Collingwood offer a teal-coloured compromise to prison bar jumper furore

Port Adelaide has refused to engage and fire off at Collingwood’s alternative prison-bar jumper offer. Have your say on whether the club should accept the new guernsey.

Port Adelaide wants to wear its prison bar jumper. Picture: Mark Piovesan

Port Adelaide is resisting being drawn into debate over Collingwood’s offer for the Power to wear an alternative prison-bar guernsey.

News Corp revealed this week that Collingwood would be prepared to allow the Power to don the SANFL design in Showdowns from 2023, so long as it featured teal panels, instead of white.

Although Collingwood believed that proposal would be a compromise with a nod to Port Adelaide’s heritage, the Power did not want to comment on what it thought on Wednesday.

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Port Adelaide has been adamant it should be allowed to play in its traditional strip and that it will continue to fight for it to be a Showdown staple.

It had been hoping to wear the prison-bar guernsey in cross-town clashes, including in round 23, since last donning it against Adelaide in June 2020 with Collingwood’s permission.

But the AFL has been steadfast that it will not approve the famous black-and-white strip without Collingwood consenting as a result of various agreements between the clubs.

Port Adelaide great Tim Ginever told FIVEaa on Tuesday that Collingwood’s proposal was laughable.

“It’s a big no,” Ginever said. “It’s almost a joke. It’s about the history and the heritage. We never wore that.”

Is this what Port Adelaide’s teal prison bars jumper could look like?

A key part of the Power’s position is a 2007 pact signed by it, Collingwood and the AFL that allows the prison bars to be worn annually in heritage rounds.

Those rounds ceased soon after but with other teams, such as Fremantle and Sydney, donning retro jumpers in recent years, Port Adelaide believed it should be able to celebrate its history twice a season against the Crows.

Port Adelaide has worn the prison-bar jumper five times at AFL level and since 1902 in the SANFL.

Last week Power chairman David Koch said Collingwood had taken advantage of the club.

“Two weeks ago the Collingwood president Jeff Browne rang me out of the blue and said, ‘Kochie mate, we’re taking your request really seriously, we understand how important it is to your members,’’ Koch said.

“I’ve been canvassing opinions in Melbourne and SA and I’m putting it to my board and I don’t want to get your hopes up but I’m quietly confident we could have good news for you.’

“I’m fuming because we have done the right thing, just quietly gone about it, and I can’t help feel that good nature has been played.”

Last month Collingwood chief executive Mark Anderson said his club would not allow the prison-bar jumper to be worn but a compromise could be reached.

“We always have discussions,” Anderson said.

“Port is a great football club and we do have great respect for them, so (we are) always happy to sit down and have a conversation and we have since signing that agreement as well.

“But as we stand here now, the agreement is the agreement.”

Your say: Should Port accept Pies’ prison bar offer?

– Jon Ralph

Collingwood would be prepared to allow Port Adelaide to wear its prison bar jumper once a season if the Power was prepared to use teal instead of white on the bottom panel of the historic strip.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Pies are prepared to make ground to allow Port Adelaide to bring its historical jumper back into the AFL but only with certain concessions.

Port Adelaide’s prison bar jumper has a predominantly black top third and then the black and white prison bar panels on the lower two thirds of the playing strip.

The Pies are not prepared to allow the Power to wear black and white prison bars but believe a compromise is the use of teal instead of white in those panels of the jumper.

They believe it would allow the Power to combine the heritage aspects of a proud club that has won 36 SANFL premierships with the modern teal colour of a side in the AFL since 1997.

Port Adelaide chairman David Koch’s broadside at Collingwood last week, when the Herald Sun revealed the round 23 submission would not get up, has not helped negotiations.

But when the clubs eventually sit down to discuss the issue, the teal crowbars will be the official Collingwood offer.

Koch said the Power had been “played” by Collingwood when Pies president Jeff Browne declined the club’s request for round 23 given an iron-clad agreement preventing Port Adelaide wearing black and white.

The agreement allows the Power to wear the jumper in the event of heritage rounds but those rounds no longer exist in the AFL, so Port Adelaide wants permission once a season for home Showdown clashes.

“Two weeks ago the Collingwood president Jeff Browne rang me out of the blue and said, ‘Kochie mate, we’re taking your request really seriously, we understand how important it is to your members,’’ Koch said.

“‘I’ve been canvassing opinions in Melbourne and SA and I’m putting it to my board and I don’t want to get your hopes up but I’m quietly confident we could have good news for you.’

“I’m fuming because we have done the right thing, just quietly gone about it, and I can’t help feel that good nature has been played.”

With both parties now cooling off after that recent spat, it is not known if the Power could accept the Collingwood rapprochement but the offer will be made for 2023 and onwards.

Pies president Jeff Browne declined to comment when approached about the proposal.

But a compromise position would help both clubs as Collingwood would not be seen as mean-spirited and the Power could deliver a win for fans desperate to retain the prison bar tradition.

Collingwood chief executive Mark Anderson said last month the Pies would not allow the prison bar jumper to be worn but said there could be a spirit of compromise.

“We always have discussions. Port is a great football club and we do have great respect for them, so (we are) always happy to sit down and have a conversation and we have since signing that agreement as well,” he said.

“But as we stand here now, the agreement is the agreement.”