A wave of support for AFL star Adam Goodes will crest at sporting venues around the country over the weekend with players and crowds ready to take a stand against booing that has forced him away from his own game.
AFL club captains issued a joint statement on Friday calling for an end to booing and jeering at players and a stand against vilification.
"Enough is enough," the statement on behalf of 18 clubs said.
"Enjoy the game, celebrate the success but don't boo, jeer or taunt players because of who they are or what they stand for."
Beyond the sporting arena, Prime Minister Tony Abbott joined those speaking out against the long-running taunting of Goodes, saying the Sydney player was "a good bloke" who should be treated with civility and dignity.
"The last thing we want in Australia is anything, anything at all that smacks of racism," Mr Abbott told Sydney radio station 2SM.
The National Congress of Australia's First Peoples issued a joint statement by 150 ethnic, sporting, religious and professional organisations and associations on Friday saying Australia "must and can be better than this".
Slamming the booing as "in large part racially motivated", the statement said dismissing claims of racism "is to use football as a shield for prejudice".
With Goodes on extended leave from playing for the Swans, demonstrations of support for the 35-year-old will be made in his absence across the weekend.
The Swans' game day banner is expected to contain an anti-racism message and a highlights package of Goodes' career will be shown at the ground, while the Richmond and Western Bulldogs AFL teams will wear their indigenous jumpers in a show of support.
Indigenous NRL stars Johnathan Thurston, of the North Queensland Cowboys, and South Sydney's Greg Inglis will perform traditional war dances to celebrate tries during their matches.
Traditional Aboriginal dancers at the Garma Festival in the Northern Territory's Arnhem Land painted Goodes's playing number, 37, on their bodies in a show of solidarity on Friday.
Junior AFL players are also planning to wear the number on the weekend.
Condemnation of the booing of Goodes has strengthened - with Fremantle AFL coach Ross Lyon saying anyone who continued the behaviour was a racist and a bigot.
However, some commentators have maintained the booing is not driven by racist sentiment and criticised Goodes' behaviour as provocative.
Former Geelong player and Footy Show presenter Sam Newman said people booed Goodes "because he's turned their game into a political forum" and accused him of provoking fans with his war dance celebration in the game against Carlton in May.
He said Goodes had "gone into hiding" because he was "not well enough equipped with the fracas and the saga that (he has) caused".
Radio announcer Alan Jones said during the week that Goodes was "always a victim" and denied the booing was racist.
AAP pt/tm/pmu
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