The Australian Dream: Introducing Adam Goodes

Adam Goodes:

Growing up I knew I was different. I was darker. I actually didn't know what it meant to be an Indigenous person. I did see myself just like everybody else. It wasn't until high school where bullies, smart arses, would call me names that I then went home and asked my mum, what does that mean mum? And mum goes, 'Oh, you're Aboriginal. They're trying to tease you. What I want you to do is whenever they do that, you just keep walking away.' My mum is full blood Indigenous. My dad is Irish Scottish, but I've never really been seen as that white person. They've always just seen me as you're that black kid. I was such a shy, quiet kid growing up who really didn't have a voice. That would take a long time to make friends. And then before too long, we'd move away. But one thing that helped us assimilate was our love for sports, my brothers and I, that was the way that we broke down those barriers. Every time we moved.

Brett Goodes:

A soccer ball or a tennis ball or football, didn't matter what ball, it would keep us occupied for hours on end.

Adam Goodes:

It came naturally to me. My development came very fast.

Commentator:

Here's a chance for Clarke… [Inaudible].

Paul Roos:

This guy was an incredible athlete. That was the thing that really jumped out at everyone when he first started.

Gilbert McAdam:

Adam had a beautiful vertical leap. He could jump from here and boom, he'd touch the roof. He was a freak.

Adam Goodes:

What the Swans did in 2003 by appointing Paul Roos was actually giving me a connection to a culture, a culture that I'd been looking for, crying out for.

Eddie McGuire:

What does it mean for you to be a Brownlow medalist now?

Adam Goodes:

I don't know. I really don't know. It's a dream. I can't believe it.

Eddie McGuire:

And your poor mum who's over there, she still hasn't quite got over the shock of it over there. Lisa, well, can we ask you, how are you feeling at the moment? Looking at this son of yours?

Eddie McGuire:

Did you give him much chance going into the last round? All the way.

Adam Goodes:

My mum there who had sacrificed a lot in her life, you can just see how proud she was of me, and of the role she'd played in getting me there.

Adam Goodes:

You look around the room, see that there's a lot of names on people's lockers. And to get your name on your locker, you have to play at least a hundred games. Win a Premiership, a Brownlow…

Adam Goodes:

There's a couple of premierships up there, which is pretty awesome, and just all that ther crap.

Gilbert McAdam:

He got every ounce out of his bones and out of his skin. He did it. He's a champion and he always will be a champion, Goodesy.

Adam Goodes:

As a football club we wanted all of our players to do some extra study, or seen as an Indigenous role model and I actually still didn't really know what it meant to be an Indigenous person. Ever since I did my diploma in Indigenous studies, going on my own personal journey about who I am as an Indigenous person, anything that has been said about me, about my Aboriginality, derogatory, racist… I'm going to call it out. So I was very surprised when we filmed 'Who do you think you are?' and my mum re-lived what happened to her.

Lisa:

I've got a couple of photos to show you honey. This is your grandfather Virgil. And this one is your Nana, my mum, Daphne.

Adam Goodes:

Wow. That's awesome.

Lisa:

It's a nice photo of her. I can see myself in her. I know I'm Indigenous, but I don't know nothing about my ancestors. The same as you. Yeah. It'd be nice to know, hey?

Adam Goodes:

Yeah. You were five, weren't you?

Lisa:

Yep. About 5.6. Yeah.

Adam Goodes:

Oh, that would have been a very traumatic time, mama, to be taken away.

Lisa:

It was. The day they took us away. I think I can remember. I was stripped down, scrubbed with a scrubbing brush and they shaved all my hair off my head. Actually terrified and I was under the bed, calling out, 'mum, mum, mum.' And um…

Adam Goodes:

Yeah, it's a bit sad, isn't it mama?

Lisa:

Sure. I wanted her to pick me up and cuddle me.

Newsreader:

Andrew Bolt has slammed footballer Adam Goodes claiming he's already let us down as the Australian of the Year.

Natalie:

For him to truly express who he was as an Indigenous Australian man and not just be playing football like he was supposed to do. I think that made people uncomfortable.

Stan Grant:

He in the minds of some had committed the great sin, the black man who complains. Suddenly he wasn't just Adam Goodes, the footballer. He was Adam Goodes, the angry Aborigine. People don't like the angry Aborigine. It cuts deep here. It's something that reminds us of a history that we would really rather leave in the past.

Commentator:

The booing was there for Goodes again. Every time he kicked a goal, it was massive.

Commentator:

The boos have been getting louder every time he steps on the field.

John Longmire:

It escalated week on week. You couldn't ignore it. It was at a level that was clearly affecting Adam.

Adam Goodes:

I was done. I called up John Longmire and I just broke down. I'm not coming in today. I can't do it. I knew what I was going through. I knew I was in a dark place and I knew I needed to get myself out of it, but it was incredibly hard to do.

Adam Goodes:

I've never been one for the fairy tale ending and the perfect sendoff.

Commentator:

Well, the retiring Rhyce Shaw was chaired off. The typically understated Goodes told teammates behind closed doors.

Adam Goodes:

My ending is my ending. I chose to end it the way that I wanted to.