ABSTRACT
The Australian Football League (AFL) has a proud history of enrichment by Aboriginal players. Yet, the Australian nation has a much longer history of racism, which the AFL does not escape. The notion that Aboriginal people contribute to a major Australian sporting code naturalized ‘white’ is illustrative. AFL offers a microcosm for examining broader social relations, and the 2019 documentary The Final Quarter offers insights into Australian racism on and off the field. The film follows the final years of First Nations Australian Adam Goodes’ playing career as he campaigns for racial justice while enduring the racial vilification of spectators, media and key figures in the AFL. The creators have made it free to Australian schools with a suite of resources in hopes that teachers will willingly teach about racism. However, anti-racism platforms struggle for legitimacy within the context of Australian schooling and choosing to teach about racism is optional. In this chapter, we discuss a qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ interpretations of the film and fundamental beliefs about teaching. This is set against a backdrop of post-racism that allows patent racism to masquerade as logic, making anti-racism activism slippery and urgent. We advocate in favour of cross-sectorial anti-racism alliances.
