Sydney champion Adam Goodes has opened up in a rare, wide-ranging interview after his statue unveiling last week.
The Albanese government is set to recruit Indigenous celebrities to campaign for the Voice referendum. Top contenders on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s list include three-time grand slam winner Ash Barty – two-time Brownlow medallist Adam Goodes, Olympic Gold medallist Cathy Freeman, and NBA star Patty Mills.
The Swans champion has opened up in a rare interview, discussing his experience of racism all through his football career and saying his late mother’s removal from her family as part of the Stolen Generations “broke his heart”.
Goodes, 43, was a guest on former England and Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand’s Get Real with Rio series on WeAre8 YouTube channel.
Sydney unveiled a sculpture honouring Goodes on Friday ahead of its Marn Grook match against Carlton at the SCG. Picture: Phil Hillyard
Immortalised last week with a bronze sculpture of his war dance celebration outside the Swans’ Moore Park base, Goodes said he was focused on the legacy he would leave as a father, with him and his wife Natalie Croker welcoming their third child last week.
When asked by Ferdinand if he had any regrets, Goodes said he wished he could change the early life of his late mother, who passed away in February last year aged 62 due to a heart attack.
“It just breaks my heart to think that she was living in fear her whole life that someone could knock on the door and take her kids away at any moment if she wasn’t doing the right thing by us kids.” he said.
Goodes has not reconnected with the AFL but remains involved with the Swans, speaking at his statue unveiling on Friday. Picture: Sydney Swans
“So if I could go back and change anything, I would just love to have gone back to my mum’s life, and in that moment, change the fact that she was taken (out of her family).”
He said his mother was the key influence on how he handled racism during his childhood and playing career.
“I think it’s unfortunate that it’s in our society … I was asking you about your brother (former West Ham and Sunderland footballer Anton Ferdinand) and the racism he went through, because I was going through the same crap at that time as well,” he said.
“For me, it has happened all the time, whether it be school, whether it be at the football teams that I played, and even at the elite level on and off the field, it was just part of my life.
“The best advice I got from my mum was she told me when people call you names, if they’re being racist to you, you just walk away. Be the bigger person, walk away.
“I learned later in life that when I had the confidence, and more importantly, I became articulate, I could actually confront it in my way.
“And that’s when I started to call out racism, that’s when I started to have a platform to be able to talk about racism – where it comes from, how it’s used, and more importantly, how it makes us feel.”
He told Ferdinand he had “come full circle again” by playing soccer year round with his mates, after playing the sport before he switched codes at 16.
“I retired (from the AFL) seven years ago, I’m playing football again – I’ve played football for the last six years and just loving it,” Goodes said.
“I’m playing with a good group of mates, during winter 11-a-side and then summer six-a-side, just keeping me active.
“I still love running into people … I can’t do that in my office, people get a bit weird about that, but I still need that competitiveness I still have – I need contact, I need to be part of a team.”