Adam Goodes and wife Natalie celebrate birth of first child

Retired AFL star Adam Goodes has celebrated the birth of his first child with wife Natalie.

The happy news comes after the 39-year-old Sydney Swans great received an apology from the AFL after the launch of a documentary about the final years of his career.

Natalie gave birth to a baby girl named Adelaide on Wednesday, reports the Herald Sun.

They had announced their pregnancy in February.

“We are very excited, Goodes told News Corp at the time.

“We are not finding out the sex. It’s going to be a surprise.”

The couple married at the end of 2016, a year after he retired from the AFL.

Back in the spotlight

The AFL last week apologised unreservedly for its failure to call out the racism that drove Goodes into retirement in 2015.

The league admitted, shortly before the premiere of documentary The Final Quarter, that its inaction "let down all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, past and present".

A statement attributed to the AFL and all 18 clubs - on behalf of members, administrators, staff and players - apologised for "our failures".

"Failure to call out racism and not standing up for one of our own," it said.

"Adam, who represents so much that is good and unique about our game, was subject to treatment that drove him from football. The game did not do enough to stand with him, and call it out.

"Through Adam's story, we see the personal and institutional experience of racism. We see that Australia's history of dispossession and disempowerment of First Nation's people has left its mark.

"Racism, on and off the field, continues to have a traumatic and damaging impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players and communities.

"We are unified on this, and never want to see the mistakes of the past repeated."

with AAP