Sydney Swans Football Club [email protected]

Support for

I would like you to pass on my support to Adam Goodes. As a great AFL player and Indigenous leader, Adam is both an asset to the and the AFL more generally. His courage to stand up to racist taunts and demand that Indigenous players be treated with respect and dignity during his playing career is admirable.

The racially charged booing and denigration that Adam suffered last Sunday at the hands of WCE supporters was absolutely deplorable. This wretched behaviour not only adversely affects Adam's participation in the game, but it also damages the appeal and reputation of the AFL in this country.

As a former player and lifetime supporter of the game, I am embarrassed to see this mindless taunting and abuse by other club supporters intensify in recent months.

I welcome recent expressions of support for Adam by John Longmire and , the WCE's coach, the AFL Players Association and the AFL's Statement released this week. However the shameful abuse by supporters from other clubs has been going on for months. Given this, the AFL as a whole has been slow to react and condemn this abhorrent behaviour. The AFL administration and all clubs need to be more vocal, more united and more co-ordinated in their support for Adam Goodes and their rejection of the vilification he has been subjected to.

Not confronting the booing and taunting head-on risks undoing all the good work the AFL has done to encourage Indigenous participation in the game.

I also believe the Sydney Swans can do more to support Adam Goodes.

In my opinion, the club should convene a public meeting of all members AND supporters at the SCG (or appropriate venue) during the coming week. Such a public meeting could:

1. Pass a motion of unconditional support for Adam Goodes; 2. Encourage Adam to continue playing for the club; 3. Call upon the AFL leadership team and all other club leaders to collectively condemn the contemptible booing and taunting by various supporters from other clubs; 4. Develop a longer-term strategy to oppose all forms of racist behaviour within the game and seek support for such a strategy from the wider community and other sporting codes.

Jon Atkins 0418 864 907

29 July 2015