Continued booing of Adam Goodes may require football players to walk off the ground to protest against a rise in “corrupted national pride” among some Australians, the country’s race discrimination commissioner has warned.
Tim Soutphommasane said AFL players may have to mirror the actions of some football players in Europe, who have publicly protested against racist treatment from fans.
“If things do not improve, and assuming Goodes plays on, it may have to come to the players taking matters into their own hands,” Soutphommasane said in a speech to the Australian National University on Wednesday.
“In Europe there have been occasions in football when teams have walked off the pitch in protest against racist abuse. What an indictment on our society it would be were things to come to reach such a point.”
Goodes, Australian rules football’s most prominent Indigenous player, has been repeatedly booed by rival fans. It follows him criticising Australia’s policies towards Indigenous people and identifying a 13-year-old football fan for calling him an “ape” in 2013. The booing has intensified since Goodes’s war dance in front of the crowd in June.
Soutphommasane said the “ugly” booing has “involved an element of racism” and needed to stop, noting reports that the Sydney Swans player is considering retiring because of the controversy.
“Goodes has been a public figure not afraid of challenging prejudice, not afraid of asking questions about Australian history and society,” he said. “He has done it in ways that have made some people feel uncomfortable.
“And it beggars belief to think that those booing somehow don’t know what they are doing. In taking a stand against racism, [Goodes] has inspired many, empowering others to do the same.
“And, partly because of that, he is now the target of despicable behaviour.
“Adam Goodes is a champion of football, an advocate for human rights, a man of integrity. He deserves our respect. It is not him, but those targeting him, who deserve our contempt.”
Soutphommasane said the recent Reclaim Australia rallies, the feeling among many Muslims that they are under suspicion and a rise in reports of anti-Semitism shows that Australia is “at risk of a deterioration of our community harmony”.
Although racist agitators were still clearly in the minority, a sort of “corrupted national pride” appeared to be on the increase in Australia.
“Not all that long ago, ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ was just a harmless chant at sporting events,” he said. “Waving the national flag in public was regarded as something done not by Aussies but by Americans. The idea of tattooing your flesh with the southern cross was, well, strange.
“Not today. And there is a strain of patriotic expression that is tainted with the stain of aggressive nationalism. For some, loving your country means declaring: ‘Australia: love it or leave it’ or ‘Go back to where you came from.’
“For some, patriotism means believing that you can identify ‘real’ Aussies on the one hand, and those who don’t belong here on the other.”
Soutphommasane said “genuine patriotism” based upon egalitarianism and generosity was the best bulwark to racism and intolerance.
“It is time that we reclaim patriotism,” he said. “Because our national story and symbols don’t belong to just a select few. They belong to all of us.”
In a statement responding to the booing of Goodes, the AFL Fans Association said the situation is an “emotive and divisive” issue among fans.
“We appreciate that many fans who have booed Adam Goodes genuinely feel that they are not motivated by racism,” it said.
“Regardless, we urge all fans who have done so to stop booing in the interests of the game and Adam Goodes the person. Adam is a proud Aboriginal man, dual Brownlow medallist and premiership player.
“Regardless of its motivation, the booing is clearly hurting him as an individual and being interpreted by him and many others, including players of all teams, as having racist undertones. It is also not helping the game.”
