Adam Goodes wins Australian of the Year

[royals1922]

We need another permanent public holiday to celebrate this.

And I'm waiting for the feature film.

 

[J_Moore]

Goodes describes Australia Day as a day of mourning, why would he accept the honour then?

http://www.theage.com.au/national/adams-honour-only-half-the-picture-20140125-31frm.html

because it is not an award for the person who loves Australia Day the most?

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

In a country of 20 million where many people are doing some serious volunteer work in deprived conditions, the Australian of the Year goes to an AFL footballer. What a joke.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Not in that article she didn't . . . I don't see any sort of quotation marks there.

Here you go, quote here. I saw him say it in a press conference on national TV. He said it.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...day-to-apologise/story-fni5fan7-1226650256245

 

[Blues4everr]

Why? He heard a voice in the crowd scream a racial slur and he pointed it out a split second later. In the heat of the moment do you really think he thought, "That fifteen year old girl just called me an ape, I'm going to destroy her entire life"

So your saying that he couldn't have continued playing and pointed it out at the end of the quarter? There was no need to embarrass a child like that, and I'm not buying the heat of the moment BS on this one. He saw she was a kid and should have handled it a lot better.

Didn't the girl say it wasn't even intended as a racial slur? If she had no racist intentions then the comment wasn't even that bad, just a simple case of heckling and an overreaction from Goodes. I can see how he saw it as being racist, but I genuinely believe the girl didn't intend it as a racist comment.

When people say that Naitanui looks like a Palm Tree is that racist? No, they are simply comparing him to something that he looks like. Yes its not the nicest thing to do, but I wouldn't call it racist.

 

[the distributer]

missing his point entirely. He immediately followed that statement with "it's not her fault"

His point of course is that racism is not a fading relic of the past isolated to the views of past generations it is a problem that has been a large part of this nation since its colonisation, there are people of all ages who either carry outwardly racist views or more commonly passively accept and racist attitudes and slurs, that was the problem he saw, a lack of understanding or sensitivity to the damage the word has caused. She may not have meant it to be racist but that's not the point, the point is the slur has centuries of racist connotations which has been used to dehumanise millions of people. The point he was making, that has been proven time and time again by many posters on this very forum is that most do not understand the damage these slurs do and that passive acceptance of racist attitudes is a huge problem in our country today.

Bit late to say its "not her fault" after he nationally crucified her and her family, maybe he should have said I may have misunderstood the meaning of what the girl meant with the taunt, and then explained how that taunt was used against him at school etc etc and that's why he reacted the way he did.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

because it is not an award for the person who loves Australia Day the most?

He doesn't like it at all!

 

[Kummerspeck]

What are you suggesting chum -

You supported the choice of one high profile football player when decrying the choice of another. Are you serious?

 

[alanlau34]

Carry on with what??


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...matter-of-choice/story-e6frg6z6-1226803843977

Wow asking for support, he's ripping her and her family apart.

Great article. I know that most of the nuf nufs won't click in to read it, but here is a particularly poignant insight into the man

"In 2008, Goodes was asked to contribute an essay to a hardback AFL history called The Australian Game of Football Since 1858. Goodes wrote a disarmingly frank and insightful history of indigenous Australia's connection to the great game, drawing on everything he had studied, everything he had heard first-hand from scholars such as Sue Gordon and survivors like his mum. He wrote about his hero Nicky Winmar and the day, April 17, 1993, when ceaseless racial taunts caused him to lift his St Kilda jersey and point at his skin. "I am a human being," Winmar said after the game. "No matter what colour I am." Goodes wrote about the day in 2002 when one of the game's most high-profile players called him a "f..king monkey- looking c..t". He wrote about what it's like to live "half-caste", about "being the object of racism so many times that you lose count". He left nothing off the page like he leaves nothing of himself on the football field when the siren sounds.
"I live in a racist country," he wrote. "To understand what it means to be indigenous, you need to understand that we come with baggage," he wrote. "Every one of us. And every one of us has a choice as to how we deal with it - some of us have not yet come to terms with that choice, or circumstances have made making the right choice difficult, if not impossible. But the choice - and the opportunity - remains there, right in front of us." He titled his sweeping epic The Indigenous Game: A Matter of Choice. Anyone who has read it understands why he chose to stop that night at the MCG, why he turned around to spotlight the "ape" taunt that was flung at him so carelessly and foolishly, just like all those countless taunts that came before it. There was nothing knee-jerk about it. His whole life informed his reaction.
"It takes time to build that confidence to do that," he says. "I think when you're proud of something and you've always stood up for yourself, and when you get to that place, you're very sure of who you are and what you stand for. And no matter how old that person was or where that happened to be, my reaction would have been exactly the same."
That three-letter word did the impossible. It made Adam Goodes forget how much he loved Australian rules football. "Yeah," he says. "It was disappointing. I don't know if it would have been different if I had actually stayed on the ground. Because the coach just wanted me to rest the last three or four minutes off the ground that game. It just sort of all hit me once I was on the boundary, just sitting there thinking about it. Yeah, I just didn't want to be out there anymore.
"When something cuts you to the core it's very emotional, a very disappointing feeling. Something that you don't want to have anybody go through and you certainly don't want to be the reason that person is feeling like that. That's what I take from the experience," he says. "I think it's important for people to stand up for who they are and where they come from. But to be able to do it in a way that cannot only help that person but help the people around them."


