David Koch says he’s proud of Port Adelaide after historic Shanghai win against Gold Coast
PORT Adelaide has found its new home away from Alberton — 7500km away, in Shanghai, after the Power’s history-making win over Gold Coast.
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PORT Adelaide has found its new home away from Alberton.
“We did it,” Port Adelaide president David Koch declared to The Advertiser in Shanghai on Sunday evening as the Power scored a major win on the field — and seemingly more significant victory in the China commercial market the AFL club wants to conquer.
“We did it … simple as that. And thank heavens we did.
“There is a sense of pride in our club tonight. We had the balls to try something big — and we pulled it off. And I’m proud of the Port Adelaide fans who came on this incredible journey with us.”
Australian football history has been made in China with a few hiccups that will fade against the push Port Adelaide will make to the AFL Commission in the next two months to return to Shanghai for at least the next five years.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said it had “been a great day’’.
“Everyone sees the opportunity in China,’’ he said. “We need to invest here for the long term.’’
The historic match was the first AFL premiership game to have the Chinese and Australian national anthems before the first bounce. But that plan did not go without a glitch as the Port Adelaide club song was put on and played for a short time after the Chinese anthem.
There was the Port Adelaide fans’ anthem — the “Never Tear Us Apart” hit from INXS — in the 60 seconds before the first bounce with the 5000 supporters who had travelled to Shanghai waving their “Shanghai 2017” scarfs to continue their ritual from Adelaide Oval.
The teams entered the field, that was a golf driving range a year ago and community soccer field, by moving away from AFL convention. They ran through a joint banner rather than one for each club.
The ban on beer being taken to seats — to honour Chinese regulations — had many fans in the 10,118 crowd stay in hospitality tents where alcohol was available as part of the Tasting Australia and Tourism Australia promotions with Australian wines.
The front row of the official box at Jiangwan Stadium was reserved for 17 special dignitaries from government — both Chinese and Australian with SA Premier Jay Weatherill and one of his ministers, Martin Hamilton-Smith — Chinese business and the AFL with AFL Commission chairman Richard Goyder and AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
The prime seat was left for Shanghai billionaire, Guo Jie Gui, the real estate magnate who last year put $3 million on the table to have Port Adelaide bring an AFL premiership match to his home city. His Australian investment partner, Gina Reinhart, was also at the game and the official gala dinner at the Portman Ritz-Carlton hotel on Saturday night.
Gui tossed the coin for the choice of ends in the game he calls his “gift to the people of Shanghai”. Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak won the call.
Mr Weatherill told The Advertiser: “This is definitely history in the making by a little club from Port Adelaide.”
The match — the first played for AFL premiership points outside Australia and New Zealand — had national television coverage in Australia and China with the ratings to potentially deliver a record four million viewers.
“This game will have millions of viewers across China and Australia — and South Australia is in the centre of the screen. The world is looking back at South Australia,” Mr Weatherill said.
In the Channel Seven commentary box was Australia’s leading sports caller, Adelaide’s Bruce McAvaney.
“
This has been fabulous,” McAvaney told The Advertiser. “And who knows where this game could be in 15, 20 or 25 years.”
Koch will have to wait for a full AFL review before he can take up negotiations with Gold Coast and three other AFL clubs — including two in Melbourne — for future games.
“We want this to become a ‘marquee’ game on the AFL fixture,” Koch said.
“But the game is just a small part of our ‘China Strategy’,” added Koch. The Power has signed 20 commercial partners, 12 in China, to bankroll an annual game in Shanghai that cost $4 million this time but will have no “start-up” costs in the future. This would allow Port Adelaide to collect as much as $2 million from any match next season.
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas wants to explore modernising the four light towers at Jiangwan Stadium — that are currently at 30 per cent capacity — to allow for a night game in future seasons. This would allow the Power to pitch the Shanghai game in the more lucrative prime time television timeslots in Australia.
Big shang hi for the Power faithful
HOW does “Never Tear Us Apart” sound in Shanghai?
“Louder than you have ever heard,” vowed Port Adelaide president David Koch on arriving at Jiangwan Stadium on Sunday morning.
And the Power fans’ anthem does travel well. Better than the Australian national anthem that was mixed up with the Port Adelaide club song for a short moment as the Power and Gold Coast teams lined up before the opening bounce at Jiangwan Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The voices of 5000 Power fans across suburban Shanghai had some challenge to match the scarf-waving traditions of the 50,000 at Adelaide Oval, but no-one could question the enthusiasm they brought to this history making game in China.
“We are trailblazers; always have been,” said Ray Grieg of West Lakes. He has been to all of Port Adelaide’s firsts since the club rose from the suburban SANFL to the national AFL and now the world stage.
“I’ve been to everything — and Shanghai makes Sydney look like a country town.”
Sharyon Tonkes of Tennyson wished more were in Shanghai to see Port Adelaide and Gold Coast put Australian football before its largest audience for a live telecast. And she was very clear on just who should have been at Jiangwan Stadium on Sunday to see how their doomsday predictions of sandstorms and smog never came to be.
“Here’s Port Adelaide doing something innovative and they are still being knocked,” she said. “But what an amazing day they’ve put on.”
Peter Georgaris of Fitzroy and David Bannon of Northgate arrived in Shanghai on Thursday morning as part of a travel package arranged by the Port Adelaide Football Club.
“And the best thing about this trip has been the Port Adelaide supporters banding together — and the way the Chinese people have looked after us,” Georgaris said. “They are interested in what we are doing in Shanghai and asking questions about the game. Even with the language barrier, they are making us feel so welcome here.
“It has been an exciting day.”
Steve McPherson of Malvern is another Port Adelaide fan who has been all across Australia to watch Power games.
“And next year I’m back here with the wife,” he said. “She was a little worried about China, but it has been fantastic — I’m sure I can talk her into it next time.”
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