Warning \u2014 this article contains images and references to offensive and racist language.<\/p>\n
Gamilaroi man and ABC presenter Tony Armstrong has travelled Australia and abroad to unravel the drivers of racism in sport \u2014 and search for positive, practical solutions \u2014 in the documentary series End Game.<\/p>\n
In it, some of the biggest names in sport leant into the collective ambition of eradicating racism on and off the field.<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool football great John Barnes, US Navajo and Angel City FC footballer Madison Hammond, Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja, South Sydney NRL player Cody Walker and dual Brisbane AFL premiership winner Callum Ah Chee all joined the End Game team.<\/p>\n
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Tony Armstrong shares a laugh with Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Speaking to the ABC as the series premiered, Armstrong was overcome with emotion as he recalled working with former Sydney Swans teammate and childhood hero Adam Goodes.<\/p>\n
“It [End Game] wouldn’t have worked without him. We didn’t want to re-traumatise him, but that’s not what happened. He’s such a good bloke,” Armstrong said, wiping away tears.<\/p>\n
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Brothers standing united together against racism, Adam Goodes and Tony Armstrong at the SCG. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Goodes is deeply respected by many First Nations peoples across the nation for standing up for himself, his culture, his people and his beliefs.<\/p>\n
But despite being a premiership winner and a two-time Brownlow Medallist, in 2013 Goodes was called an “ape” by a teenager<\/a> during an Indigenous Round match between Sydney and Collingwood.<\/p>\n Goodes ‘cut down’ because he was powerful: King<\/a><\/p>\n Charlie King lays down a challenge to AFL to prove it has changed, in the wake of a documentary chronicling the racism that ended Australian footballer Adam Goodes’s career.<\/p>\n It was the catalyst for two years of relentless booing on-field and criticism from some media commentators.<\/p>\n “I totally felt like I wasn’t getting any respect for the way I was verbalising my situation,” Goodes told Armstrong.<\/p>\n “Sometimes you can say and do all the right things, and it still doesn’t work.”<\/p>\n After playing for sixteen years at an elite level, the jeers took a huge toll on the former Sydney captain.<\/p>\n Goodes walked away from the sport he loved at the end of 2015.<\/p>\n “For me, once I retired from football, I knew my role was taking a back seat.”<\/p>\n In the decade since Goodes’ retirement racist trolling has moved online, with people of all ages suffering the consequences.<\/p>\n A former ABC News Breakfast presenter and two-time Logie award winner, Armstrong said he was motivated to make the series after he faced a high degree of online trolling directed at him, his family and partner.<\/p>\n “I basically got to a point where I’m copping a fair bit. I can handle it at this point in time,” he said.<\/p>\n “It’s incumbent on me [to make the series] with the position I’m in professionally, how I’m seen in Australia. I felt like I could have an impact.” Some of the racist trolling aimed at Tony Armstrong and his family. (Supplied)<\/p>\n While in England, Armstrong caught up with Premier League Hall of Fame player Rio Ferdinand who spoke about his personal experiences with racism and the need to apply pressure on the highest levels of the sporting and corporate world to fight it.<\/p>\n “I think the social media companies need to take more of a responsibility to put the little things in place to have consequences for bad practice,” he said. Rio Ferdinand, regarded as one of football’s greatest players, opens up about the toll racism took on him and his family. (Supplied)<\/p>\n Legendary West Indian cricketer Michael Holding also shared his motivation for speaking out about racism during a live cricket broadcast at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in July 2020.<\/p>\n “If you have a platform, use it, and I’m not just talking about black people, white people,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “If you believe that there should be equality use that platform that you have got.”<\/p>\n West Indian cricket legend and commentator Michael Holding is calling for athletes to step up. (Supplied)<\/p>\n Australian cricketer and proud Muruwari woman Ash Gardner recalled the attacks she faced for posting on social media her view that it was inappropriate for the Australian cricket team to play on January 26 due to the pain the day brings to First Nations people.