hardtack

Well, I had better not write it in that case :-)

No... should I? ;-)

Yep, one man's perspective (very well written, but that doesn't make it right or wrong)... some of the comments were appalling though (like those protected by the boooing mob, they feel vindicated and free to express their extremely dodgy views).

How many other players were named Australian of the Year?

And therein lies the shame of the whole sorry saga... Goodes should NOT have to struggle with iot at all. There was no way he could have known the girl's age in the heat of the moment and there is no way that racism should be excused in any shape or form... I feel sorry for the girl of course, but the angst should not be directed at Goodes and it should not be directed at the girl who is probably just as much a victim... it should be directed towards whatever it is that could lead that girl to believe that what she said is acceptable; my 13 year old son is able to to easily recognise what is wrong and right in terms of racial commentary. Even the girls's own family made a sincere and heartfelt apology to Goodes and stated that they felt no malice towards him.

Wrong... the booing was barely noticeable and he was NOT booed in the GF that year... it started in earnest following his being awarded the title of Australian of the Year.

Ok, checked it out and just as I suspected, it is nothing like what has happened since 2013. That is ONE game and you point out some booing at 4:44. Since 2013 it has been happening for extended periods in EVERY game and has been getting increasingly worse over time. While the majority doing it now may not be racially motivated, they sure as hell must be giving encouragement to those who are. I really wonder what the response would be if you were to randomly ask spectators why they were booing Goodes from the opening bounce to the final siren... I doubt most could reasonably justify it.

For the entire game and for every game that season? I will check out the link in an effort to get those questions answered.

There is obviously no undeniable proof, but the fact that the booing only really took off in the wake of his being named Australian of the Year has to make you think there is an element of racism involved.

Proven how? Unequivocally proven? One thing that this has shown though is the strength of character that Adam Goodes must possess. To go out just wanting to play the game that he obviously loves and to put up with the constant (and ever increasing) booing, the impact this is obviously having on his family as well as himself and the impact it no doubt is having on his team mates. If only we had players with that strength of character let alone the skill set he possesses.

It's easy to dismiss those who raise the possible racist issue with a simple "PC types", but the fact is that in Goodes' case it is more than just an issue relating to people not liking the guy for his onfield demeanour. Sure people can raise the booing of Lamumba by Collingwood supporters, or of Betts by Carlton supporters, but could those people who use that as some kind of justification for the booing of Goodes' tell me what AFL club he left to join the Swans? And can you name one other player who gets so vigourously booed by supporters from ALL clubs barring his own club? Not even Selwood, Harvey, Martin etc come in for a fraction of that level of abuse.

Not sure you can apply that... I'm 63, living in Sydney and NOT a Goodes or Swans fan (excluding Newtown Swans)... but I see the booing as racially motivated (initially) and now it has grown legs and become a "thing to do" for many, which unfortunately lets the racists in the community feel vindicated and empowered. Apparently (according to media) it did appear to coincide with his nomination as Australian of the Year and it did not occur in the immediate wake of the Collingwood supporter incident and did not happen at that years GF against West Coast.

So you don't view the fact that the booing did not start immediately after the incident involving the young Collingwood supporter, but did begin almost immediately after he was named Australian of the Year as significant?

There's a pretty good Jake Niall article on this very topic here: http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/melbourne-demons-better-placed-for-future-title-run-than-st-kilda-saints-20150725-gikghj.html

You go and stand in the naughty corner this instant!

Ok, ok... you csn see I'm not particularly invested in the game... but the central fact remains the same regardless of venue.

Essendon's supporter base must be fast giving up on them... 23,000 is the lowest crowd they have ever attracted to the MCG (by approx 3,000).

What a scumbag of an umpire... Pierce dislocates his shoulder in a marking contest and attempts to get off the field - the umpire pays a 50m penalty against him. (at least I think that is what transpired)

Well, at least he not on PEDs or the Peruvian Marching Powder, I suppose.

And if anhyone is likely to be up in Sydney on Friday the 28th August... a bit of shameless self promotion: https://www.facebook.com/events/1006716059360062/

Unfortunately I couldn't get along, but I would have thought that the highlight would have been when Mr Hannaford himself got up and played all resplendent in orange.

I was just reading an article from the New Yorker that is about the Cascadia fault line in North East US... but there was one paragraph that I thought summed up pretty well the attitude of the deniers: "On the face of it, earthquakes seem to present us with problems of space: the way we live along fault lines, in brick buildings, in homes made valuable by their proximity to the sea. But, covertly, they also present us with problems of time. The earth is 4.5 billion years old, but we are a young species, relatively speaking, with an average individual allotment of three score years and ten. The brevity of our lives breeds a kind of temporal parochialism—an ignorance of or an indifference to those planetary gears which turn more slowly than our own." I recommend the article regardless, as a very good (if frightening) read: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one

Can we bring god into this so that this thread can be shut down... at least the other thread was entertaining.

No, it's someone who works very long hours. Oh, and the only reason "god" exists is essentially because people are afraid of dying. Oh + oh... and to take the word of the bible as, pardon the pun, gospel, is fraught with danger... imagine if factual news articles were written by telling a story to one person, getting that person to whisper it to the person next to them and so on via thousands upon thousands of other people with the last person in the chain typing up the completed news item. Chinese whispers I believe it is called and that is precisely what the bible is comprised of.

They mentioned on AFL360 last night that he would be most likely meeting with and telling Adelaide management today what his plans are.