Dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes has opened up about how his AFL career came to an end.
Goodes retired in 2016, with the final portions of his career tainted by constant booing from opposition supporters, an action many considered racially driven.
The Sydney Swans legend has explained how hurtful the booing was, and how it has forever influenced his view of the AFL.
"It just hurt,” Goodes told Anh Do on the ABC's Anh's Brush With Fame
“In a place where I thought I was pretty safe and sacred, being on a footy field, was now a place I just didn't want to go.
"I didn't feel appreciated, I didn't feel any self worth.
"In 2014 was when it started to happen every week.
“I think we only lost about five games that year so if we won the game of football, that was my big finger up to that because I couldn't see the individuals. It was the masses.
"I don't feel like I was bullied out the game.
"It was my choice. I wasn't pushed out the door.
"Injuries weren't the reason why I retired. I retired on my own terms.
"It's just unfortunate the last two years of my career are so fresh and affect my perception of AFL to this day."
It was a difficult moment in his career but Adam Goodes is determined to turn it around for the greater good. #AnhsBrushWithFame pic.twitter.com/5o7N7Do4Pt
— ABC iview (@ABCiview) August 1, 2018
A Collingwood fan referred to Goodes as an “ape” in 2013, with the two-time premiership player pointing out the spectator.
Goodes recalled the incident, opening up on why it hurt him so much.
"I heard this voice say 'Goodes, you're an ape'," he said.
"My whole world just sort of stopped in my mind.
"It's gut-wrenching.
“It’s a snapshot into a past where people only see us as animals, they see us as primitive beings that people think are lower than a dog.
“That’s when it sort of hit me. I came off (the ground) and just broke down.
“I just couldn’t believe someone so young could call me that.
"I knew she wasn't knowing what that actually means to call someone an ape, that she was probably copying people in the crowd around her.
"But it just cut me down. I wasn't expecting it.
"Being a proud, black indigenous person, being proud of where I come from, for you to cut me down because of that and what I'm proud of, it hurts."