Andrew Bolt, David Penberthy debate Adam Goodes’ war dance

Sydney Swan Adam Goodes celebratres his goal against Carlton at the SCG. Picture. Phil Hillyard

THE CASE FOR – DAVID PENBERTHY

David Penberthy.

IT suits some people to pretend that they dislike Adam Goodes for reasons other than his being black and proud. They’re lying.

I am sure that some people dislike Goodes for footballing reasons. Others simply dislike him because he’s an outspoken indigenous man.

Others simply dislike him because he’s an indigenous man, full stop.

It’s been said that Good­esy’s war dance on Friday at the MCG was rude and upsetting.

It’s not as rude or upsetting as being called an “Abo”, as Goodes has at various stages in his life and career, even as recently as Friday night on social media.

It’s not as rude as being the subject of a painstakingly crafted powerpoint display, dreamt up some racist moron and emailed around the country when he won his (first) Brownlow in 2003, where he was mocked for taking his Aboriginal mother as his date.

It’s not as rude as being called an ape, and then being lectured about how the word isn’t offensive to black people, and that if you’re offended by it, maybe you’re the one with the problem.

Not as rude as having one of the biggest media figures in Australia make an out-of-character but appalling gag that maybe once the whole ape thing blew over, you could play the role of King Kong.

Not as rude as having the same media figure facilitate a fireside chat at half-time on Friday night’s Fox Footy broadcast about whether Goodes had somehow destroyed the indigenous round by doing a war dance. Surely one of the funniest things ever broadcast was Barry Hall ruminating on the panel as to the appropriateness of Goodes’ conduct. Sadly Brent Staker and Sam McFarlane were unavailable for comment.

It’s been said by Goodes’ critics that other black players don’t cop the flak he does, meaning the booing and the criticisms aren’t about his race, but his behaviour.

I am sure that many Aboriginal players, who have never said or done a provocative thing in their lives, would dispute that assessment. Michael Long, whose refusal to put up with on-field racist abuse created the AFL’s vilification rule, is one such player.

So too is the lesser known Jared Petrenko, recently delisted by the Adelaide Crows, who said in a recent interview that he often faced booing and name-calling while playing in the seconds in suburban Adelaide. Petrenko is a bloke has never said or done anything to provoke anyone.

He faced ridicule purely on the basis of his colour, as so many of his fellow Australians have, regardless of whether they are in-your-face or inoffensive.

Goodes may get the odd boo because people think he’s a stager or a sook.

In my view, Goodes mainly gets booed because he’s the wrong type of black person in the eyes of many white people.

They like their black people all smiley and polite, to go about their business without ever expressing an opinion.

Goodes, to use a term favoured by the plantation owners in the deep south, is “uppity”. He’s a troublemaking black man, who causes trouble by daring to think differently, and speak his mind.

Good on Goodes for that.

It’s been said that these are the wrong qualities for someone who is the Australian of the Year. They’re absolutely the right qualities. How pathetically insecure we must be if we can’t face being challenged and provoked by someone with uncomfortable views.

THE CASE AGAINST – ANDREW BOLT

Andrew Bolt.

CARLTON captain Marc Murphy was once fined by the AFL for giving Collingwood supporters the finger.So what fine will the AFL now give Swan Adam Goodes for capering up to Carlton supporters at Friday’s game in a war dance, yelling, slapping his arms and miming the brandishing of a spear?

The answer? None. Because Goodes said his symbolic threatening of violence was just to show he was “proud to be Aboriginal”.

Oops. That makes this beyond criticism for journalists and administrators.

In my view, his gesture was unsportsmanlike and dangerously inflammatory.

Would Goodes have threatened Aboriginal fans with an imaginary spear had the game been played in Alice Springs?

Would the AFL say nothing if a white player mimed the shooting of a gun at fans? The fans are on to such double standards, as the booing of Goodes has shown.

Yes, some booers may be racist, and others merely upset by Goodes’ bad sportsmanship, like the staging for free kicks that was called out by Shane Warne.

But most boo Goodes (while cheering the Riolis and Franklins) precisely because they are not racists, and dislike him playing for the free kick of victimhood.

They don’t see in Goodes what media defenders do — a brave, black symbol of Aboriginal oppression. They just see a grown man, “race” irrelevant, showered with honours, success and wealth, yet still carrying on like a victim. They see a grown man who even publicly humiliated a girl aged just 13 who’d (wrongly) called the bearded star an “ape”.

Goodes branded her the “face” of Australian racism, even after she’d been identified on television, and for that mean act was made Australian of the Year, which he celebrated by making fiery speeches vilifying his country as racist.

Now this, and during the indigenous round, too. Feeling reconciled? Or abused?

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