It was around the dinner table that Hugh McLeod, 12, hatched a simple plan to show his support for beleaguered AFL star Adam Goodes.
When he took to the field with the Willoughby Wildcats Under 12s team, he would write the number 37 – Goodes' number – on his upper arm.
But Hugh's small idea became a big one. On Saturday, hundreds of young AFL players had 37s scrawled on their arms, legs and faces.
Cutting through the polemical grandstanding of the past week, they had a simple message: we support you Goodes.
"It's pretty crazy that it spread so far. I can't really believe it is now going around NSW," Hugh said.
"Goodes isn't really my favourite player but he's an Australian legend and an AFL legend and I think people need to show support for what he's going through."
AFL NSW and ACT chief executive Sam Graham said the plan had taken root organically and several clubs had backed the idea.
While the organising body supports players writing 37 on themselves, Mr Graham said it was a "sensitive issue" and an individual choice for players and clubs.
"This has come from one particular boy who has decided to do this out of a show of support for Adam. This is a grassroots driven thing that has just bobbed along," Mr Graham said.
"I think the kids love Adam and he is such a role [model] and leader in not only the football community but in the community more broadly, and this is their way of showing their support."
While Goodes' young fans may not fully understand the discussion about racism, they know they want the veteran back on the field.
Goodes has taken indefinite leave from the Swans as he struggles to cope with the continued booing and the escalating controversy surrounding it.
"He's my favourite player and he's having a rough time when he plays," Drummoyne Power player Joshua Hauschild, 7, said. "I don't know what they are thinking when they boo but it's bullying and it's affecting him."
"People are being rude to him and they should only be saying 'go' for the other team, not booing them," another Power player, Lachlan Williams, 8, said.
One parent watching, John Blair, who is Aboriginal and brought an Aboriginal flag along to the match, said his eight-year-old son had asked him about why Goodes was on the news so often this week.
"When Goodes did the imaginary spear thing we were at the game and he asked me what it was about and we discussed what it was and what it meant," he said.
"The best way to deal with this is to talk and discuss it and I think we should all show our support. We hope this will prompt a major change in Australian society."
