Adam Goodes was finally given a send-off worthy of his storied AFL career on Saturday evening when the two-times Brownlow medallist was acclaimed by fans in a half-time lap of honour during the Sydney Swans’ round-three clash with Greater Western Sydney.
Cheers rang out at a near full Sydney Cricket Ground as club great Goodes and fellow retiree Mike Pyke walked around the Swans’ home ground, waving to fans who gave the pair a standing ovation.
Goodes, 36, called it a day at the end of the Swans’ 2015 campaign after a club record 372 games but his journey towards retirement was overshadowed by persistent booing from fans during his final season as a player.
The Indigenous player bowed out following Sydney’s semi-final defeat to North Melbourne last year and the timing of his announcement deprived Swans fans of an opportunity to give him the farewell he richly deserved.
Goodes opted not to take part in the AFL’s 2015 grand final parade to honour retired players.
Normally he and Pyke would have gone on a lap of honour at Sydney’s first home game of this season – against Collingwood – but that plan was shelved due to fears Magpies fans would hijack the celebration.
It was in a match against Collingwood at the MCG in 2013 that Goodes pointed out a teenage Magpies fan who called him an ape. The incident prompted some opposition fans to jeer him in subsequent games and eventually led to a national debate on racism.
Goodes, a proud Adnyamathanha man, was named Australian of the Year in 2014, but the jeering intensified, reaching a crescendo midway through last season, when Goodes reacted to kicking a goal against Carlton in late May by mimicking a spear-throwing gesture towards Blues fans who had targeted him throughout.
The tipping point for a fatigued Goodes came after he had again been subjected to abuse during a game against West Coast, during which team-mate Lewis Jetta showed his support by performing an Indigenous war dance.
Goodes, who at the time was said to be “sick and tired” of his treatment by opposition fans, took time out from the game and sat out the round 18 match against Adelaide.
Earlier this week, Goodes said he had achieved “great closure” over the saga, and credited AFL chief Gillon McLachlan for the role he and league had played in it.
McLachlan, who was at the SCG on Saturday, had issued an apology to Goodes in March this year, saying that no player should have had to have gone through what he did and that the AFL should have acted sooner on the racism.
