Adam Goodes: Former Aussie Rules star says abuse left him 'heartbroken'
- Published
Former Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes retired in September 2015
Former Aussie Rules star Adam Goodes says years of abuse from rival fans left him "heartbroken" and led to him retiring.
Goodes, an Indigenous Australian, was racially abused by a 13-year-old girl at an AFL game between Sydney Swans and Collingwood in 2013.
Following the incident, he was subjected to more abuse from other supporters.
"The booing really weighed me down," he told BBC World Service's Sportshour.
Goodes won the AFL title twice and was a two-time winner of the Brownlow Medal, the sport's highest individual prize, before retiring in September 2015.
Of the 2013 incident, he said: "I passed the ball to my team-mate and then I heard, 'Goodes, you're an ape'.
"Before I turned around I was pointing at where it came from, and by the time I looked back at who it was, I realised it was a 13-year-old girl. I turned my back and the security then escorted her out of the stadium and I couldn't believe it.
"I hadn't been called an ape or a monkey for 10 years up until that point, what really rocked me was that it was such a young person. I didn't blame her, she was just calling out what other people in the crowd were doing.
"I had a really good conversation with her about what it means to call a black person an ape and how it has been used for hundreds of years to put people down, and how it affected me."
The topic of racism in society and in sport have resurfaced since the death of American George Floyd. Thousands of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter marches in the United States, UK and in Goodes' native Australia, after Floyd, 46, died while being arrested in Minneapolis on 25 May.
'The booing really weighed me down'
Despite being the victim of the incident at the MCG, Goodes, who was named Australian of the Year in 2014, says he had to close down his Twitter account because of the "abuse coming through".
"I had a very supportive football team and family and friends, and during that time my team was extremely successful," he added.
"So I was just concentrating on the game and performing my job, and standing up for what I believe in.
"What made it easy in 2014 was we kept winning. I walked off the pitch with my head held high."
In 2015, during a game at Perth's Subiaco Oval, a rival fan was removed for allegedly telling Goodes to "get back to the zoo".
However, critics say the jeers did not have racial undertones, external and were just because Goodes was not liked.
"It was in 2015 when we lost a couple games that the booing really weighed me down," he added.
"I realised that was going to be my last year of playing football - 18 years I had given to the sport, and this is the way people are treating me and sending me out.
"I didn't tell my team-mates or my wife I was going to retire and it's something I really internalised. I knew where the end point was and by that time my heart was broken."