Not to mention
"I've had fantastic support over the past 24 hours," Goodes said at the time. "I just hope that people give the 13-year-old girl the same sort of support because she needs it, her family needs it, and the people around them need it. It's not a witch-hunt. I don't want people to go after this young girl. We've just got to help educate society better so it doesn't happen again."

 

[alanlau34]

Kudos for a pretty accurate summary of the situation. I only wish more defenders of Goodes' entitlement to the award could admit this, because I and many others have no problem admitting we think Goodes is a deserving winner - just nowhere near as deserving as countless others.

It's the political nature of the award that sickens me the most, and that's hardly something we should blame Adam Goodes for.

Wow, if you get sickened every Australia Day, perhaps you shouldn't take the AoTY award so seriously?

 

[Bosk]

You supported the choice of one high profile football player when decrying the choice of another. Are you serious?

Congratulations on missing the point entirely and not for the first time either.

Tell me chum, are you deliberately trying to bait me or does it come across that way by accident?

 

[ThisIsJake]

cool so he attacks the biggest racial support he's had(eddie mcguire) and nearly ends his career because of a slip of the tongue and shames a child on national television(something she will no doubt be bullied for for some time to come), that deserves praise.....

apart from publicly adding to eddies and a childs humiliation by being as dramatic as possible he didn't actually facilitate any change, he just became a poster boy for an issue that is real but that he has dramatised to the point where people don't even know what is going to be construed as racism anymore.

 

[Beachsleeper]

cool so he attacks the biggest racial support he's had(eddie mcguire) and nearly ends his career because of a slip of the tongue and shames a child on national television(something she will no doubt be bullied for for some time to come), that deserves praise.....

apart from publicly adding to eddies and a childs humiliation by being as dramatic as possible he didn't actually facilitate any change, he just became a poster boy for an issue that is real but that he has dramatised to the point where people don't even know what is going to be construed as racism anymore.

At last, we've found a new angle: The Victimhood of Eddie McGuire.

 

[Tygrys]

I'd love to see you take your 14 year old daughter to the footy and she yelled out "Ape" to a large fully bearded man, imagine your horror as the police dragged her off not allowing (illegally) you to accompany her, then to later realise your daughter has been called the face of racism in Australia and her upbringing has been brought into question.

I liked Goodes before that incident, lost all respect for him after it, the man is a joke.

100 percent agree. To be honest I was pretty indifferent to Goodes previously, never gave him much thought. During that match though I saw a bully whom the media rushed to pamper and canonize afterwards. In fact I cannot remember in my memory an incident that caused such a disconnect between the media and the man and woman on the street. To the former he was a re-incarnation of Martin Luther King or Medgar Evens, to the latter he was a a thin skinned princess singling out a child who was humiliated and evicted in front of both a packed MCG and national television. Not for a racist remark mind you, but because she referenced the to fact that he is big, hairy and according to many (not least of all my non-caucasian wife) very unattractive.

No doubt he has done some good things in his life although there is equally no doubt there are those that have done more and are more deserving of this award. But what he did to that poor girl, that was truly pathetic. I hope him getting this award doesn't bring back too many horrible memories and traumatizes her further.

