On 24 May 2013, during the AFL's annual Indigenous Round (the Sir Doug Nicholls Round), a 13-year-old Collingwood supporter called Goodes an "ape". Upon hearing the abuse, Goodes pointed the girl out to security, who ejected her from the stadium.[6] Goodes was deeply affected by the incident, but said repeatedly that the girl should not be blamed; the environment that she grew up in had shaped her response. The girl phoned to apologise, saying that she hadn't realised the impact of her words.[7]
Over the following years, and particularly in 2015, Goodes was repeatedly and loudly booed by opposition fans at most matches. The motivation for, and acceptability of, the booing generated wide public debate, which dominated media coverage from both sports and political commentators for weeks at a time.[8][9][10]
During a match against Carlton in May 2015, again during the Indigenous Round, Goodes celebrated a goal by performing an Aboriginal war dance, in which he mimed throwing a spear in the direction of 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 an expression of Indigenous pride during Indigenous Round, not as a means of offending or intimidating the crowd.[11] The booing of Goodes intensified in the months after the war dance. Goodes took indefinite leave from the game in August of the 2015 season.[8] Many clubs and players in the AFL supported Goodes in the week of his leave.[12] He returned the following week and played for the remainder of the season after an outpouring of support from fans, actors, politicians, celebrities and teammates, including two spontaneous standing ovations.[13][14][15][16]
Goodes retired from the AFL in September 2015.[17] He did not attend the Grand Final, where retiring players traditionally take part in a parade, one of only a handful of players to decline this invitation since the parade for retiring players was established.[18][19]
Documentary
The documentary uses only archival footage and newspaper headlines from the last few years of Goodes' career, with no new interviews or footage. It includes footage of the incidents, as well as interviews and comments from media personalities, politicians, players, officials, and members of the public. Goodes himself was not interviewed for the documentary, although he was consulted and gave permission for it to go ahead.[20]
Many commentators and Goodes himself believed that the booing was racially motivated, while others believed that it was motivated by dislike of his playing style or of his response to a 13 year old girl who shouted a racially-charged insult at him.[21][22] The director's statement about the film states that he did not want to explicitly choose a side but instead wanted to present the footage and allow "the audience to see and hear for themselves what had happened, to ask their own questions and to come to their own conclusions".[23]
Darling also announced that the film will be made freely available to schools and clubs across Australia.[28]
Reception
The documentary was widely praised by critics.[27] Luke Buckmaster, writing for The Guardian, called it "confronting" and "inspiring",[29] while Blake Howard, writing for Flicks, gave it five stars and called it exhilarating and powerful.[30] Garry Maddox, for the Sydney Morning Herald says "It is a powerful work that stirs deep emotions",[31] while Screenhub's Sarah Ward calls it 'crucial'.[32]
The Go Foundation reported that it had received several messages from members of the public who had seen the documentary and wanted to express their remorse for having booed Goodes.[20]
Paul Kelly wrote the end credit song "Every Day My Mother's Voice" for the film, and won Best Original Song Composed for the Screen, 2019 Screen Music Awards.
2019 Best Sound in a Documentary (Nominee) Australian Screen Sound Guild
Responses
Apology
On 7 June 2019, on the day of the documentary's premiere, the AFL and all of its 18 clubs issued an unreserved apology for the sustained racism and events which drove Goodes out of the game. They said:
Adam, who represents so much that is good and unique about our game, was subject to treatment that drove him from football. The game did not do enough to stand with him, and call it out. Failure to call out racism and not standing up for one of our own let down all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, past and present. Our game is about belonging. We want all Australians to feel they belong and that they have a stake in the game. We will not achieve this while racism and discrimination exists in our game... We will stand strongly with all in the football community who experience racism or discrimination. We are unified on this, and never want to see the mistakes of the past repeated.
The statement also said that the football community "pledged to continue to fight all forms of racism and discrimination, on and off the field".[33][34]
Responses by AFL clubs and players
The Western Bulldogs released their own statement about the documentary.[35] The Hawthorn players all wore number 37, Goodes' jersey number, during their warm ups before their match against Sydney on 21 June 2019 in a gesture of support.[28]
