Right: Verballed! The famous Herald-Sun photo of Nicky Winmar, as it appeared originally, with an erroneous caption which had Winmar shouting, ''We won with determination!''. Some have claimed that this was an indication that, in the 1990s, football and its supporters were in denial about racism ... and that they still are.
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Arguments opposing the claim that Australian football crowds are racist
1. There are AFL players of many races and nationalities who do not attract adverse attention from crowds
Those who claim that AFL supporters do not include a significant component of racists point to the large number of successful indigenous players that compete regularly within the game and are not booed or otherwise harassed.
Speaking on Channel Seven's Sunrise program, Sydney radio talkback host and commentator Alan Jones declared, 'I mean, there are 71 indigenous players. They are in rugby league, they are in rugby union. They are everywhere. They're playing tennis, and people don't boo them. They're booing Adam Goodes because they don't like him and they don't like his behaviour.'
Herald Sun commentator Andrew Bolt has similarly noted that the vast majority of Indigenous AFL players are well-received by supporters and so has disputed claims that the booing of Adam Goodes is race-related.
On May 26, 2015, Bolt noted on his blog, 'If that were so, why was the much-loved Cyril Rioli, also on the ground, not booed, too? Why not Lewis Jetta? Buddy Franklin?
Why no boos over in Adelaide for the great Eddie Betts?
If we were all...racists ... why no boos for those players?'
A similar point has been made by Rita Panahi in a comment published in The Herald Sun on July 29, 2015.
Panahi notes, 'Of course racism has no place in football and the AFL has been rightly applauded for leading the way in stamping out racial slurs from the game, from players and fans alike.
There are 71 Aboriginal players in the AFL; only one is routinely booed and it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin.
These days any idiot in the crowd who yells out a racist slur is set upon by other fans, reported to authorities and promptly ejected. Some have had memberships cancelled by their club, and rightly so; there should be a zero tolerance approach to bigotry whether it's racial, religious or homophobic.
But to muddy the waters between the tiniest racist minority and the thousands of fans who boo Goodes is not only disingenuous, it is counterproductive.'
2. AFL players of diverse races and nationalities have been successful within the AFL
It has been claimed that the AFL has a very successful record of inclusion. Defenders of the League's treatment of different races point to the high percentage of Indigenous players who are members of AFL teams.
On September 25, 2012, Women's Agenda published a comment and analysis by Tanja Kovac titled, 'The AFL report card: Progress on women and diversity'. Kovac noted the significant number of Indigenous players within the AFL. '11.4%. That's the number of indigenous players employed by the AFL. It's a staggering, under-reported statistic. Australia's indigenous population makes up only 2% of the community and the unemployment rate of indigenous people sits at almost three times the rate of the rest of the population.'
Kovac concluded, 'The AFL's indigenous employment strategy is nothing short of remarkable and should be studied by political, legal and business fields - where employment of indigenous people is tragically low - as a best practice case study of holistic support for success.'
Kovac also noted that the AFL has Indigenous representation in management positions where influence can be exerted on the game's practices. She stated, 'Indigenous employment is not just happening at a rookie recruit level. There aren't many businesses in Australia who can boast having a senior manager who's a Gunditjmara man.
In 2012, Jason Mifsud shone a light on the way some clubs treat indigenous players in their list. Mifsud's outspokenness almost cost him his job as the code's community development manager. The AFL's refusal of his resignation was an affirmation of the transformational, if at times challenging, significance of an indigenous leader being in a position to shape the game.'
Finally Kovac has comment on the AFL's attempts to represent racial and ethnic diversity more generally. She wrote, '13. That's the number of multicultural development officers that have been hired by the AFL and clubs to ensure people, regardless of racial or religious background, are playing and supporting footy. The AFL sees cultural diversity as integral to its business. That's why there has been significant investment in a Multicultural program, which is both a talent spotting and community engagement project designed to increase support for the code amongst new arrivals. Some of the biggest names in the sport - Bachar Houli, Harry O'Brien, Israel Falou, Karmichael Hunt, Leigh Montagna and Nic Naitanui - are AFL Diversity Ambassadors.'
3. There are many legitimate reasons for reacting negatively to a player
It has been claimed that football crowds have a right to boo players, aspects of whose game or general behaviour they dislike. Such crowd conduct should not be construed as racism; irrespective of the race of the player being booed.
This view has been put by former Australian Test bowler Shane Warne. Warne posted the following remarks on Twitter. 'This whole Adam Goodes drama is ridiculous. The public can boo or chant whoever's name they want! It's nothing to do with being racist....
If the public don't like a sportsman because of the way they play the game, they boo, if they like them they cheer, nothing to do re racism.'
Channel 9 finance editor Ross Greenwood, has acknowledges booing Adam Goodes and claims he will continue to do so. Speaking on the Today program, Greenwood stated, 'I've booed Adam Goodes. I've booed Adam Goodes every time Richmond plays the Swans and the reason is I'm a diehard Richmond supporter. He stages for free kicks, I boo him.
