Saturday night’s Showdown 56 brought out the worst in footy fans across SA | Emily Olle

A sledge here, a no-teeth swipe there and a hearty dedication to your side – it’s all largely good fun and in the spirit of the game. But Saturday night was different, writes Emily Olle.

I’m for hard footy both on and off the field, but I certainly didn’t have “(the artist formerly known as) Tommy Thunda getting KO’d by a teenager” on my Showdown 56 bingo card.

Part of what makes the Showdown the league’s greatest rivalry (fight me, Collingwood) is the banter, lead-up and atmosphere.

An apricot slice sledge here, a brutal Port-fans-have-no-teeth swipe there, a few hurled jibes on the Hill and a hearty dedication to your side — it’s all largely good fun and in the spirit of the game.

But at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, it was like AFL Armageddon.

You can say it started with Fogarty’s “cherry on top” comments or Rachele’s “no teeth” commentary. But the unsportsmanlike displays didn’t just cross the lines of football fanaticism, they steamrolled them.

Behaviour both on and off the field at Showdown 56 was an indictment against the game. Picture: Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Disgraceful behaviour was on show across the crowd, with fury fanned into a roaring fire after first Houston-of-the-Apocalypse’s front-on bump to Rankine that sent him spasming into the ground.

When Lachie Jones and Aliir Aliir collided in a sickening clash during last year’s Showdown, they were applauded by both sides as they exited the field.

But on Saturday night, this commendable sense of chivalry went completely out the window. There were Port supporters near me actually booing Rankine as he was stretchered off.

In my 20-something years of braving the footy, I’ve never heard anything like it.

I’ve never heard of a mascot being king hit in costume, or seen such vitriolic abuse hurled around 11-year-old kids.

Sadly, we have heard racist words levelled at Indigenous players far, far too many times – but for Rioli to be subject to such deplorable abuse yet again is an indictment on the game.

The Showdown is the crown jewel on Adelaide’s sporting crown. SA’s passion for the game is the reason Gather Round is ours to lose. Barracking hard is what makes our state’s supporters great, and the cheeky sledging and fervid voices should never be silenced. But this kind of torrid behaviour is what turns people away from the game.

Port, Crows, it doesn’t matter — it’s time for footy fans on both sides to pull their heads in.

Emily Olle is a Crows member and former employee of the club — but tends to prefer her football without the physical assault of anthropomorphic lightning men.