Graham Cornes: Crows must fight Port’s push to wear the prison bars jumper in Showdowns
Port Adelaide’s always wanted more than its fair share and with the black and white jumper push is just the latest example of the club’s disregard for the footy public, writes Graham Cornes.
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At the risk of upsetting family and friends, here goes.
There was an old saying in the pre-metric days:
“Give an inch and they’ll take a mile.”
Never was it more appropriate to the Port Adelaide Football Club.
They’ve always wanted more than their fair share.
Such an attitude might explain the unrivalled success the club enjoyed in the SANFL but it has never endeared it to the rest of the football public.
The debate about how often the team should wear its traditional black and white jumper is the latest example of the club’s disregard for the rest of the competition.
Having been given permission by the AFL and the nod from Collingwood to wear the black and white prison bar jumper in its home Showdown, the Alberton crowd now want to impinge on the rights of the Crows and wear it in Adelaide’s home Showdown.
It can’t happen; it won’t happen.
Apart from finals, the home Showdowns are the biggest games of the year for the two South Australian clubs.
It’s is the best opportunity for each to promote their club and team to the rest of the country.
The Adelaide Crows are not going to let Port Adelaide’s belligerence and disrespect dilute the promotional opportunities of its biggest match of the minor round, which the publicity surrounding its archaic jumper will surely do.
Port Adelaide’s spurious argument for pursuing this campaign? They claim the game should be designated a heritage match because they had previously been given AFL approval to wear the jumper in its Heritage Round.
They claim Adelaide is Port’s oldest AFL rival.
Well, Adelaide might be Port’s fiercest cross-town rival but the Crows’ oldest rival since it has been in the AFL would surely be Hawthorn.
Neither would it be a heritage round for the Crows whose history is surely steeped in the traditions of the SANFL.
It’s a trumped-up marketing excuse and the AFL will surely see through it. Besides, there hasn’t been an AFL Heritage Round for some time now simply because various clubs opted out of the theme and others went way too “authentic” with their historic costumes.
The round became an object of ridicule instead of one that solemnly respected the histories and traditions of the 12 VFL clubs.
The club claims over 30,000 Port fans have signed a petition to make it happen, but really, how hard would it be to get 30,000 Port members and fans to sign an on-line petition, particularly when they know it’s really going to annoy the Crows members.
Here’s an idea. Let’s raise a petition among the Crows (and Collingwood) supporters to see if they approve.
It wouldn’t be too hard to surpass Port’s 30 odd thousand signatures.
Here’s another idea. Let’s start a campaign for the Crows, in Port’s home showdown week, to wear an adaptation of one of the state jumpers that have represented the SANFL over the decades. Can you imagine the outrage, the uproar? It was bad enough back in 2014 when the club proposed to pay respects to its history and tradition by wearing an adaptation of a state jumper in a heritage round.
Port Adelaide can’t have it both ways. When the new company was formed to take the club into the AFL, it had to leave its Magpie image and old jumper in the SANFL and design a new jumper.
Contrary to the propaganda, the old Port Adelaide Football Club didn’t enter the AFL; it’s a new company and a new team.
Despite that, no one is denying the heritage and the history of the two teams, or that the Power spawned from the Port Magpies.
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Of course the two entities are linked but the conditions under which the team could wear the black and white jumper were clearly established.
Nevertheless, despite the obvious connection, it doesn’t please every old Port Magpie supporter, some of whom still believe the Power has effectively hijacked the Port Magpies history and now want to pinch its jumper.
However, most reasonable people would agree that the two clubs can share the same history and the same traditions, if not the same jumper.
Football is nothing without its history and the evolution of footy jumpers is fascinating to observe.
The array of Port’s jumpers from the original blue and white hoops, pink, magenta, magenta and blue, and then to the prison bar jumper which was first introduced in 1902, is interesting to consider.
By all means bring them out for your home Showdown or if they ever re-introduce a genuine heritage round but not simply as a gratuitous marketing exercise.
There has been little response from the Adelaide Football Club about Port’s attempt to steal the focus of its Showdown week.
Perhaps because there are much bigger issues to worry about and because it won’t happen until next year, it hasn’t been addressed yet.
Besides, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire has already been most outspoken in protesting about it.
Unfortunately Adelaide fans won’t see Eddie as their saviour in this matter. They surely will want the Crows to push back and draw a line in the sand.
“It’s our Showdown and you won’t be wearing a jumper that will steal the limelight”, is a response they will be expecting.
The Adelaide Football Club, knows, as surely Port Adelaide must, that the AFL has the sole authority about who wears what jumper and when.
As a Crows insider said yesterday: “We will make the strongest representation to the AFL to ensure that nothing detracts from the attention of our Showdown”.
Let’s hope they do.