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AFL Player Racially Abused


Arbenol

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Australia has often got a bad rap for it's record on race relations. With that in mind, the response of everybody to an incident when an Aussie rules footballer was racially abused by a 13 year old girl is pretty uplifting.

I've never heard of Adam Goodes but the grace and dignity he exhibited in his response to the abuse is inspiring.

His actions, including refusing to blame the girl and calling for abuse on social media against her to stop, have drawn widespread admiration from players, clubs and community leaders.

After he spoke out on Saturday morning, Goodes tweeted that he had spoken to the girl and urged that she be given support, not attacked on social media.

"Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing (sic) for her actions. Let's support her please," Goodes tweeted.

http://www.stuff.co....racially-abused

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Racism still exists in the highest order by providing more cash benefits to the indigenous. Effectively destroying their culture and general well being.

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"refusing to blame the girl and calling for abuse on social media against her to stop"

Thank you for this story, it is the perfect antidote for all the rubbish people heap on each other using social media.

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"refusing to blame the girl and calling for abuse on social media against her to stop"

Thank you for this story, it is the perfect antidote for all the rubbish people heap on each other using social media.

I don't often post news stories on here, but this one struck chords on several levels. I was impressed with how the clubs involved, not just the individual concerned, conducted themselves.

Compare that to the asinine comments of Sepp Blatter when commenting on racism in football - that's soccer, for our American friends.

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Racism still exists in the highest order by providing more cash benefits to the indigenous. Effectively destroying their culture and general well being.

I don't know if it destroys their culture and general well being, but it DOES create a sense of simmering tension between "them and us" if you will. I went to school with some Murri people, lovely folks who would give you the shirt of their backs if you needed it, but the fact that not a one of them needed to pay school fees, or anything like that still rankled us as kids. You know what it's like, your mum and dad scrimping and saving so you can go to Dreamworld and the government pays for them.

Kids being kids dealt with that inequality in the usual kids way - they had to buy the first round of soft drinks, but the sense of "us and them" still existed, I suspect it still does in the next generation.

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I don't know if it destroys their culture and general well being, but it DOES create a sense of simmering tension between "them and us" if you will. I went to school with some Murri people, lovely folks who would give you the shirt of their backs if you needed it, but the fact that not a one of them needed to pay school fees, or anything like that still rankled us as kids. You know what it's like, your mum and dad scrimping and saving so you can go to Dreamworld and the government pays for them.

Kids being kids dealt with that inequality in the usual kids way - they had to buy the first round of soft drinks, but the sense of "us and them" still existed, I suspect it still does in the next generation.

A friend of mine who joined the army and is currently stationed in Darwin sees aborigines a lot. Most of them spend the money they got on alcohol and such.

It's like giving a homeless man a million dollars, he will be back on the street soon, and probably worse off than he was initially.

Without the driving force for people to make a life for themselves and you hand one to them, they will most likely end up destroying it, in turn, destroying their own.

That is true it keeps that divide. Basically in putting that law through is an insult in itself to them. The implication they need to be set up to make a life for themselves in our society is that very insult.

Also the fact that a family friend of mines friend who is a quarter aborigine and not in the very least affected by it, receives these benefits. It is the same reason why you see these people who don't look aboriginal at all and regard themselves as aboriginal just for the benefits. Just because their grandma or grandpa was aboriginal.

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I think he acted like an adult is supposed to, to be quite frank. I think it is more of an indicator that we consider such "normal" behaviour as exemplary? She is a kid, and obviously confused, I am glad she had the decency to account for her actions. I do appreciate he set a good example for other adults, and how they should behave though, not to detract from his noble response. I applaud that he set such a fine example.

Is it right she called him an Ape? I do not undertand how that is racist? There are racist terms for Australia's indigenous, but I have never heard of that one being directed at Indigenous specifically. As an insult, I thought it was just a general term? I know guys with the nickname Gorilla, is that racist?

Is the media playing this up a bit?

