community - then we have a problem. And I don't want to let these sleeping dogs lie, I want to expose them - let them bark and then get those that stand beside these racially confused people to listen to them and abandon them. Because, I am sorry to say, there are some good people standing beside some horrid people.

Ballantyne does not get booed like Goodes is being booed. And why is he unlikable again?

The goalposts that people moved after the Geelong game is making the last month harder to swallow...

I would respectfully suggest to this bloke that 'Progress' is an unattainable goal that you continually strive for, not something that is accepted as 'good enough' compared to the mess that came before it. The parents of a girl that called an indigenous athlete an 'ape' want that athlete to apologise for singling her out. And a great deal of people agree with them. We have miles to go before we sleep. No matter how good the car is that he is driving...

Boo him if you want but have a listen as to why your brethren are booing. - They don't like him referring to Invasion Day on Jan 26th. - They don't like that he singled out a 13 year old girl who called him an 'ape' - They don't like that he won AOTY, seemingly, for that action - In a cyclical argument, they don't like that he has 'made a thing' about being booed. Explore the reasons why he gets booed and most are subtly, if not outwardly, about race. He can call 'Australia Day' or 'The Day We Started A First Penal Colony' anything he wants - he is making a point we want to ignore and don't want to talk about. We should change the date. Hopefully a referendum on the republic happens in the summer in we can have it then... The girl that called him an ape was failed by her parents, not Adam, some have an issue with how MCG security dealt with her afterward but that isn't Goodes' fault. Frankly, if you are blaming him for 'making a thing' of being called an ape while at work, maybe you should picture someone coming to your work and calling you an equivalent epithet (if there is one for you). You don't have to like, I didn't have an affinity for the bloke previous to this mess but I am developing a respect and admiration for what he has put up with for the last few years that is manifesting now. Boo him all you like, but justify it with cold reason and a fair mind and abandon the booing if you can't.

Mids from other teams set up to win his taps too... We can plan all we like but better footy players will win out. I went to a coaching course a few months ago and Crocker from NM (don't know if TGR went to this seminar too) pointed out that they set up for Jamar winning the taps by reading where Jones was going and then hit that spot before he got there. It was fascinating and cruel to watch (he put it up on the projector) as a Dees fan. Our great midfielder was the reckoning to our demise in the middle; the better he got, the more we relied on him, and the worse teams could punish us by curtailing him. We simply need more midfielders as good as Jones, Vince and Tyson (2014 version). Viney is getting there, Brayshaw will get there, we hope Petracca gets there, we wish Prestia comes here, and maybe a couple more...Vanders?

Better than he has shown, and good enough to play a role in our resurgence? Happy to be Robison Crusoe on this. It's lonely, though...

That'll do...

I would like to see them play with some confidence and boldness and I don't know if Roos can teach that - maybe he just moulds those that already have it in spades... Anyway, I would like our improvement to include a desire to play good football. The second healthiest game this year was a loss to the mob we are playing this week. We played some great footy. Exciting footy. But "It ISN'T good enuff coz we didn't WIN!1!" Reinforce good behaviour when you see it - otherwise you get people who think you want to see what we have seen the last month instead of good football. I hope the Pies bring it out of this team again.

Source?

Nah, nah, nah - we have improved by 25%! Wins are all that matter, right?