The major papers had a plenty to say after a huge week in the world of Adam Goodes and Sydney Swans Football Club. This week's edition of "Swans in the media", sydneyswans.com.au brings you a collection of articles from the pages of Australia's print media on the subject of Goodes and last weekend's win over Adelaide.
Jetta rises in Swans' time of need
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 3
LEWIS Jetta has always been a star but now he’s turning into a leader.
In the space of a week the speedy wingman has emerged as a fitting successor to Adam Goodes as a player the Swans look to for inspiration.
Jetta is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a move to his home state of Western Australia but his performances in one of the club’s most challenging times has tightened his connection to the Swans. It’s hard to imagine Jetta producing another one of his goal celebrations in another club’s colours. His dances against the Eagles last week and Adelaide on Saturday in honour of Goodes will forever be linked with the Sydney Swans.
His first goal and impressive choreography electrified the SCG in an emotionally charged start to the match at the SCG.
Kurt Tippett has noticed Jetta’s transformation.
“We’ve certainly seen Jetts grow in the last couple of weeks,” Tippett said.
“He’s normally a quite shy sort of a bloke but to feel his presence around the football club and to see him really stand up for something he believes in has been fantastic.
“We’ve seen him grow and develop as a person and he has shown the way for us this week.”
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Playing through the pain
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 3
ADAM Goodes’ playing future remains up in the air with Sydney refusing to rush a decision on his availability for Saturday night’s clash with Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
The groundswell of support from within the AFL community continued yesterday with pro-Goodes banners on display at the three round-18 matches around the country.
The Swans were inspired by their absent teammate on Saturday when they downed the Adelaide Crows by 52 points on an emotional afternoon at the SCG.
Kurt Tippett was one of the Swans’ best performers and, along with Lance Franklin and Ben McGlynn, played hurt.
The big man said he hoped he would again be playing alongside Goodes this weekend but the decision would be the dual Brownlow medallist’s to make.
“That will obviously be his call,” Tippett said.
“We’d love to see him back and amongst the playing group but he’s decided to have time away as the best course of action and we support him and are fully behind him.
“It would be great to see him come back, but he will come back when he is ready.”
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Support for Adam Goodes lifted us, says Sydney Swans forward Kurt Tippett
Tom Decent
SMH, August 3
Sydney forward Kurt Tippett said the hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he heard the roar of the 38,690-strong crowd in the third quarter against Adelaide Crows at the SCG on Saturday evening and was confident he and his teammates made Adam Goodes proud after their dominant performance.
During the third quarter and in the seventh minute – to symbolise the No.37 Goodes wears on his back – a standing ovation was given to the man who after copping incessant booing from rival crowds has decided to take indefinite leave from the game. It was an electrifying atmosphere and a mark of respect Tippett said affected him and the playing group in ways they did not expect.
"We certainly weren't aware that it [the one minute standing ovation] was going to happen," Tippett said. "But we certainly felt it and lifted when it did [occur]. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up when they were all cheering and standing up and I guess showing their respects to Goodesy was a good feeling. There was an energy about last night, I think it was a big game for our club ... coming off two disappointing losses and also having been through the week we had."
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Adam Goodes: football keeps the faith
Rohan Connolly
SMH, The Age, August 3
AFL football has a wonderful capacity to rally around its own, a trait we've witnessed several times this season in the face of sadness and tragedy. It did so spectacularly again over the weekend when it came to the issue of Adam Goodes.
Everywhere you looked at an AFL venue, there were gestures of support. From clubs like Richmond and Western Bulldogs wearing their indigenous round guernseys. To the appearance of Nicky Winmar, Gavin Wanganeen and Byron Pickett before the start of the Port Adelaide-St Kilda clash.
At the SCG, there was sustained crowd applause for the sadly absent dual Brownlow medallist, the No.37s and the "I Stand With Adam" posters everywhere. At the MCG, Melbourne wore wristbands in Indigenous colours and Collingwood's Travis Varcoe made his own armbands, and at Etihad Stadium, Bulldog skipper Bob Murphy wore a No.37 jumper out for the toss of the coin.
Gestures all more effective than mere words, certainly some of the more mealy-mouthed half-shows of support from this country's so-called leaders. But what now?
Hopefully, and most importantly, Goodes' return to the Sydney side this week, heartened by the clear message that a significant part of at least the football community is right behind him.
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Strength in numbers as Dogs captain dons No.37 in support
Matt Murnane
SMH, The Age, August 3
Bob Murphy began with a classy show of support for Adam Goodes and finished by leading his team to the verge of the top four when the Western Bulldogs thrashed Essendon by 87 points at Etihad Stadium.
