The AFL Players Association this week said crowds had consistently booed the Sydney champion because he had stood up against racism and voiced his opinion on Indigenous issues.

But at a pre-match function, McGuire said he wanted to remove the concept of race from the discussion, saying it was simply a matter of treating others decently.

"Take the word racism out of it, because it's too volatile, no-one wants to be called a racist," he said.

The Magpies president and media personality said he did not always agree with what Goodes said and did, but Australia celebrated Anzac Day so he could voice his opinions freely.

"We have to get past this situation of bullying and dehumanising people," he said.

"That Adam Goodes has been booed out of the game is a tragedy."

McGuire has a vexed relationship with the matter – in 2013 he suggested on radio that Goodes could be used promote the musical King Kong.

McGuire apologised on air, saying he was tired and had made a mistake, and at the weekend said he had a clear conscious about what had happened.

"I've always agreed with where Adam's coming from," he said.

He drew a parallel between the sectarian violence in Scotland and the Goodes situation.

"I worry sometimes in trying to come up with marketing campaigns ... that sometimes the AFL can put themselves in the wrong platform," he said.

"Celtic and Rangers in Scotland was a marketing idea, let's get the Catholics on one side, let's get the Protestants on the other. They've been killing each other for 100 years since.

"We have to be careful in these things that in doing good that we don't take it and allow bigots and those people who care to destroy what's great and give them the oxygen to do so."

He said the black and white stripes of the Collingwood jumper were a symbol of black and white people coming together.

Several teams have moved to show their support for the dual-Brownlow medallist by wearing their Indigenous round guernseys, or writing Goodes' number 37 on their arms.