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I was at the viewing last night. I was surprised that it didn't make me as angry as I thought it would (the well-timed placing of Charlie Pickering's intelligent, humourous calling out of 'middle-age white men' might have helped temper the growing anger and exasperation).
The most emotional parts for me were his mum pleading for everybody to just give him a break and letting him play football, the #istandwithadam game footage and interviews and the comments about him missing out on a proper farewell at the grand final.
The film makers were at the theatre for a Q&A and some of the questions were excellent. It was interesting to hear that Adam wasn't aware of just how much media coverage some of the the incidents generated and how widespread the racism was and it was (understandably) upsetting for him to see. Offsetting this though was that he was also not aware just how massive that #istandwithadam game was and that he became quite emotional seeing the support that a great deal of the public had for him. It made me emotional watching that part so I can only imagine how it made him feel.
The doco will be sent to ALL schools in Australia with resources generated in conjunction with the Australian Human Rights Commission and Recognise (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong). Sporting clubs will also be able to request a copy with the resources free of charge. I think this is brilliant and will go a long way to the younger generations have a greater understanding of racism, specifically casual racism. Unfortunately I've been silly enough to read some of the comments in the doco articles and I have very little faith that the greater football public will even view this documentary ("He's a flog, why would I waste my time watching this") so there is very little chance that they'll change their views. If only they would though - the doco does a great job of debunking the myths of; a) he plays for frees (more than any other players); b) he victimised the 13 year old girl (actual footage shown of his interview the following day where he specifically says "SHE'S NOT TO BLAME" and asks the media to leave her alone and help her), and ; c) Adam brought it on himself (really?!?!).
Adam comes across as the outstanding person he is. So poised, eloquent, humble and calm throughout all his interviews and appearances.
The film makers mentioned a free-to-air viewing possibly in August/September I believe - again if anybody else was there and I'm misremembering, please correct me, I'm unwell and things are a bit fuzzy.
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Further to this, I was quite surprised at Robbo's reaction throughout the time that the doco covers. I'm not a fan of his and was surprised to see how supportive he was of Adam and how critical he was of the AFL. I don't remember that. Goes to show how prejudices cloud our memories of things. It made me a teeny bit (very teeny bit) forgiving of those who remember the Collingwood Fan incident different to reality. I mean a really teeny bit.
The most emotional parts for me were his mum pleading for everybody to just give him a break and letting him play football, the #istandwithadam game footage and interviews and the comments about him missing out on a proper farewell at the grand final.
The film makers were at the theatre for a Q&A and some of the questions were excellent. It was interesting to hear that Adam wasn't aware of just how much media coverage some of the the incidents generated and how widespread the racism was and it was (understandably) upsetting for him to see. Offsetting this though was that he was also not aware just how massive that #istandwithadam game was and that he became quite emotional seeing the support that a great deal of the public had for him. It made me emotional watching that part so I can only imagine how it made him feel.
The doco will be sent to ALL schools in Australia with resources generated in conjunction with the Australian Human Rights Commission and Recognise (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong). Sporting clubs will also be able to request a copy with the resources free of charge. I think this is brilliant and will go a long way to the younger generations have a greater understanding of racism, specifically casual racism. Unfortunately I've been silly enough to read some of the comments in the doco articles and I have very little faith that the greater football public will even view this documentary ("He's a flog, why would I waste my time watching this") so there is very little chance that they'll change their views. If only they would though - the doco does a great job of debunking the myths of; a) he plays for frees (more than any other players); b) he victimised the 13 year old girl (actual footage shown of his interview the following day where he specifically says "SHE'S NOT TO BLAME" and asks the media to leave her alone and help her), and ; c) Adam brought it on himself (really?!?!).
Adam comes across as the outstanding person he is. So poised, eloquent, humble and calm throughout all his interviews and appearances.
The film makers mentioned a free-to-air viewing possibly in August/September I believe - again if anybody else was there and I'm misremembering, please correct me, I'm unwell and things are a bit fuzzy.
- - - Updated - - -
Further to this, I was quite surprised at Robbo's reaction throughout the time that the doco covers. I'm not a fan of his and was surprised to see how supportive he was of Adam and how critical he was of the AFL. I don't remember that. Goes to show how prejudices cloud our memories of things. It made me a teeny bit (very teeny bit) forgiving of those who remember the Collingwood Fan incident different to reality. I mean a really teeny bit.
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