Caroline Wilson asked Damien Hardwick, on Tuesday’s Footy Classified: “what do you say to Adam Goodes tonight?” He responded in his typical manner: trying to take the heat out of the issue and focus on the people who are involved at the most critical point of the matter. He uttered one sentence that, perhaps unfairly condemned some members of ‘the footy community’. Footy coaches have the unenviable task of having to pretend that footy is the most important thing in the world, while also emphasising that it is just a game. It is a kind of work that is all-consuming; footy these days, devoid of the play that it derived from. Footy coaches, too, are asked questions in many matters beyond footy.
Dimma: “I was thinking about this [Wilson’s question] on the way in. It is an incredibly sad set of circumstances. I played against him for a long period of time. Now I’ve coached against him for a period of time. As a player – I still worry about him as a coach. … Unfortunately there are some moronic people, within society, within footy crowds. It is an incredibly bad look. Whether it is bullying, racism, I don’t know. It is just incredibly disappointing that Australian football people do this. We’re a family. I don’t understand why we don’t treat each other as family. The fact of the matter is, if my Richmond supporters are booing Adam Goodes, they’re booing Shane Edwards, they’re booing Nathan Drummond, they’re booing every single Indigenous player in the competition. And it is not on.”
Dimma remembers the good days
Dimma’s expression changed from cheerful at the beginning of his answer, to grim by the conclusion. Cheerful, while thinking of the qualities of Goodes as a footballer, grim while condemning the attitude to Goodes coming from the crowd.
Adam Goodes, 365 games, two Brownlows, two Premiership medals, Australian of the Year. To think of Goodes as only a footballer is to deny his identity and to deny his ongoing work to attain the appropriate place for Aboriginal Australia in the Australian nation. He doesn’t deserve indifference, let alone racist bullying; he deserves respect and love. He should be a figure of pride for the whole footy community, instead he has been – hopefully only for the very short term – pushed out of the game he has given so much to.
The position of the Richmond Football Club in this issue is clear. In terms of its current players, the Club has highlighted the story of Shane Edwards and his process of exploring his family’s story. The Club has played a committed role in the Dreamtime at the G game. Perhaps most importantly, though, the RFC is home to the Korin Gamadji Institute, which offers training for Indigenous youth to develop life-skills, such as ‘leadership, health and well-being and cultural pride and affirmation’. The KGI has been endorsed and highly recommended by Reconciliation Australia. The team on Friday, will again don the Dreamtime jumper: a proud moment to indicate solidarity with Goodes and the values he stands for.
Come on you Tigers.
Suitably stern
Beautifully summed up Andy, agree with every word. I am proud of the RFC today.
Brendan O’Reilly
Great coaches are always great leaders…and Dimma is definitely showing great leadership here as he always has done.
Hey Brendan and Bretta,
Thanks for your comments.
It was great to see the club taking the initiative to wear the Indigenous Round jumper. I wasn’t at the game but saw a photo of the banner stating ‘we stand for reconciliation’. Was the other side of the banner a message to the players?
I presume that other clubs are also participating in these important symbolic gestures, but the Tiges took an important step.
Apparently Shane Edwards is not in the team’s ‘leadership group’ – I guess that will change by next year.
If you were at Friday’s game, I trust it must have been wonderful.
best,
Andy
The club along with the cheer squad decided to make a stand for reconciliation, and proudly displayed that on our banner, we also waved indigenous flags in the cheer squad along with our proud yellow and black. much of this was inspired by our cheer squad leader and members of the staff from the Korin Gamadji Institute, and we are proud to support them in their work, and it was a wonderful surprise that when we took the banner down to strip it we were treated to a thank you performance from some of the local community. Our players stood up against the unconquerable Hawks, and I proudly waved the indigenous flag front and center behind the goals every time we scored. I am not Aboriginal, I came here from the UK in 1960 and for years was called one of those Pommy bastards, and I had a brother in law who was part aboriginal, I have friends from many parts of the world, and do not want to see football become racist in any way, GO Tiges and stand up for all cultures.
Hi Vince,
Thank you for sharing your experience in the above quote. ‘Pommy Bastard’, too, is unacceptable, as you rightly point out.
As you also suggest in your post, waving the Aboriginal flag is not something only to be done by Aboriginal Australians. I tried to take photos of the footage of you – (and I think one other person?) waving the flag at the end of the game. Again, this was a proud moment to be a Richmond fan.
Can you tell me what was on the other side of the banner?
You and the rest of the Cheer Squad should be commended. Again, the Club went beyond just the mere act of showing support for Adam Goodes, but also indicated the Club’s support for a broader social issue.
best,
Andy