Today in Kids Say The Darndest, Most Disgusting Things, veteran Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes has expressed his disbelief over an incident last night in which a 13-year-old girl was ejected from the MCG for racially vilifying the Brownlow medalist and two-time premiership winner during an Indigenous Round match against Collingwood.
Said Goodes in a press conference this morning, “To hear a 13-year-old girl call me an ape. It was shattering. When I saw it was a young girl. I was just like really? How could that happen?”
“It’s not the first time on a footy field I’ve been referred to as a monkey or an ape,” Goodes told assembled reporters this morning. “This week is a celebration of our people, our culture. It’s not her fault. Unfortunately it’s what she hears, it’s the environment she’s grown up in that makes her think it’s OK to call people names.”
“She would have no idea how it makes someone feel, calling someone an ape. She’s 13, she’s uneducated. If she wants to pick up the phone and apologise, I’ll take that call.”
The incident occurred toward the end of the final quarter of the match, an eventual 47-point triumph for the Swans, when a tween in a Magpies jumper with hair down to there yelled out at Goodes from the front row, leading to a verbal altercation and her subsequent removal from the grounds.
A visibily shaken Goodes then left the field following the siren, having been “[affected] so much I couldn’t even be on the ground to celebrate the indigenous round. The person that needs the most support is the girl. She’s 13.”
“It felt like I was in high school again being bullied. I don’t think I’ve ever been more hurt by someone calling me a name. Not just by what was said, by who it came from. What are our parents teaching our kids?”
“I’m still shattered; personally it’s tough.”
Following the match, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire immediately to apologized to Goodes “on behalf of Collingwood and on behalf of football.”
“And now we have to make sure that this girl is educated,” said Ed, “That we don’t throw her onto the scrap heap, but also we don’t tolerate abominable behaviour.”
According to McGuire, the incident is being dealt with by the police, but not “CSI Collingwood.”
UPDATE:
Just received a phone call from a young girl apologizing for her actions. Lets support her please#racismitstopswithme #IndigenousRound
— Adam Goodes (@adamroy37) May 25, 2013
Photo: Michael Dodge via Getty
