‘I spent $15k a year supporting Port Adelaide’: Mega fan Karin Cullen snags interstate flight ahead of finals game

Port Adelaide mega fan manages to snag interstate flight ahead of her favourite teams finals game against grand final favourite’s Sydney Swans.

Thirty minutes into Port’s clashwith Hawthorn was enough for diehard Power fan Karin Cullen to take a gamble – and book flights for Sydney.

And she was on the money, locking in “cheap” airfares for Power’s preliminary final match against the Swans on Friday night at the SCG.

“We saw the game was going well on Friday and we didn’t want to miss out on some reasonably priced fares so we thought we better book them quickly,” Ms Cullen, 56, of Seaview Downs said.

Jax the German Shepherd won’t be going, but is happy to give his best Zak Butters impersonation. Picture: Dean Martin

She paid $700 for return flights for her and husband Gary, avoiding a massive price hike following Port’s win over the Hawks.

Following Port’s win, demand for flights from Adelaide to Sydney skyrocketed, said a spokesperson for Virgin Australia.

As of Sunday afternoon, Virgin one-way flights were for sale for anywhere between $544.11 and $1418.11, from Adelaide to Sydney.

Qantas flights were priced between $455 and $1445 while Qantas’ budget airline Jetstar surged with prices from $730 to $823 for Friday.

Comparatively Qantas last Wednesday listed one-way flights from Adelaide to Sydney for September 20 available from $339 and Jetstar had one-way flights available from $171.

Port Fans Karin and Gary Cullen are Club 1870 members and have only missed a handful of Port Adelaide games. Picture: Dean Martin

Qantas even scheduled an additional flight for fans wanting to depart Adelaide on Friday at 10am.

“To help more fans cheer on Port Adelaide in the preliminary final, Qantas has added an additional flight between Adelaide and Sydney this Friday,” a Qantas spokesperson said on Sunday.

Ms Cullen, whose favourite player is Port’s midfielder Zak Butters, and her husband have been fans of Port since moving to Adelaide in 2002 from Cambridge in the UK.

“It’s a community club and I love their passion,” she said.

“We’ve probably only missed a handful of games over the last six or seven years.”

The pair, who are both Club 1870 members, have even watched the team play in China three times and joined the cheer squad in 2014.

The mega fan said she probably spends anywhere between $10,000 to $15,000 a year supporting Port Adelaide, including travelling to each game.

“There’s a core group that travels, we make new friends, it’s really good, we enjoy it.