Port Adelaide asks the AFL for home game to celebrate 150 years
The jumper — whether it’s the original hoops one, the prison bar one or the current one — is still up in the air but Port Adelaide has approached the AFL for its 150-year anniversary game.
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Port Adelaide has lobbied the AFL to have a home 150th anniversary game on May 24 next year and has floated the idea of wearing its original hoops jumper.
It comes as chief executive Keith Thomas has revealed a range of initiatives for next year’s celebrations of the club’s heritage, which include:
DESIGNING a commemorative logo, which honours both the Magpies and the Power
RELEASING a documentary
ISSUING a leather-bound book chronicling the history of the club
APPLYING to play a home anniversary game on May 24, exactly 150 years since the club first took on the “Young Australians” at Glanville, and
REDEVELOPING the Port Club, turning it into an interactive museum that will allow visitors to immerse themselves into the history of the club.
A key consideration in the club’s 150th year is whether it will be able to honour its historic jumpers.
One thought is to wear the original blue and white hoops jumper for the anniversary game but Thomas was also firm in wanting to explore the possibility to wear the club’s famous prison bar jumper during the year, potentially in the club’s home Showdown.
Once the board has drawn up a proposal for the year, it will approach the AFL but also be mindful of any concerns from Collingwood, which plays in black and white stripes and also go by the Magpies.
The first issue was to come up with a logo that reflected both the SANFL and AFL history of Port Adelaide.
“Most significantly is we’re going to build a commemorative logo,” Thomas told the club’s website. “Now that may not sound like a lot but when you think of the club since 1997 when we came into the AFL it really has been presented as two different identities — the Magpies and the Power.
“We’ve had some monumental struggles since 1997 to bring the club back together.
“We think the 150th year will be a great opportunity to actually present the club, via a commemorative logo, as one again for the first time since we’ve been in the AFL.
“We think that’s a really significant moment.”
Thomas also spoke about the anniversary game, which the club hopes to have as a home game at Adelaide Oval.
And the board had approved an upgrade of the Port Club to celebrate the history of Port Adelaide.
“That’s going to be a very, very special day for us,” Thomas said. “And the board has approved the redevelopment of the Port Club into a really modern bistro-type space where we can actually pay homage to the history of Port Adelaide.
“It will be very much a historical immersion into the club.
“It will be something not only for Port Adelaide people but football followers around Australia will love to come and see.”
Thomas recognised that the club’s fan base was keen to see the prison bar jumper during the 150th season.
He would do everything in his power to make sure it was honoured.
“The blue and white (hoops) guernsey is important,” Thomas said. “It is the first guernsey that we wore 150 years ago and needs to be celebrated.
“The obvious time to do that would be on Sunday, May 24 next year.
“How we do that we still have to decide — whether we wear it, whether we put it in some commemorative release; that will be taken care of.
“The more significant discussion is about the prison bars. The reality is that no story about the Port Adelaide Football Club is complete without the prison bar guernsey.
“We will take every opportunity to pay homage to that iconic symbol of the great Port Adelaide Football Club throughout 2020.
“How that plays out is still to be determined.”
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