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I think he acted like an adult is supposed to, to be quite frank. I think it is more of an indicator that we consider such "normal" behaviour as exemplary? She is a kid, and obviously confused, I am glad she had the decency to account for her actions. I do appreciate he set a good example for other adults, and how they should behave though, not to detract from his noble response. I applaud that he set such a fine example.

Is it right she called him an Ape? I do not undertand how that is racist? There are racist terms for Australia's indigenous, but I have never heard of that one being directed at Indigenous specifically. As an insult, I thought it was just a general term? I know guys with the nickname Gorilla, is that racist?

Is the media playing this up a bit?

Is immediately associating a derogatory insult as racist simply because he is aboriginal actually racist in itself?

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Is immediately associating a derogatory insult as racist simply because he is aboriginal actually racist in itself?

I was wondering that, but I think we might just be getting half the story. I cannot imagine myself, let alone a Footy player, getting so upset at being called "An Ape". In competition you expect some ribbing, but he seems to have really taken it on the chin, he states that he had never been so hurt? Not sure of it was because it was a young girl, or if there is more to this insult. Perhaps the entirety has not been published so that some idiot does not popularise whatever might have been said?

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Also the fact that a family friend of mines friend who is a quarter aborigine and not in the very least affected by it, receives these benefits. It is the same reason why you see these people who don't look aboriginal at all and regard themselves as aboriginal just for the benefits. Just because their grandma or grandpa was aboriginal.

Notice how it's usually the white 'Aboriginals' that cause the most ruckus as well.

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I was wondering that, but I think we might just be getting half the story. I cannot imagine myself, let alone a Footy player, getting so upset at being called "An Ape". In competition you expect some ribbing, but he seems to have really taken it on the chin, he states that he had never been so hurt? Not sure of it was because it was a young girl, or if there is more to this insult. Perhaps the entirety has not been published so that some idiot does not popularise whatever might have been said?

AFL games hear the most crude language out there. A lumbering AFL player being called an oaf, ogre or ape would be commonplace I'd have thought.

The amount of cursing that goes on at those games is phenomenal haha. I definitely agree with you. Maybe we aren't getting the full story here. But even then. Where was the real opportunity to dish out something so hurtful in a brief passing-by.

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Notice how it's usually the white 'Aboriginals' that cause the most ruckus as well.

On top of that it is the younger "aborigines" as well. The elders, who experienced more of the suppressive affects and stolen generation at the most part, consider their behaviour regressive.

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On top of that it is the younger "aborigines" as well. The elders, who experienced more of the suppressive affects and stolen generation at the most part, consider their behaviour regressive.

Yes very true. We have a bit of a problem here with the young ones. The elders are always on the news etc. saying they hate the way the younger ones are behaving.

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The thing that I find most disgusting in this story is that the 13 year old girl was roasted for two hours by the MCG security and Victoria Police after she was escorted from the field. THAT is unjustifiable.

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The media has made a bigger deal out of this than it is. They have turned it into a race issue. Like others have said, I would assume ape would refer to a big dumb oaf, nothing racial.

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The media has made a bigger deal out of this than it is. They have turned it into a race issue. Like others have said, I would assume ape would refer to a big dumb oaf, nothing racial.

The media will often do this. However, in this case, it was already a race issue before it was reported. The player appeared to perceive it as racial, and it appears that the clubs did too. I can't imagine that they would have apologised if it had just been a general insult that was hurled.

I understand the idea that calling someone an "ape" could be referring to them as an intellectually-challenged primate. But when it's said to a aborigine (or African, etc...) it carries clear racial connotations. The 'offender' being 13 years old is some basis for mitigation. Not sure what Eddie McGuire's excuse could be. After dealing with the situation well, he self-destructed spectacularly.

Nobody's got a big enough hand for a face-palm of that magnitude.

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obviously it doesn't have the same connotations down under as it does up here. it used to be a big problem in football, fans making monkey sounds every time a black player got the ball n'stuff, waving inflatable bananas and going ook ook when they scored.

in britain if you call a black man an ape, you'd better either be wearing a stab vest, or be able to run very, very fast, coz you'd find yourself in a world of s**t real quick!