<\/p>\n Gardner told Armstrong she found the abuse shocking, but stood by her comments.<\/p>\n “The legacy that I want to leave behind is not actually what I did on the cricket pitch but how I can change things for the greater good,” she said.<\/p>\n Tony Armstrong and the End Game crew at the home of Australian cricketer Ash Gardner. (Supplied)<\/p>\n Armstrong said the conversations he had with athletes, particularly from overseas, opened his eyes to the difficulties when calling out racism in Australia.<\/p>\n “One of the things that struck me and made me quite frustrated was overseas they actually say that they’ve got an issue,” he said.<\/p>\n “Whereas here in Australia we’re just like, ‘nothing to see here, man. What do you mean? We’re all happy, aren’t we?'”Armstrong wary of backlash<\/p>\n The series was directed by Guugu Yimithirr man Dean Gibson, who is no stranger to the subject of racism.<\/p>\n In 2021 he directed and wrote the award-winning documentary Incarceration Nation which examined the Australian justice system’s treatment of Indigenous people and the historical systemic racism involved.<\/p>\n End Game director Dean Gibson alongside cricketing great Michael Holding. (Supplied: Dean Gibson)<\/p>\n “Sadly, these things happen on a regular basis across the country \u2014 over the weekend, across all sporting codes, across all communities across Australia. So we’re well aware that this a really prevalent, relevant topic,” he said.<\/p>\n The director described Armstrong as “brave and courageous” for the stance he has taken and for being the face of the End Game series.<\/p>\n He acknowledged the risk that Armstrong will again come under significant racist trolling when the documentary airs.<\/p>\n “You could sense that it was weighing on him [Armstrong] as the production grew and he recognised this will be a national conversation, that people will have strong opinions either way,” he said.<\/p>\n “He lifted the weight and he really rides that rollercoaster of those emotions. That’s real, and I think that’s the best part of what he brings to this production.”<\/p>\n Tony Armstrong hopes the new series will help to inspire and educate people. (Supplied)<\/p>\n The documentary makers commissioned a survey of 2,111 Australians from social impact agency No 2nd Place about attitudes to sport, fandom and racism.<\/p>\n Only 27 per cent of respondents agreed that racism was an issue in their favourite sport, compared to almost double who agreed that racism was a problem in the country \u2014 something the report’s authors described as “the ultimate form of rose-coloured glasses”.<\/p>\n Know The Real Score<\/a><\/p>\n Are you game to tackle racism in sport?<\/p>\n Three out of four respondents denied they held prejudice against other cultures.<\/p>\n When an incident of racism had been witnessed, only one out four bystanders agreed they would check on the wellbeing of a victim.<\/p>\n “We shouldn’t underestimate how hard it is for a bystander to speak up,” Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharam Sivaraman told the ABC at the official launch of End Game.<\/p>\n “You might feel vulnerable as well. You might be the same colour of skin as the person that’s being attacked, and then you’re expected to step in and probably you’re going to cop it as well.” Giridharan Sivaraman says eliminating racism on and off the field requires a systemic, national approach. (ABC News: Jack Ailwood)<\/p>\n Mr Sivaraman said the National Anti-Racism Framework launched by the Australian Human Rights Commission last year<\/a> offered “much bigger solutions \u2026 that change our systems and institutions so that the racism that we see on streets, on trains, in schools doesn’t happen”.<\/p>\n Mr Sivaraman said the neo-Nazi attack on the Camp Sovereignty protest site<\/a> in August was a sign that racism was on the rise.<\/p>\n “The fact that neo-Nazis openly, without masks or sunglasses and in broad daylight, attacked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, that’s hugely concerning,” he said.<\/p>\n Loading…Can sports drive positive change?<\/p>\n With the first of End Game’s three episodes airing on Tuesday night, Tony Armstrong and Dean Gibson said they wanted it to inspire and educate.<\/p>\n “The tone from day one was we wanted it to be an empowering piece of television that really empowers First Nations people, but also \u2026 people from all backgrounds, to have this conversation and in a respectful, safe and understanding empathetic manner,” Dean said.<\/p>\n<\/a>Trolling motivated Armstrong to make series<\/p>\n
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