Right: Called out: Adam Goodes points to a girl in the stands who called him an ape.
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Background information
The information outlined below has been abbreviated from two Wikipedia entries - 'Australian rules football culture' and 'Adam Goodes'
The full text can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_rules_football_culture and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Goodes
Player and spectator conduct within Australian Rules football / Incidents of vilification:
1993: Nicky Winmar reacted to overt racism from the crowd at Victoria Park, Melbourne, turning to face the offending segments of the crowd, lifted his Guernsey and defiantly pointed to his skin (at the end of a game between St Kilda Football Club and Collingwood Football Club). This act was captured in a series of famous photographs and led to far-reaching reform in the AFL in respect of racism in the game.
1994: Essendon Football Club champion Michael Long complained to the Australian Football League over an alleged racial vilification incident involving Collingwood Football Club's Damian Monkhorst which was the result of an extensive investigation throughout 1995.
1997: Sydney Swans player Robert AhMat was involved in an alleged racial vilification row with Essendon Football Club player Michael Prior.
2007: The Herald Sun launches a special investigation into racism in junior Aussie Rules, revealing several controversial incidents.
2010: Former Australian rules player Mal Brown apologises for referring to aboriginal Australian Football League players as "cannibals" and that he could not select Nicky Winmar or Michael Mitchell because "there were no lights" [at the poorly lit Whitten Oval] during a promotion for the E. J. Whitten Legends Game. The comments prompted AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou to express his disgust.
2011:P Joel Wilkinson racially vilified in multiple incidents, including by Brisbane Lions player Justin Sherman and by a Collingwood supporter in June 2012.
Majak Daw racially vilified by Port Melbourne spectators.
2013: Majak Daw, Daniel Wells and Lindsay Thomas allegedly racially vilified by spectators in a matches against Hawthorn[35] and against the Western Bulldogs.
Adam Goodes points to a Collingwood spectator in a match against Collingwood after an apparent call of "ape". The person later apologised to him.
Video reveals Collingwood supporter racially vilifying both Adam Goodes and Lewis Jetta.
Eddie McGuire apologises for "King Kong" gaffe in reference to Goodes.
Adam Goodes and the booing controversy
Adam Goodes is a professional Australian rules football player with the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, dual premiership player, four-time All-Australian, member of the Indigenous Team of the Century and representing Australia in the International Rules Series. In addition, he currently holds the record for the most games played for an Indigenous player, surpassing Andrew McLeod's record of 340 games during the 2014 AFL season. Goodes was named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his community work through the Go Foundation and advocacy against racism.
On 24 May 2013, during the AFL's annual Indigenous Round, a 13-year-old Collingwood supporter called Goodes an 'ape'. Upon hearing the abuse, Goodes pointed the girl out to security and she was later removed from the stadium. After the game, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire apologised to Goodes on behalf of the club. McGuire said that Collingwood had a zero tolerance policy towards racism, but also said that the girl, who also ater apologised to Goodes, did not know that what she had said was a racial slur.
Over the following years, and in particular in 2015, Goodes was repeatedly and loudly booed by opposition fans at most matches. The motivation for the booing generated wide public debate. This dominated media coverage from both sports and political commentators for weeks at a time during the year. Many considered the booing to be unacceptable and motivated by racism-either because those booing felt affronted by his race or by the strong political positions Goodes had taken on racial issues-and called on the AFL to take direct action to stop it. Others defended the rights of fans to continue booing as a show of disapproval for Goodes' actions, including a perception that his approach in dealing with the Collingwood fan who called him an ape was heavy-handed, and for statements he had made during his time as Australian of the Year which had been seen to denigrate the history of European settlement of Australia. The booing of Goodes has also been described as a symptom of tall poppy syndrome.
During a match against Carlton in May 2015, Goodes celebrated a goal by performing an indigenous war dance in which he mimed throwing a spear at the Carlton cheer squad. Goodes said after the incident that the dance was based on one he learned from under-16s indigenous team the Flying Boomerangs, and that it was intended as a symbol of indigenous pride during Indigenous Round, not as a means of offending or intimidating the crowd. However, many spectators were offended by the aggressive nature of the spear-throwing gesture or considered it retaliatory against the booing he had received in previous weeks, and it was criticised by many commentators for being inflammatory. The booing of Goodes intensified in the months after the war dance.
Owing to the stress caused by the booing and media attention, Goodes took leave from the game in August 2015. Many clubs and players in the AFL supported Goodes in the first week of his leave by wearing indigenous-themed guernseys or armbands, and a video was prepared by the eighteen club captains to discourage the crowd from booing