Adam Goodes’s record as an Australian Rules Football player stands as one of the greatest in history. 372 games, 2 x Brownlow Medals as the best and fairest player in the game, 3 x Best & Fairests for the Sydney Swans FC, 2 x AFL Premierships with Sydney FC, 4 x All Australian and AFL Indigenous Team of the Century. So why would such an imposing career finish in such sorrow?
All now can be revealed in what is simply one of the best documentaries you’ll ever see, so good in fact it should be mandatory for all Australian children and adults alike to see.
The documentary fundamentally explores the history of aboriginal culture over the past 230 years since white colonisation and how it has affected the generations since, including Goodes’s mother who was one of the stolen generation. Adam’s mother Lisa was removed from her parents at the age of 7 and was determined to raise her 3 x boys in a loving and safe home. This she has achieved with aplomb and to hear her story alone is inspirational.
In 2013, ironically during AFL’s Indigenous Round, Goodes was playing for Sydney v Collingwood at the MCG. Goodes was abused by a 13 year old girl who called him an “ape”. A shattered Goodes pointed her out to security who ejected the girl. Goodes called on the public not to blame the girl, but the environment she was raised in. Instead, many of the public attacked Goodes on social and mainstream media.
To compound the issue, Collingwood President Eddie McGuire checked in with Goodes after the game and apologised on behalf of the club, then on breakfast radio 5 days later made a joke about using Goodes as King Kong for a promotion in Melbourne. The timing could not have been more succinct in highlighting white Australia’s reliance on “casual racism”. To McGuire’s credit he fronts up to explain his comments in the documentary.
After being awarded Australian of the Year in 2014 for his contribution to indigenous youth, Goodes used his platform to highlight racism in Australia, and the “how and why” it’s sits just under the surface. From that point on, until his premature retirement in 2015, Goodes was “booed” at every game he played. Supporters and commentators used excuses such as “he plays for free kicks” or “he picked on a 13 year old” but we all know it was because Adam Goodes was a black man fighting back, something white Australians aren’t accustomed to.
We love it when they win gold medals and premierships but heaven forbid an aboriginal might want to challenge our history, a history so brutal and reprehensible that if that behaviour had stricken my family, personally I would be absolutely unforgiving. Thank goodness indigenous Australians don’t have that mentality. All they want is for us, the privileged white man, to have some empathy, not guilt. So when someone of Adam Goodes’s stature gets hounded out of the game by such vitriol, what hope have we got? Oh, and to anyone questioning Goodes’s courage? Try playing a half of an AFL Grand Final with a ruptured posterior cruciate ligament and then kick the winning goal. Truly extraordinary.
Well there is hope, but there’s an enormous amount of education and respect required. When Goodes studied his culture he was taken aback by the premise of “Terra Nullius”, which is what the British deemed Australia to be in 1788, “unoccupied or uninhabited”. Perhaps 60,000 years and the oldest culture on earth wasn’t quite enough? To this day the first Australians aren’t recognised in the constitution and were only given the vote in 1967. I was 4 years old! It’s shameful.
Over 250,000 indigenous Australians were slaughtered upon colonisation let alone the rape, slavery and torture handed out in what was nothing short of genocide. This was only 230 years ago. Unless you’ve walked in the shoes of others it’s impossible to truly comprehend. As the promotional flyer for this film states, “When the truth of history is told, we can all walk together.” It’s not a case of “get over it” which is what the Andrew Bolt’s of this world would tell you. How on earth could an aboriginal celebrate the 26th of January? It’s a day of mourning.
What is evident in the documentary is the extraordinary pressure that Goodes has had to absorb. When the booing became too much and he lost all hope, he headed back to his native land of the Adnyamathanha People near the Flinders Ranges and reconnected with some elders. After a month away, Goodes returned to an overwhelming response from his fellow AFL players and supporters of all clubs. Despite this humbling experience he underwent further booing in the remaining few games and retired quietly with zero fanfare.
This year the AFL finally reacted after seeing this documentary when it was shown to all the AFL Coaches prior to the AFL season:
“Adam, who represents so much that is good and unique about our game, was subject to treatment that drove him from football. The game did not do enough to stand with him, and call it out. Failure to call out racism and not standing up for one of our own let down all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, past and present. Our game is about belonging. We want all Australians to feel they belong and that they have a stake in the game. We will not achieve this while racism and discrimination exists in our game… We will stand strongly with all in the football community who experience racism or discrimination. We are unified on this, and never want to see the mistakes of the past repeated.”
Adam Goodes has left an indelible legacy for all indigenous Australians and hopefully some more white Australians who view this film. He was a beautiful athlete and footballer and it is his humility and class that makes him who he is today.
Since 2009 Goodes and his cousin Michael O’Loughlin, himself a former champion indigenous footballer with the Sydney Swans, formed their own foundation to empower the next generation of indigenous role models in all walks of life across Australia. Both men chair the foundation which focuses on education, employment and healthy lifestyles.
The Australian Dream is now showing at selected cinemas. Superbly written by Walkley Award winning journalist Stan Grant and directed by BAFTA Award winner Daniel Gordon, it is essential viewing for all Australians. 10/10 www.australiandreamfilm.com
