Adam Goodes is an Australian of the year, two time Brownlow medalist Indigenous Australian who, amid controversy, decided to not play with his AFL team, the Sydney Swans, this weekend.
Why?
If you believe some people it's because he's a sook. Because he needs to toughen up. The usual rhetoric. Weak. Pansy. Princess. ETC. The Australian public has lobbed every word in the book at him. A lot of them misogynistic.
It's about booing.
Time and time again this season, not for shoddy umpire calls and not for dirty plays, Adam Goodes has been booed. Nearly every time he touched the ball. Now according to some of the Australian public this is his own fault. He's a player that plays for free kicks etc. Others are slightly closer to the truth, saying that Adam Goodes made himself a target by pointing out a thirteen year old girl to security last year when she called him an 'ape' during the game. Because this year, during the AFL dreamtime round, Adam Goodes performed a traditional war dance after kicked a goal.
A common Facebook comment has been There's seventy other aboriginal players in the AFL, none of them are getting booed. It's not racist at all. However none of those seventy other players are as outspoken about racism as Adam Goodes had been. Adam Goodes has been consistently visible with pride in his heritage. Adam Goodes has been visible, outspoken and challenging.
However it's come to a point where this man is now considering early retirement from the game. The racial slurs and the booing every game has taken it's toll. But amongst the Australians that argue that this isn't racially motivated, that Goodes just needs to toughen up, that he brought it on himself is a wide range of Australians who stand with him.
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