Back in 2013 on Off The Ball, we learned about the history of indigenous Australian players after the Australian Football League decided to name an all-indigenous selection for that year's International Rules series.
Senior football writer for The Age newspaper, Rohan Connolly, spoke to us about it at the time and tonight he joined us again as a racism storm brews in Australian Rules Football.
Leading indigenous player, Adam Goodes, has been booed constantly by away fans and many believe that it is down to racism, with the 35-year-old Sydney Swans man having suffering incidences of abuse during his career.
One of the most high-profile moments came when a 13-year-old girl called him an "ape" during a game, with Goodes pointing her out to security before she was subsequently ejected.
Connolly started by discussing the booing Goodes has been subjected to and touched on the reaction to a speech made by the player upon being named Australian of the Year in 2014.
"He made a speech when he accepted that award which some people found a little bit too confronting. I'm certainly not one of them. I think he made some points about indigenous Australia which I certainly accepted. I think a lot of other people do as well. For me, and this is just my opinion, I think a lot of people pay lip service to reconciliation with the indigenous people of this country. But when it comes to talking about difficult subjects, they don't actually want to know," he explained, before touching on the most recent incidents of booing.
Back page of today's Herald Sun newspaper. #AdamGoodes pic.twitter.com/WGO8X3MRCH
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) July 30, 2015
"The whole thing has really boiled over this week and sadly - and this is the saddest part of it - it's left Adam in a precarious enough mental state," said Connolly, adding that there are question marks over Goodes' future participation in the game.
Some do argue that not all the booing is racist, and while Connolly says that "some of it has been a sheep-like mentality" and the result of some people who dislike his on-field actions, he feels that is all in combination with racist reasons in some cases.
Going on to discuss the intolerant under-current prominent in certain portions of the right-wing media, he also added: "I don't like saying this as part of the media, but I think in several cases, it's been fueled by media".
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