The week began with Cronulla Sharks brothers Andrew and David Fifita being stood down indefinitely for allegedly abusing a referee at a juniors game. 

Things went from bad to worse when Sydney Swans star and 2014 Australian of the year Adam Goodes succumbed to the constant abuse of booing crowds at AFL games. 

The club announced Goodes would be taking a break from competition as he clearly struggled to cope with what is abuse with a racist undertone.

The disciplining of the Cronulla players for their conduct as spectators is unusual but sadly conduct of this kind is not. 

Around the country at both junior and senior levels match officials cop an earful, and sometimes much more than that, from spectators who seem to have lost all sense of what sport is about. 

There always will be barracking and booing from the sidelines in senior competitions. 

The players and most of the spectators are adults, often lubricated by alcohol, and part of the atmosphere comes from the interaction of the crowd, whether that number in the hundreds or the tens of thousands.

What there is no room for is out-and-out abuse of players, match officials or other spectators. Conduct of this kind in front of children is unconscionable.

Just as appalling and indicative of a malaise eating away at Australia society, is the racially motivated abuse of that Goodes has been the latest victim.

This proud indigenous Australian has been a great role model for indigenous and non-indigenous Australians on and off the field. It is hard to escape the conclusion that the campaign of booing him was triggered only by him daring to perform a tribal spear throwing dance in front of an audience uncomfortable with displays of pride in indigenous culture.

What a sad contrast that is with the reception the Maori haka gets in New Zealand, and around the sporting world.