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Renewed anger over Sam Newman's 'horrific' treatment of Adam Goodes

Yahoo Sport Australia

The Adam Goodes documentary has sparked fresh condemnation of Sam Newman after ‘The Final Quarter’ aired on Australian TV on Thursday night.

Broadcast to a wider audience for the first time, the documentary shone a light on the awful treatment that forced the Sydney Swans legend into retirement.

The two-time Brownlow medallist and two-time premiership player was booed relentlessly at games around Australia before he hung up the boots in 2015.

The awful treatment was sparked by Goodes calling out a 13-year-old Collingwood supporter for calling him an ‘ape’ in 2013, and was reignited two years later when he performed an Aboriginal war dance in the direction of Carlton supporters during Indigenous round in 2015.

Sam Newman's criticism of Adam Goodes in 2015 has been condemned once again. Image: Getty/WIN
Sam Newman's criticism of Adam Goodes has been condemned once again. Image: Getty/WIN

The documentary - which is made up entirely of archival footage - heavily featured the criticism that Newman aimed at Goodes at the time.

Newman infamously claimed Goodes wasn’t being booed because he was Aboriginal, but rather because he was acting ‘like a jerk’.

‘STILL SICKENING’: Shock and anger over 'painful' Adam Goodes documentary

After rewatching Newman’s rants about Goodes on Thursday night, many took to social media to condemn the way he seemed to fuel the hatred.

Anita Heiss, Professor of Communications at University of Queensland, said: “Sam Newman and his audience speaks volumes about the blatant racist and homophobic undercurrent in Australia... pulling us all down...”

And she wasn’t alone.

Newman’s Wikipedia page was even altered during the screening.

Newman responded to viewers’ comments in a sarcastic tweet on Friday morning.

The 73-year-old said he “would love to have been (a) part of (the) conversation, but wasn’t allowed” – referencing a telephone exchange he had with the director after the film premiered last month.

Newman irritated to be featured

Ian Darling previously revealed how he received an angry phone call from Newman.

According to the director, Newman was irritated to learn he had been featured in the film.

“Sam called up. He wanted to know why he was in the film,” Darling told Channel Nine last month.

“I made it very clear we wanted to simply show the conversation that happened during that period.

“It was really important that everyone who had a voice was represented and people added to the conversation in so many different ways and Sam played an important role in that conversation.”

The documentary does not feature interviews with any of its subjects.

Instead, Darling’s film relies on footage and other media from the time, a decision the director made in an effort to show what was said at the height of the controversy.

“In other documentaries I have interviewed people and everyone who is being interviewed, they’re answering questions for the documentary and they’re prepared,” Darling said.

“Whereas in this instance everyone simply revealed themselves as they were in the heat of battle. I think that’s why there’s such an honesty to the film.”

In addition to his call to Darling, Newman took to social media to criticise the film upon its release.

“Criticising someone from another race - doesn’t make you a racist,” Newman wrote on social media.

“The groveling doco by Sharksh*t Productions ‘The Final Quarter’, should be ‘The Last Straw’.

“Adam Goodes initially was booed for taunting Carlton fans. Racist? So be it.”