THE YOUNG girl who racially vilified Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes has called him to apologise.

Goodes revealed via Twitter he had spoken to the girl, urging people to support her.

Earlier, Goodes said he was "gutted" when the 13-year-old girl called him a racist slur towards the end of Friday night's game against Collingwood at the MCG.

Fronting a media conference on Saturday morning, the two-time Brownlow medallist said the young girl called him an ape.

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But Goodes said he did not blame the girl, saying she would have no idea how much her comments had hurt him and his family.

"I'm pretty gutted to be honest. The win, the first in 13 years, to win by 47 points against Collingwood, to play such a pivotal role just sort of means nothing," Goodes said.

"To come to the boundary line and hear a 13 year old girl call me an 'ape', and it's not the first time on a footy field that I've been referred to as a 'monkey' or an 'ape', it was shattering."

Goodes said he will not pursue legal action.

"It's not her fault," he said of the girl.

"She's 13, she's still so innocent. I don't put any blame on her. Unfortunately, it's what she hears, in the environment she's grown up in that has made her think that it's ok to call people names."


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"It cut me deep, and it affected me so much that I couldn't even be on the ground last night to celebrate a victory, to celebrate Indigenous Round. I'm still shattered, personally, it's tough."

The 33-year-old, 328-game veteran received huge support from AFL players and the public following the incident, many via social media.

"I'm loving the support of my friends and family, and people in the social media, it's fantastic, but I think the person who needs the most support right now is the little girl. People need to get around her.

"She's 13. She's uneducated. If she wants to pick up the phone and call me and apologise, I'll take that phone call, and I'll have a conversation with that girl about, 'you know what, you called me a name, and this is how it made me feel'. And it's school stuff."

Asked if it was the lowest point in his career, Goodes said he was not sure, adding: "I don't think I've been more hurt by someone calling me a name than I was last night. Not because of what was said, but because where it came from: a 13-year-old girl.

"It just hit me that it's not a Collingwood issue, it's not an AFL issue, it's a society issue. It's an issue of what are our parents teaching our kids?

"I've had fantastic support over the past 24 hours."

"I just hope that people give the 13-year-old girl the same sort of support because she needs it, her family needs it, and the people around them need it. It's not a witch-hunt, I don't want people to go after this young girl. We've just got to help educate society better so it doesn't happen again."

Sadly, this incident isn't the first time Goodes has experienced racism whilst playing in the AFL.

He said opposition players have racially vilified him during games over the past ten years.

"There's no place for racism in sport," Goodes said.

"There's no place for racism in society, and I'm going to continue to stand up here and keep saying it until it's completely rid of."

Goodes decided against pressing charges against the young girl, leaving any potential sanction in the hands of the AFL.

"She was shocked, mate. She was really shocked, and that's what hurt me so bad. When I turned around I saw this young face. It was sad. It was just so sad," Goodes said shaking his head.

Demetriou urges caution

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou urged caution when condemning the young girl, given her age.

"I think we've got to be very conscious of the fact that this is a very young girl, and from our perspective, she is a girl that I think obviously needs to be educated and counseled, and we will be in contact with her parents to offer that support," Demetriou said on Saturday.

"Everyone would have felt for Adam last night. He's just a wonderful ambassador for our game."

"I'm sure that out of this really disappointing event, I think some positives can come from it."