It's going nothing to do with his race. It's got nothing to do with me being a racist.
I'm a football fan and therefore as a result if I see something not right on the football field I'll boo him. That has got nothing to do with the colour of his skin.'
It was noted in a Herald Sun article on May 26, 2015, following a Sydney Swans vs Hawthorn game at which Goodes had been booed by Hawthorn supporters that this was for game-related reasons. 'Some Hawthorn fans suggested on social media...that the booing of Goodes related to an incident in 2013 when Goodes appeared to trip Hawk Josh Gibson with his foot, emphatically denying racism played any part.'
The same point has been made by Sydney radio talkback host and commentator, Alan Jones, except that Jones has claimed that what crowds do not like is Goodes's supposed bullying of a 13-year-old girl who called him an 'ape'.
Jones has stated, 'They [the booing crowds] just don't like the fellow. And Adam Goodes can fix all this by changing his behaviour. But what's he say today? "Oh, I'm going to leave. I may have to resign. I can't hack it."'
Jones further commented, '"The bloke's a rich Australian athlete. He humiliated a 13-year-old girl who didn't even know what she was saying, and the public haven't forgotten it. Someone's got to ask the question: why are they booing Adam Goodes and not the other 70 Indigenous AFL players? Adam Goodes can fix this by changing his behaviour. He again today plays the victim.'
The same point was made by Miranda Devine in an opinion piece published in The Daily Telegraph on July 29, 2015. Devine stated, 'It has nothing to do with the colour of his skin. It comes down to his "dobbing and sooking" after a little girl called him a rude name, as former player Karl Langdon put it this week.' Devine concluded, 'Australians don't take kindly to being accused of being racists when they are not.'
4. Vocal crowds contribute to the theatre of sporting competitions
Supporters of the right of sporting crowds to boo, note that booing is an inevitable and necessary part of sporting competitions and adds to their atmosphere.
On August 4, 2015, in an opinion piece published in Perth Now, Nat Locke explained that booing has been an important element in the interaction between spectators and competitors or audiences and entertainers for centuries. Locke stated, 'Booing has been around for a very long time and transcends sport, politics and entertainment. The crowds at the Colosseum booed if gladiators didn't put on a good enough show. Children at pantomimes boo when the villain enters. Politicians are booed, well, for being politicians.'
Locke went on to conclude, 'Booing is part of the byplay between supporters and players.'
On July 28, 2015, The Daily Advertiser published an opinion piece by Paul McLoughlin in which he stated, 'The banter between opposing supporters in the outer is part of what makes Aussie Rules so much fun. Being critical and witty about opposition players is part of attending an AFL game.'
On October 24, 2014, Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Race Discrimination Commissioner, delivered a speech to the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association Annual Conference titled, 'Australian sport and racial vilification'.
Dr Soutphommasane observed, 'Every summer at the cricket in Melbourne, as the Mexican wave circles the vast arena of the MCG, before being punctuated in its path by the Members' Stand, the loud roar gives way to the low blowing of boos, before the wave builds yet again on the far side of the ground...
Dr Soutphommasane went on to quote the conclusions a social scientist has drawn about this behaviour. He cites sociologist John Carroll who states, 'Look, if you think you're different or superior or better, you're not ... it's we, the people who are custodians of this ground and we're all here today, you the members and we, us, joined in our common higher enjoyment of sport, of being Australian, of the event... [T]here's a terrific, impish inclusiveness' in this ritualistic booing.
5. It would be racist to refraining from booing a player because of his race
There are those who have claimed that if the booing of Adam Goodes were to cease this would be treating him differently on the basis of his race.
According to this argument, booing is part of the traditional behaviour of crowds at most sporting contests. If it were possible to take action that would stop crowds booing Adam Goodes because as an Indigenous Australia he should be exempted from this treatment, such a ban would itself be racist.
On August 5, 2015, the online newspaper Spiked carried an opinion piece by London-based writer Charlie Pearson titled, 'Booing Adam Goodes isn't racist'. Pearson argued,'[T]he calls for Goodes to be wrapped in cotton wool and treated exceptionally seem to run counter to his own promotion of Australia as a nation in which "all Australians see each other as equals".'
A similar point was made by Miranda Devine in an opinion piece published in The Daily Telegraph on June 17, 2015.
Devine stated, '[F]or sports administrators and sanctimonious journalists to denounce the crowds as somehow anti-Aboriginal is the real racism. It's that sort of patronising victim-pandering that holds Aboriginals down.
If Adam Goodes wants to be a pillock, good for him. He will be booed like any other pillock, no matter what the colour of their skin.'
There are those who have claimed that attempts to prevent crowds booing Adam Goodes are race-based hypocrisy. In an opinion piece published in The Herald Sun on July 30, 2015, Rita Panahi stated, 'There is now a laughable "solution" being promoted by an ABC TV host that proposes play be stopped if Goodes is again booed.
What sheer lunacy. Would this policy apply to all players or just Goodes?'