 

[the distributer]

100 percent agree. To be honest I was pretty indifferent to Goodes previously, never gave him much thought. During that match though I saw a bully whom the media rushed to pamper and canonize afterwards. In fact I cannot remember in my memory an incident that caused such a disconnect between the media and the man and woman on the street. To the former he was a re-incarnation of Martin Luther King or Medgar Evens, to the latter he was a a thin skinned princess singling out a child who was humiliated and evicted in front of both a packed MCG and national television. Not for a racist remark mind you, but because he referenced the fact that he is big hairy and according to many (not least of all my non-caucasian wife, every unattractive).

No doubt he has done some good things in his life although there is equally no doubt there are those that have done more and are more deserving of this reward. But what he did to that poor girl, that was truly pathetic. I hope him getting this award doesn't bring back too many horrible memories and traumatize her further.

Exactly.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Not for a racist remark mind you, but because he referenced the fact that he is big hairy and according to many (not least of all my non-caucasian wife, every unattractive).

It's still a racist remark, if a little naive.

 

[sherb]

100 percent agree. To be honest I was pretty indifferent to Goodes previously, never gave him much thought. During that match though I saw a bully whom the media rushed to pamper and canonize afterwards.

As did the Collingwood president.

Ed couldn't wait to get his head into the spotlight in the immediate aftermath of the game.

 

[sherb]

At last, we've found a new angle: The Victimhood of Eddie McGuire.

Poor Ed, so misunderstood.

 

[the distributer]

As did the Collingwood president.

Ed couldn't wait to get his head into the spotlight in the immediate aftermath of the game.

We'll discuss that if and when Edd ever wins the award.

 

[Bluelegs]

It's the political nature of the award that sickens me the most, and that's hardly something we should blame Adam Goodes for.

Of course its political, the entire point of the award is political. By design the award has an even vaguer criteria than the nobel peace prize so that it can recognise whatever topic the judges want recognised. The award is pointless, because any award that can be won by anyone (from australia) for anything (the judges think is worthwhile) is going to be far too broad for the merits of each winner or nominee to be properly compared.

 

[hoopsicle]

We all have to take responsibility, me, you, everyone. The fact that Aboriginal people are still beaten in custody up here, not allowed to buy alcohol(while us whites can get blind drunk in the pub and go brawling), and are denied the basic service because their aboriginal is a national disgrace. As a country we all have to take responsibility.

And the simple fact is if you don't live with/have contact with Aboriginal people it makes it hard to understand these issues. i was the same before i moved up here. i knew nothing and was completely ignorant. happy to admit it.

Wow. You big city folk need to get back on country and live the real life. Full of yourself. wringing your hands. What have you done for anyone? Who are the only non racists in this country? Why haven't they fixed the problems? Why don't you get out of your airconditioned ivory tower and out on communities where you can do something? Why do you believe that no "white man" wants to help? (Written from Katherine. Cue dude from Lajamanu bagging me out.)
Well done Goodsy, better choices out there but not the worst. Meh

 

[Leeda]

Everyone can agree to disagree but the everlasting point is that he is on a very worthwhile mission and I for one, will agree that as long as he is 'bad' on the field he can be as 'good' off the track.

Note that I said he can be bad, but he is awesome that makes it even harder to disparage him.

Good Luck Mr Australia.

 

[FLYINV]

Incredible thread. The spirit of Kanye West is alive and well here at Bigfooty.

Whether or not people believe someone else was more worthy of the award, what strikes me is the ignorance of the award and the people nominated for it demonstrated by most of the posters in this thread.

It's fine to have an opinion on an this issue but to not even do any research before forming that opinion makes you look stupid. It's not hard to at least read the selection criteria and process and then comment.

And to all those people saying they know someone more deserving, then why didn't you nominate them for the award? You weren't interested enough to participate in the award process, yet somehow feel all offended by the result.

 

[WWSD]

You all know very well that Sir Matthew Spangher should have won it!

 

[blood_lust]

Reading this makes me sick.
Come out to a remote community and tell me he doesn't deserve that award. You should see how excited the kids I work with are because of this.

sure others are just as deserving - but so is he, absolute champ, sensational spokesperson and role model for the most under represented and marginalised people in Australia.