The Bulldogs’ captain wore Goodes’ No.37 for the coin toss before Sunday’s big victory, adding to a weekend filled with match-day shows of support for the Sydney champion. In addition to the entire Dogs team wearing their club’s Indigenous jumper in support of Goodes – after the lead set by Richmond on Friday night – Murphy took his gesture a step further by wearing the No.37 on his guernsey during the warm-up for the match at Etihad Stadium.
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Adam Goodes: Nicky Winmar makes second gesture against racism
Patrick Smith
The Australian, August 3
Yes, it is a nice, symbolic touch. Clever. But it is overwhelmingly sad, too. Nicky Winmar has made a second profound gesture against racism in Australian football.
He first did it 22 years ago at Victoria Park when he lifted his St Kilda jumper and pointed to the colour of his skin. The indigenous player had been racially vilified by the crowd at what was Collingwood’s home ground.
It was thought at the time and ever since to be the moment that the nation’s indigenous code, players, administrators and supporters became sensitive to the concerns and culture of Aboriginal footballers.
In front of players from Port Adelaide and St Kilda, Winmar yesterday tossed the coin for the round-18 match at Adelaide Oval. He shared the duties with Port Adelaide 2004 premiership indigenous players Gavin Wanganeen and Byron Pickett.
The moment was one of many around AFL venues on the weekend when the football community effectively celebrated the career of Sydney’s Adam Goodes, who was unable to play against Adelaide, crushed by more than 18 months of booing which he believes is racial vilification.
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Cheer, cheer the Red and the Fight
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 2
ADAM Goodes wasn’t at the SCG but he was there in spirit as the Swans found their best form of the season to beat Adelaide by 52 points at the SCG.
Wherever Goodes watched the game he would have been proud of his teammates who played with a spirit not seen since the round eight win over Hawthorn at the SCG
The crowd of 38,690 — the biggest for the season — was full of homemade banners supporting Goodes and thousands more were wearing his famous number 37.
“I’m pleased and proud how the football club have been able to handle themselves this week,” Swans coach John Longmire said. “To have the result that we had led by our senior players was just a super effort.”
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Racists get the boot
David Riccio and Ben Pike
Daily Telegraph, August 2
IT was the day Sydney stood up to the racists.
In the seventh minute of the third quarter yesterday, Sydney Swans fans stood as one to honour Adam Goodes — the man who wears the 37 jersey — with a thunderous standing ovation.
Goodes, whose playing future remains uncertain after he stood down last Monday from all club duties unable to continue after a year of being booed by visiting fans, was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t need to be. Almost 40,000 fans flooded the SCG for the game against Adelaide Crows in a defiant and unprecedented show of support for the proud indigenous leader and crestfallen Sydney Swans hero.
Out in the stands, little boys with Goodes’s No 37 painted on their cheek joined mums with “I’m with you Adam” splashed across their Tshirts. Grandmothers with Goodes’s face pinned to their scarves stood near a collection of fathers who had turned a bed sheet into a sign that read “The Adam Goodes Stand”.
“I would be devastated if Goodsey never came back to the game,” fan Philip Keegan said. “With Goodes not playing today I feel like the racists have won. I think the crowd are behind him today, even if he isn’t here.”
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‘Cheer loud enough, he will feel it'
Jacob Saulwick
Sun Herald, August 2
Faced with an impossible task – to cheer loud enough to be a heard by a man who had removed himself from hearing distance – Sydney Swans fans could not have done any more on Saturday afternoon.
For 37 seconds prior to the first bounce, the Sydney Cricket Ground pulsed with emotion during what must have been one of the more moving episodes seen in the storied ground’s history.
In tribute to their missing champion, the Swans had arranged for 37 pictures of Adam Goodes to be flashed up on the screen, the penultimate of which was that powerful image of Goodes brandishing an imagined spear.
The cheer then, which had been building throughout the countdown, reached a crescendo yet again. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to communicate their respect and regard for a man who had sought to highlight one of a nation’s ills, and been victimised for it. And the Swans got the final result that Goodes would have wanted, winning 117-65.
"I think if everyone cheers loud enough, he will feel it and he will see it,’’ said Michael Bark, a long-time Swans member, immediately before the bounce. ‘‘And you know what, I think everyone feels it,’’ he said.
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Swans go the extra mile to show support for Goodes
Andrew Wu
Sun Herald, August 2
Lance Franklin and Lewis Jetta were among several Sydney players who went the extra mile to show their support for Adam Goodes in the Swans’ victory over Adelaide.
Franklin, Kurt Tippett and Ben McGlynn all played despite being under injury clouds as the Swans snapped an alarming form slump on an emotion-charged evening at the SCG.
Swans coach John Longmire said Franklin ‘‘probably shouldn’t have played, but played’’, while Jetta, who performed a war dance last week in support of Goodes, turned in one of his best matches of the season.
