Australian Rules-Goodes bows out quietly after troubled season

By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE, Sept 20 (Reuters) - A powerfully-built athlete and an outspoken champion of Aboriginal rights, Australian Rules footballer Adam Goodes rarely shied away from confrontation throughout a long and storied career. Yet his exit from the game came quietly on Saturday and he eschewed all fanfare as his Sydney Swans were dumped from the playoffs in front of a disappointed home crowd at the Olympic Stadium. Not a word was granted to media who had catalogued every step of his troubled final season in which he was relentlessly jeered by opposition fans at stadiums around the country. No wave of acknowledgement was given to the Sydney crowd, which had been unable to drown out the boos from travelling North Melbourne Kangaroos supporters during the match. Instead, the 35-year-old let team mate Rhyce Shaw soak up the moment, the burly defender hoisted high on fellow Swans shoulders and carried off the ground after flagging up his retirement weeks ago. For Goodes, a few simple words to team mates and staff confirmed the end of a 17-year career boasting a record 372 games for the Swans, the most for an Aboriginal player and the eighth-highest of all time. Behind closed doors in the bowels of the stadium, a dry-eyed Goodes said his time had come. "I was emotional but he (Goodes) was fine," his coach John Longmire said. Goodes kicked two goals in a solid swan-song but was unable to drag his injury-ravaged team over the line as in years past, when he dominated the game like few others. Making his mark as a mobile ruckman, Goodes morphed into a goal-kicking forward, winning two championships with the Swans and two Brownlow Medals as the Australian Football League's 'fairest and best' player in 2003 and 2006. DIVISIVE FORCE? With a 6ft-4in (1.91m), 100-kg frame, Goodes gave and took plenty of physical punishment on field. Arguably though he received more bruises off it thanks to his stance as a flagbearer for indigenous people in a country where Aboriginals lag behind the mainstream in basic health and education. Fed up with racist taunts ringing from the terraces, Goodes paused during a match in 2013 to have a 13-year-old girl ejected from the Melbourne Cricket Ground for calling him an "ape". The moment, in front of 65,000 spectators and captured live on television, sparked a raging debate about race relations in Australia, a country that fancies itself a beacon of tolerance. Months later, Goodes was awarded the prestigious Australian of the Year title and used his profile to push for indigenous people's rights. His strong views upset more conservative Australians and enraged right-wing shock-jocks, who branded him a divisive force. The vitriol spilled over stadium fences in his final season, with crowds booing his every touch of the ball. In one match, he responded with an Aboriginal war-dance after kicking a goal, earning further opprobrium from critics who saw it provocative. The jeering continued and the AFL was embarrassed when Goodes withdrew himself from selection in July under the strain of the attention. That prompted an outpouring of support from rival players and media pundits, but even then there were detractors quick to condemn it a stunt. After a week off, Goodes returned to the playing field against the Geelong Cats and enjoyed a far warmer reception in the sleepy port city. The day before the game, rival coach Chris Scott had warned home fans not to boo him. "(Not) unless you want to confirm to home fans that you are a bigot," he said. Goodes played out the rest of his 17th and final season. The jeering would return, if more muted than before. "It doesn't bother me to be honest," Goodes said last week. "It's one of those things that if I paid too much attention to what the crowds do, then I'm not really playing my role on the field." (Editing by Peter Rutherford)