Before all the controversy that punctuated the final years of his stellar career, Adam Goodes was simply known as a sublime footballer and all-round nice guy. Goodes hails from South Australia, and his mother, who was of Adnyamathanha and Narungga descent, was a member of the Stolen Generations (Indigenous Australian children who were removed from their families by the government from 1905 and into the '70s). When his family moved to Victoria, he played Australian rules football for the North Ballarat Rebels and was drafted to the Sydney Swans in 1997. During his brilliant career he won two Brownlow Medals and two premierships. From 2013, Goodes was booed by AFL crowds, stemming from an incident in 2013 where he pointed out a young Collingwood supporter who had called him an "ape". The 2014 Australian of the Year retired in 2015 and the AFL officially apologised to him for the booing in April, 2019.
