Port Adelaide cannot celebrate its history without honouring the jumper that made the club famous

Port Adelaide’s 150th anniversary will be the club’s biggest event since advancing from the SANFL to the AFL — and it cannot be celebrated in full without honouring the black-and-white jumper

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Port Adelaide great Geof Motley noted on handing his famous No. 17 guernsey to its new owner in the late 1960s: “It is not the jumper that makes the player …”

Mark Williams recalls the Power did not need to wear black-and-white to win its first AFL flag in 2004.

And there are many Richmond fans who — after the fact — hardly care that the Tigers ended their 37-year premiership drought wearing a yellow guernsey in the 2017 AFL grand final at the MCG.

As Motley declared so well, a club’s success is measured by the acts of its players on the football field rather than the “armour” they wear.

But at Alberton there is a jumper that moves men, women and children like no other. The so-called “prison bar” guernsey designed in 1902 when the Port Adelaide Football Club went out of magenta and blue, modified the black-and-white SA state guernsey and stood out in a growing league that had four of its seven teams in blue.

Kane Cornes and George Fiachi inducted into the Port Adelaide Hall Of Fame, with Port Adelaide great Geof Motley. Picture: Dean Martin

No surprise then that the core of the Port Adelaide fan base wants its teams wearing a black-and-white jumper next season when the club celebrates its 150th anniversary.

And — as bizarre as it seems — this requires almost a “royal warrant” of approval from Collingwood, in particular president Eddie McGuire who will not have any other AFL team wear black-and-white stripes.

Not even the AFL, the controlling body, is prepared to act as the ultimate arbitrator.

McGuire is prepared to let Port Adelaide revert to the “prison bars” in any of the club’s other colour systems, in particular the magenta and blue. At Alberton this “compromise” is considered disrespectful, particularly at a time when Port Adelaide wants to pay homage to its heritage … it’s true heritage.

Port Adelaide captain Geoff Motley, right, during a game against West Torrens at Thebarton Oval in May 1966.

McGuire also is taking issue with Port Adelaide using the “Magpie” motif — that is relevant to its SANFL team — more and more on its supporter gear. But this is a short-term issue considering Port Adelaide ultimately will have to wind up the Magpies if, as expected, there is an AFL national reserves competition.

And that moment will increase the expectation from the fan base for the “prison bar” guernsey to be part of the Port Adelaide wardrobe on match day, in particular in Showdowns with the Crows.

The jumper might not make the player, as Motley notes, but there is one guernsey that continues to make the Port Adelaide Football Club’s image … at least among its passionate fans who refuse to have the “prison bars” consigned to a museum.

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