Saturday, August 01, 2015

Keep fighting the Goodes fight

Hi pal, hope your weekend's getting off to a Goodes start.

I wasn't planning on writing a blog post today but since it's so cold I've decided to try and warm myself up by writing about the time last year when I was lucky enough to meet the 2014 Australian of the Year and Sydney Swans football superstar Adam Goodes, at an event he spoke at about the work he does with Indigenous communities.

Here's a photo of me and Goodes. (See if you're able to tell which one of us is the professional athlete and which is the dorky fan?) 

After we'd had that photo taken I asked him if we could quickly take one more where I was wearing my Collingwood bandana, and he laughed and said "sure", and then he told me that when he was growing up he actually went for Collingwood as well. 


The other thing from that day is I'd made a painting of my Adam Goodes football card and so I asked him if he would please autograph it, just the same way he'd sign any other footy card, and here's Goodes' very generous reaction to when he looked at the painting.
And here's the signed painting.
Earlier this year I was up in Sydney when my friend told me she'd been offered two tickets to see the Swans play Richmond at the SCG. I was excited to go as I'd never been to the SCG, (which is a really nice ground to watch a game at by the way!) 

As well as never having gone to the SCG before 
I'd also never been to an AFL match where Collingwood wasn't playing, and through watching the game up close and objectively I was really able to appreciate what a great player Goodes is. (Ha, but of course me saying Goodes is a great player is not news to anyone!)

Anyway here's a photo I took on the night. That's him there, number 37.
I hope Goodes is able to get back out on the ground again sometime soon, (although I wish he were playing for Collingwood), but of course I understand Goodes returning to football is not so much up to Goodes as much as it is up to the actions of all of us. 

I've got nothing but love, respect and support for Adam Goodes, he's a genuine inspiration and just an all round legend.

Here's a drawing I did of him last year.


Acrylic on A3 paper. 2014.

I was thinking about that drawing yesterday and I realised I hadn't quite captured Goodes as the incredibly important leader that he is, so I had another shot at it, and thanks heaps for reading, I really appreciate it, and to finish off this blog post here's a drawing I did yesterday.
Acrylic and love on A3 paper. 2015.

2 comments: