- by Denis Doherty
- The Guardian
- Issue #2170
End Game hosted by Tony Armstrong is a very important documentary about racism in sport in Australia. It provides some insights into the problem and some solutions that could make a difference.
The most important issue that startles you with this series is seeing magnificent sportspeople being brought down by racism. Tony Armstrong himself is a man of many accomplishments, young, handsome, and popular. He has played AFL at a top level, he has a prominent job with the ABC and has won prizes for his work on ABC television. Tony has had a successful career in an area he loves, but it’s clear that the insults he’s faced have brought a lot of pain.
Similarly, Adam Goodes another AFL player who was Tony Armstrong’s captain when he played with the Swans was racially vilified with a campaign of booing that went on for weeks until finally Goodes gave up football. What was his sin? He called out a 13-year-old girl who called him an ‘ape’ and had her removed from the spectators watching the game. Adam was a two-time Brownlow medallist and Australian of the Year in 2014. None of this protected him from a racist pile on. Again, we see the effect that racism has on these stars and Tony Armstrong sets out to face it head on.
In a moving conversation in a café, Armstrong explains that as he started this work he was being eviscerated by racist slurs, Adam Goodes counsels him to put on the armour of friends and family to protect himself from attacks.
Sport is very important to Australians and the program points out that if we could eradicate racism in sport we could solve many of society’s problems.
The use of social media to send racist comments to players has risen massively and the social media giants have protested that there is not much they can do. In the UK the players formed a union and decided that they would declare a social media strike and would not touch social media for several days. The social media giants began to come to the players and discuss the issue.
As often happens, the onus to deal with abuse has been put on the victims, in this case the sports stars. In many cases where individual athletes try to deal with it, they just attract more abuse. The UK has IT organisations that search through messages going to players’ social media and block any abuse. On top of that, they can trace the perpetrators of the abuse. Offenders can be punished by being banned from games, with fines and even prison sentences.
Another avenue for racist abuse is the grandstands. Here again the UK leads the way with volunteers and security guards scanning the crowds where racist comments can be easily reported. Again the abusers are identified, and action is taken to evict the person or more serious punishments.
Another UK initiative involves education for everyone involved in sport. The organisation ‘Kick it out’ educates players as well as the broader population because of course there is also player-on-player racial abuse. Tony Armstrong asks if an organisation like ‘Kick it out’ would work in Australia. The Kick It Out CEO replies with an enthusiastic “yes.” This is Armstrong’s approach throughout the series – asking if good ideas could be implemented in Australia and if not, why not.
For instance, Armstrong approached a UK data science company to come to Australia and set up a system to protect players. This company was invited to work with the Brisbane Lions and so far, the results are promising. The system only took hours to set up. Meanwhile the giant social media companies have keep saying there is not much that could be done.
Armstrong also finds lessons and insights to be gained in the US.
In the US Gridiron star Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem because of the number of black people being murdered by police. The pushback meant that he never played for another team after that. This was during Trump’s first term. This has not stopped other US sports stars from taking their own stands, with some doing community work on the streets to improve the general lot of the ordinary people of various cities in the US.
All up, Endgame is well worth a look. Australia has a long way to go in this area.
(Endgame is now streaming on ABC iview)
