Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has doubled down on the prison bar guernsey and is pushing to have it used more in the future
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has said he will continue with a push for the club to wear its famous prison bar jumper in all future Showdowns.
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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch will continue with a push for the club to wear its prison bar guernsey in all Showdown clashes from next year despite stinging criticism from Collingwood president Eddie McGuire.
After Koch said he would seek AFL approval to wear the historic guernsey in all clashes against Adelaide from next year, McGuire on Footy Classified said Koch was being “disingenuous” to the Port faithful and that he “doesn’t have the guts to tell supporters that wearing the guernsey was an unrealistic ambition.
He also alluded to initiating legal action should the AFL side with Port Adelaide and permit it to wear the black and white strip on a regular basis.
“Well, they can if they want to go to court,” he said.
“If the AFL Commission doesn’t do what it’s there for, ie protect its clubs and its trademarks, then they’re really going to get into (some trouble).”
But today, Koch responded to McGuire and said he believed the request was fair.
“What we are asking for is not unreasonable and any fair-minded person would understand that,” he said.
“We are simply asking the AFL to approve Port Adelaide to wear our iconic guernsey in South Australia against our local rivals, the Adelaide Crows.
“We aren’t asking to wear it every week, or every home game, or against Collingwood. All we are asking is to wear it in Adelaide against our South Australian rivals.
“Let me be clear on this. We are not asking to be the Magpies in the AFL or to use that emblem or logo in any way. All we are asking is to wear a guernsey that has been adored by our people since 1902.
“This is a guernsey of great significance to Port Adelaide, South Australian football and ultimately Australian football.”
Koch said the club had an agreement with the AFL and Collingwood struck up in 2007 to wear the black and white guernsey in all home heritage rounds thereafter.
“The guernsey represents everything that has made Port Adelaide the club it is today on the national stage, he said.
“It’s the success and heritage that lies within the guernsey that propelled Port Adelaide onto the national stage. That can never be forgotten. It can’t be boxed up and packed away. It needs to honoured and celebrated on the national stage.
“This is our people’s jumper and they deserve to see it in the AFL. The last time we wore it was in 2014, and before that we had worn it on three occasions in various forms. That’s four times in twenty three years.
“There is an existing agreement in place from 2007 between Port Adelaide, Collingwood and the AFL that states clearly Port Adelaide has permission to wear the black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in all home AFL Heritage Rounds thereafter.
“Ironically, Heritage Rounds ceased to exist from that point. We will argue that Showdowns now represent the heritage of South Australian football and we should therefore be granted permission to wear it on an ongoing basis.”
The Power have received special exemption from Collingwood to wear the strip in the past, including their elimination final clash against Richmond in 2014.
The club will wear the commemorative jumper in their Showdown clash against Adelaide in Round 2 as a tribute to their 150th anniversary.
Originally published as Port Adelaide chairman David Koch has doubled down on the prison bar guernsey and is pushing to have it used more in the future