Power’s prized China venture is not over yet, but its future remains uncertain while coronavirus threat remains
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas remains determined the club’s China arrangement could continue in future. It comes after chairman David Koch last month cast doubt over the three-year deal.
Port Adelaide
Don't miss out on the headlines from Port Adelaide. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- See the full list: Port Adelaide’s 150 Greatest Players
- How to get the most out of your Advertiser digital subscription
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas says his club’s China love affair is not over while reaffirming its desire to keep a team in the SANFL.
While chairman David Koch has cast doubt on whether the club will play in China again and AFL coaching legend Mick Malthouse says the AFL should pull the pin on the experiment because of the country’s poor handling of the coronavirus crisis, Thomas said the Power was “solid in our commitment to China’’.
“I don’t think China is gone for us,’’ said Thomas, whose club has played an AFL match there for three consecutive years before having this season’s clash against St Kilda abandoned because of the health pandemic.
“It’s difficult to project what’s going to be happening in 2021 and if you are talking about the game, I look at it in a couple of different ways.
“The game will be about whether it’s safe to go there, which is likely to be determined by whether there is a vaccine.
“It’s over a year away so we don’t really have to consider that at this point.
“It will be dictated by a vaccine and international travel restrictions and those sorts of things.
“The broader question is: are we still committed to China?’’
Malthouse has urged Port and the AFL to turn their back on China, declaring they would be “selling their soul’’ to continue their relationship with a country he says “clearly has different values than we do’’.
But Thomas stood firm in his club’s commitment to the powerful East Asian country.
“I think people who are commenting on this broader issue of the relationship between Australia and China, everyone is entitled to an opinion and I don’t profess to be an expert in that field,’’ he told FIVEaa.
“What we as a club concentrate on is who are the people, the companies, that we are dealing with, what’s our relationship like with them and is China an important element to the Port Adelaide Football Club?
“The answer to that is, yes, it is.
“We’re not dealing with the Chinese government or broad political issues, but what I do have is very deep relationships with four or five key partners that we have in China who have a great deal of respect and trust in us, as we have in them.
“They have been really supportive of the footy club and the benefits associated with those relationships can be very significant for us (financially).’’
Thomas, meanwhile, doubled down on Port’s desire to keep the Magpies in the SANFL next year, but couldn’t guarantee they would play in a remodelled State League competition this season because of concerns about the mixing of AFL and SANFL players as per COVID-19 health restrictions.
“We’ve made it clear to the SANFL that we are keen to play (this year) even though there are issues that may complicate that, such as if our list was involved in (AFL) hubs, which looks less likely than it did a week ago, the short turnaround times (between games) and those sort of things,’’ he said.
“The biggest issue on our minds are the health concerns associated with bringing semi-professional players into our training environment which we are trying to create as a quarantine zone for the AFL players, so that’s a little complication we are thinking about.
“What Jake (SANFL chief executive Jake Parkinson) and I have agreed is that it’s too dynamic and fluid at the moment to be able to make concrete decisions but we are keen to play.
“If you think about 2021, it’s clearer in our mind. We want to play in the SANFL and more importantly we are committed to playing in the SANFL.”
MORE PORT ADELAIDE NEWS
Counting down Port Adelaide’s 50 Greatest Players in club’s 150 years: those ranked 20-11
Adelaide and Port Adelaide to be granted special exemptions to fly in and out of South Australia
Koch casts doubt over China future
Last month, Port Adelaide chairman David Koch conceded the ambitious three-year China venture was in jeopardy.
“I’ve actually got no idea (how that will look),’’ he said.
“We will discuss with the AFL, state and federal governments and our partners who support us in China about the future of it.
“Our whole China strategy originally was not predicated on having a game.
“We’ll have to assess that coming out (of the pandemic) but at the moment, in terms of priorities, it’s not a massive priority for us to make a decision on.
“If we do the game again at the same time (May), it’s well over a year away and a lot can happen in a year, so I’m not sure.
“The thing that hasn’t changed is that China is still Australia’s biggest customer and biggest trading partner, so it’s still a significant part of the Australian business, political and economic sector.’’
Port has played three AFL matches in China – against Gold Coast in 2017 and 2018 and St Kilda last year – winning all three by an average of 10 goals.
It was scheduled to play the Saints in Shanghai in round 11 this year before that match was moved to Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium when the pandemic hit.
Now, the AFL fixture will change again because of football’s shutdown.
No games have been played since round one but the AFL is still planning on a 17-round season.
Koch said the Power’s foot in China, where it pays rivals to move their home games but makes money from business opportunities, would be one of several club initiatives that would need to be reviewed because of the massive financial hit clubs have copped due to COVID-19.
Port has asked for financial assistance from the AFL and Koch said all club programs would be under review.
“It depends what you want your club to be,’’ he said, adding the AFL and its clubs would “take years’’ to recover from their current plight.
“As a club we spend about $3 million a year on community programs. Do we say, ‘no more community programs at AFL clubs because we should be putting that money aside for a once in a 100-year event?’
“I don’t know the answer to that but AFL clubs have evolved into being broader than just football clubs, particularly our club which is the only non-Victorian club to have risen from community football to the elite level of football and community is part of our DNA.
“But do we need to rein that back in to provide a bigger financial buffer against things like this happening?’’