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The media will often do this. However, in this case, it was already a race issue before it was reported. The player appeared to perceive it as racial, and it appears that the clubs did too. I can't imagine that they would have apologised if it had just been a general insult that was hurled.

I understand the idea that calling someone an "ape" could be referring to them as an intellectually-challenged primate. But when it's said to a aborigine (or African, etc...) it carries clear racial connotations. The 'offender' being 13 years old is some basis for mitigation. Not sure what Eddie McGuire's excuse could be. After dealing with the situation well, he self-destructed spectacularly.

Nobody's got a big enough hand for a face-palm of that magnitude.

Right, I didn't realise he took as a racial comment.

I understand in other countries ape is used as a racial slur against black people, but here I've always heard it describing a big dumb guy. I would consider Barry Hall to be the biggest ape of AFL haha.

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Right, I didn't realise he took as a racial comment.

I understand in other countries ape is used as a racial slur against black people, but here I've always heard it describing a big dumb guy. I would consider Barry Hall to be the biggest ape of AFL haha.

As was posted earlier by Shrooma, there was a long standing problem of black footballers in England being targeted with monkey noises and having bananas thrown at them. I probably take these incidents as my point of reference. It's interesting that the Aussies on this board don't automatically equate the two. But you probably haven't experienced that kind of entrenched racism that blighted football (and still does on occasions).

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Right, I didn't realise he took as a racial comment.

I understand in other countries ape is used as a racial slur against black people, but here I've always heard it describing a big dumb guy. I would consider Barry Hall to be the biggest ape of AFL haha.

The thug lives around where I am. See him at my gym a lot and have seen him at the local bar and officeworks. The thing I like about some of our people in this country is that we don't go crazy when someone famous is around.

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As was posted earlier by Shrooma, there was a long standing problem of black footballers in England being targeted with monkey noises and having bananas thrown at them. I probably take these incidents as my point of reference. It's interesting that the Aussies on this board don't automatically equate the two. But you probably haven't experienced that kind of entrenched racism that blighted football (and still does on occasions).

We don't experience stuff on that level here. Yet we are often posed as some very racist country.

I live in Victoria. To see an aboriginal is a rarity here. I haven't observed any real racism towards aborigines or racism revolving around such myself here. I've just seen it on YouTube.

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We don't experience stuff on that level here. Yet we are often posed as some very racist country.

I think it must be a hang over from the 'whites only' immigration policy and the treatment of the indigenous people. It's a stereotype, and like all stereotypes it doesn't reflect the reality.

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We don't experience stuff on that level here. Yet we are often posed as some very racist country.

It's because some of the **** we say here that's accepted is totally racist elsewhere (case in point - we're happy to say "ahh the P.a.k.i.s are playing the Poms" and think nothing of it, it's a shorthand for Pakistani and English, but the former is a dire insult in Britain).

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It's because some of the **** we say here that's accepted is totally racist elsewhere (case in point - we're happy to say "ahh the P.a.k.i.s are playing the Poms" and think nothing of it, it's a shorthand for Pakistani and English, but the former is a dire insult in Britain).

That is so true. Any Brit would be astonished at the terms Aussies and Kiwis use. It took me ages to get used to it.

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obviously it doesn't have the same connotations down under as it does up here. it used to be a big problem in football, fans making monkey sounds every time a black player got the ball n'stuff, waving inflatable bananas and going ook ook when they scored.

in britain if you call a black man an ape, you'd better either be wearing a stab vest, or be able to run very, very fast, coz you'd find yourself in a world of s**t real quick!

Cheers mate, I honestly had no idea, never heard this. Perhaps he heard it on the world stage and took it to heart, but I have never seen the words related like that here.

It's because some of the **** we say here that's accepted is totally racist elsewhere (case in point - we're happy to say "ahh the P.a.k.i.s are playing the Poms" and think nothing of it, it's a shorthand for Pakistani and English, but the former is a dire insult in Britain).

Indeed, I did not know that was a racial term, I too always thought it was just a shortened term.

Learn something new all the time huh!

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