Port Adelaide: The document Power tabled in special bid to wear the prison-bars guernsey

The Power have revealed the 25-page document they submitted to the AFL to save the prison bar guernsey, as they used the likes of the Yankees and Liverpool to press their case.

Port Adelaide greats get ready to farewell AAMI Stadium. Tim Ginever, Gavin Wanganeen, Travis Boak, Brian Cunningham and Russell Ebert. PIC SARAH REED.

It is the 25-page document that has been unable to get Port Adelaide’s prison-bars push across the line.

The Power used the proposal in its formal presentation to the AFL in February, hoping to convince the league why it should be allowed to wear the club’s traditional black-and-white jumper in Showdowns, including next weekend.

Hours after the AFL rejected the club’s request, Port Adelaide revealed the document to The Advertiser on Thursday evening.

— READ AND DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT HERE

It is titled “Heritage Makes A Stronger Game” and opens with the line: “The prison bars guernsey is the most important icon of Port Adelaide, our people’s guernsey. It is a symbol of heritage and connection”.

Central to the Power’s submission was the belief Showdowns represented the heritage of South Australian football.

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Charlie Dixon and Port Adelaide’s famous jumper. Picture: AFL Photos

Collingwood and the AFL agreed in 2007 for Port Adelaide to wear the prison-bar guernsey in heritage rounds but they ceased to exist the next year.

The document said Power-Crows matches originated “long before 1997”.

“Port Adelaide and the prison bars guernsey was the lightning rod for the greatest upheaval in the history of South Australian football,” the document said, on a page titled ‘the Showdown — 150 years in the making’.

The submission continued its major themes in its four sections: “what we are asking for”, “heritage matters”, “why now?” and “stronger clubs — stronger game”.

Port says the guernsey “is a symbol of heritage and connection”.

Power also states that “the strongest teams invest in their heritage”.

It featured a series of photos to tell the club’s story, including one from The Advertiser about the club’s failed 1990 AFL bid and of Power stars Travis Boak and Robbie Gray wearing the guernsey in the 2014 elimination final.

There were also pictures of sporting powerhouses, such as the New York Yankees, Liverpool and the Los Angeles Lakers, which were used as examples that “the strongest teams invest in their heritage” to connect with fans.

The submission said, like with Essendon’s red sash, Richmond’s yellow and black, Carlton’s crest and Collingwood’s black-and-white stripes, the prison bars connected the club and team.

“Port Adelaide’s prison bars guernsey is like no other — no sash, no hoops, no stripes,” it said.

“It is an Australian football icon.

Port chairman David Koch proudly wears the club’s prison-bars jumper. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“The stronger the connection that fans have with their clubs, the stronger our game will be.

“This isn’t about Port Adelaide or our guernsey.

“It’s about the passion and connection that all fans have with their club.

“The competitive and unique advantage that sporting clubs is the emotional connection with our people.

“For Port Adelaide, this is the prison bars guernsey.”

The proposal also said there were “significant cultural and commercial reasons this is good for the game”.

And it argued the timing was right because playing in front of no crowds last year due to COVID reinforced clubs and competitions “they were nothing without fans”.

There was also a timeline of the club’s rise from the SANFL to the AFL.

It referenced not only the guernsey’s place in Port Adelaide history, being worn since 1902, but how the Power’s 2004 flag did not grow the club, unifying it did in 2010.

“In the two years immediately after unifying the Port Adelaide community, membership increased by 33 per cent, amazingly in a period when Port Adelaide finished 16th and 13th,” it said.

The submission also outlined how the club being split into two upon its 1997 AFL entry ensured the Power’s pre-game anthem “Never Tear Us Apart” was incredibly meaningful.

“The most important part of our visual identity — that resonates above all else and truly connects our people to the Port Adelaide that they know and love — is the iconic prison bars

guernsey.”

The document finished with another reminder of the significance of the guernsey in the club’s history.

Alongside each other was an early 20th century photo of a Port Adelaide team in the black-and-white guernsey and the Power playing in it last year.

Originally published as Port Adelaide: The document Power tabled in special bid to wear the prison-bars guernsey