South Australia tries to ban iconic terms for Adelaide’s Gather Round

South Australia’s tourism commission has made a bold attempt to ban journalists from using some classic Adelaide nicknames.

Ryan Fitzgerald and the AFL's Gather Round. Photos: Supplied/News Corp

Adelaide often gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Australia’s capital cities, but the picturesque location can at least boast a couple of solid nicknames.

We can surely all agree “Radelaide” is awesome, while “City of Churches” might be a bit antiquated but at least still evokes thoughts of usually pleasant, historical architecture.

Not, it seems, when it comes to the South Australian Tourism Commission.

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Rather than embracing the pretty and sometimes quirky reputation of Australia’s fifth most populated city, the Commission made the bold call to try to ban the above monikers during the AFL’s Gather Round.

Under an optimistic memo titled “content exclusions”, the Commission made the order to journalists.

“Please don’t refer to Adelaide as RADelaide,” the statement reads. “Please don’t refer to Adelaide as the City of Churches.”

Ryan Fitzgerald and the AFL's Gather Round. Photos: Supplied/News Corp

The statement also has a long list of clearly approved messages, spruiking South Australia as a holiday destination and boasting about its beaches, wineries and events, among others.

Adelaide is the focus of the footy world this weekend, with all nine AFL matches being played across South Australia in the second year of the Gather Round concept.

We can’t be sure, but we would bet a solid sum of money that “City of Churches” will still be used at least once this weekend in scribes’ efforts to describe the action.

Probably more so now that it is being frowned upon by the tourism hierarchy.

One person that didn’t miss the memo was former Crows footy player and radio personality Ryan “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, who was born in the City of Churches.

See, it’s almost impossible not to use it in a story on Adelaide.

It does have some nice churches, like this one in Stirling built in 1868.

“That’s ridiculous,” NOVA FM host Fitzgerald said.

“I will say I can understand why (the South Australian Tourism Commission) don’t like the repeated reference to the City of Churches.

“In Adelaide there are not many churches, but the ones we have are beautiful.”

Fitzgerald then stated what we suspect everyone intends to do, telling his listeners to call the city “whatever you like”.

After all, no publicity is bad publicity, as another old cliche states.

“When it comes to Radelaide, I love it,” Fitzy continued. “I use the term myself and this is coming from a guy who grew up here.

“To be honest, they (the South Australian government and Tourism Commission) should be happy that people are here to play football during the Gather Round, contributing to the economy.

It even has an inflatable church, seen during the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

“Call it Radelaide, Rads, whatever you like … come and enjoy our beautiful shiraz.”

We couldn’t agree more.

There was a predictable reaction on social media.

“Too funny,” wrote one X user, along with a series of crying laughing emojis. “There’s a church in every corner.”

“What’s wrong with the city of churches??” asked another. “It’s been referred to as that for decades. Is that phrase now considered offensive?”

“I will NEVER stop calling it Radelaide,” declared a third.

“They can pry ‘Radelaide’ from our cold dead hands,” added another.

We did find one agreeable voice, however, who stated: “Fair enough, pumped the cash in, want to get the right message out.”