Racism (and abuse) takes many forms

As soon as we heard what the words the young Barcodes supporter had yelled at Adam Goodes were, AussieRulesBlog was pretty sure there’d be a fair degree of misunderstanding. The grainy footage of another Barcodes supporter accusing the umpires of awarding free kicks on a racial basis further illustrates the issue.

 

The AFL, prompted by the likes of Nicky Winmar and Michael Long, has taken a very commendable lead in attempting to combat racism. Unfortunately though, it hasn’t been made crystal clear that racist comment is in the ear of the receiver.

 

We haven’t had to live our life as an indigenous person, but a tale we heard on radio on Friday night gives a little insight.

 

Speaking on SEN, former Blues coach Wayne Brittain related a conversation between himself, his daughter and a young Aboriginal woman staying with them. Both the young women were recently-licensed drivers.

 

Brittain asked his daughter how many times she had been pulled over by the police while driving. None, she replied, flabbergasted. Brittain asked the young Aboriginal woman the same question. “Four times”, was the answer.

 

When you’ve lived your life under that sort of scrutiny, it’s not surprising that words the rest of us don’t take offence at can wound deeply.

 

AussieRulesBlog felt honour-bound to apologise this week to two English women we work with. It’s easy to make casual ‘jokes’ at the expense of people who are different, and it’s no less racist than what was said to Adam Goodes.

 

And we noted a call in the midst of the Goodes affair from Saint Stephen Milne asking the AFL to take action over non-racist abuse. Many would know of incidents in Milne’s past that continue to be used as barbs against him, including by a current AFL coach. AussieRulesBlog has mentioned mindless abuse by fans many times.

 

Now-retired umpire Stefan Grun has penned a piece for the Sunday Age today and it’s a cracker.

 

“Why is it acceptable in our culture that you can abuse and deride someone just because you are watching a sporting contest?”

 

It’s a good question!

 

There’s a Bombers fan who sits near AussieRulesBlog at Bombers’ away games at Docklands and hurls abuse at the umpires almost from the first bounce. We’re sort of grateful that the abuse doesn’t descend into swearing, but the constant assertions that the umpires are “moron”s and “idiot”s are enough to label this person as a fool. We’re going to take a copy of Grun’s article and hand it to him at the next game.