Overnight, during the second quarter of the Swans 60-point win over Carlton, star player Adam Goodes kicked one hell of a goal, and celebrated with what he has described as a “war cry” in front of Carlton fans.
He has since said that the gesture wasn’t meant to be aggressive towards the fans, but that it was merely a celebration of victory and a gesture to demonstrate Indigenous pride.
Per reports in SBS News, Goodes said that he had hoped to perform the with the Indigenous All-Stars team, but didn’t get the chance, so decided to do it during last night’s game instead.
“I was just a little bit inspired by the under-16 Boomerang kids, who taught us a little bit of a war cry, just a little bit of a tribute to those guys,” he continued.
“[It was nothing untoward], not at all, proud to be Aboriginal and represent.”
Watch it play out below:
Of course, the internet being what it is, there were some who couldn’t let this go, and overnight, Goodes’ Wikipedia page was defaced with racist imagery of monkeys and a series of derogatory comments.
The page has since been restored to its former state and locked, and this morning, at a recovery session, Goodes’ advised his detractors to “take a chill pill.”
“Is this the lesson we want to teach our children, that when we don’t understand something we get angry and put our back up against the wall [and decide] that’s offensive?” he said.
“If it’s something we don’t understand, let’s have a conversation and understand.”
In a post-match commentary, Collingwood president Eddie Maguire called the dance “strange” and “aggressive”, but took exception when a journalist allegedly misquoted him.
A reported apparently gold Goodes that Maguire had characterised the dance as “violent”, which he rejects.
“That is the greatest misquote and lie of a situation I’ve ever heard put to somebody,” he said this morning.
“It was an absolutely misleading and mischievous quote to Adam, trying to get a rise out of him. It’s disgraceful.”
Maguire, who once commented on-air that Goodes should be promoting the King Kong musical, said he would call Goodes today to clarify his comments and ensure no offence was taken.
Goodes’ fellow players have supported him, including Irish former Swan Tadhg Kennely, who posted a picture of himself on the field dancing a victory jig:
Proud of my heritage just like my brother @adamroy37 pic.twitter.com/Cn1irDzqGk
— Tadhg Kennelly (@TadhgKennelly) May 29, 2015
Photo: Cameron Spencer via Getty Images