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Cheers all round as Sydney fans find voice
David Sygall
Sun Herald, August 2
All week the soap box belonged to those with a public platform: current and former sportspeople, media commentators and politicians all got their two cents’ worth.
On Saturday it was the people’s turn to have their say.
A season-high crowd of 38,690 piled into the SCG to see the Swans play Adelaide, their first match since favourite son Adam Goodes took leave from the game because of sustained taunting from crowds.
There were placards, flags and thousands of t-shirts bearing Goodes’ No.37. But, in the third quarter, in the seventh minute – representing No.37 – they rose as one to applaud. It was a triumphant counter to a drawl of booing that had grown into a howl of humiliation for Indigenous Australians across the country.
‘‘It’s a statement to show that Australia is growing and we’re accepting of people’s differences,’’ said Bigambul man Dhinawan, who choreographed a swan dance for members of the crowd to join in.
‘‘If we keep going that way it can better our lives. By coming together and celebrating Australia’s oldest culture, the Indigenous culture, we’re celebrating something that the game celebrates, the skills and thrills that Indigenous people bring to it. We’re supporting something that is bigger than some people’s backwards, small-minded reactions.’’
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Footballers and fans alike speak out for missing hero
Deborah Gough
SMH, August 2
As Sydney Swans players ran through a banner adorned with the simple word ‘‘RESPECT’’, youngsters, footballers, actors and well known Australians threw their support behind Adam Goodes and the #istandwithadam campaign promoted by Fairfax Media on Saturday.
Goodes, who is on leave after being continually booed at football matches, has received strong support from Fairfax Media through The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and editorials declaring their support for #istandwithadam.
Actors Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Richard Roxborough and Peter Phelps as well as other well known Australians, including Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young and TV personality Georgie Gardner, on Saturday sent videos to Fairfax Media backing the #istandwithadam campaign. Actors Les Hill and Paula Duncan also stepped up, emailing support.
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RESPECT
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 1
Swans let single word do talking
THERE will be just one word on the Swans banner when the teams run out at the SCG today — RESPECT.
After a week where so many words have been spoken about Adam Goodes, the simple message is powerful.
Goodes won’t be there to see his teammates run though the banner when they take on the Adelaide Crows but plenty of others will be there to support him.
SCG officials are expecting more than 40,000 to front up which would be the biggest crowd of the year, surpassing the 37,579 fans who turned up for the round 13 match against Richmond.
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‘Remarkable’ Goodes will have the community’s support
Neil Cordy
Daily Telegraph, August 1
FOR those who know Adam Goodes well it is no surprise he is inspiring an amazing level of support. Behind the scenes there would be few professional sportsmen or women in the country who work as hard as the dual Brownlow medallist.
He runs his own talent program where he provides around 60 indigenous youth from around NSW the chance to develop as individuals, athletes and community leaders through camps and mentoring.
He is a partner with Michael O’Loughlin in the GO foundation where he provides financial assistance for Aboriginal kids to attend school. He is also an ambassador for a number of community programs including White Ribbon and Recognise — the campaign for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the constitution.
Somewhere in between these activities he puts on the red and white guernsey.
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Come back, Adam
Peter FitzSimons
SMH, August 1
The booing of Adam Goodes? Rarely, if ever, has there been such a flash-point in Australian life, where the nation divides right down the middle on an issue and looks aghast at the other side, simply disbelieving that anyone could not see things the way they do.
On one side there are those of us who passionately believe Goodes to be a good man – nay, a great man – who was a worthy Australian of the Year and who has done absolutely nothing to deserve the vilification that he has received. We look around and see on this side of the gulf, all 18 Club captains of the Aussie Rules teams, Premiers Mike Baird and Daniel Andrews, Jesinta Campbell, Waleed Aly, James Packer and millions of Australians who are simply appalled that it has come to this.
…
The vilification of Goodes has to stop.
Come back and play, Adam. You are not alone, and millions of Australians support and admire you.
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Shame on you ‘haters’
Rebecca Wilson
Daily Telegraph, August 1
The most divisive week in Australian sporting history was a perfect storm that started brewing two years ago. By now, only those who have chosen to ignore all media in the past seven days would not know that Adam Goodes has finally been pushed beyond his own remarkable limits, deeply hurt and offended, left to consider his future in AFL football.
For daring to call out a teenager for labelling him an “ape” and for then being named Australian of the Year, Goodes has faced the relentless wrath of factions, vitriol that has become worthy of a scene from Macbeth.
His one “mistake” is that, as the most perfect of recipients of the country’s top gong, Goodes chose to be active rather than passive in his receipt of the award. He elected to place Aboriginality on the national agenda, and in doing so, prod the big, bigoted bear hiding behind white picket fences, carrying its racist tag in a hidden pocket of striped business shirts.
