Port Adelaide’s contentious ‘Prison Bar’ guernsey sparks fan frenzy

Port Adelaide’s controversial new guernsey has sparked a fan frenzy and wild scenes that would have Eddie McGuire seething.

Port Adelaide is finally allowed to wear their ‘Prison Bar’ jumper and Power fans sure are happy about it.

Last weekend, Port Adelaide and Collingwood announced they had come to an agreement for the Power to wear their heritage guernsey in the Round 3 Showdown against the Adelaide Crows.

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It was a major win for Port, who had long been denied the chance to wear the ‘Prison Bars' because of Collingwood’s belief it looked too similar to the Magpies’ iconic black and white stripes.

It seems Port fans are thrilled by the development judging by the massive queues to purchase the guernseys this week.

Hundreds of Power supporters queued up outside the club’s Alberton headquarters in Adelaide to get their hands on a Prison Bar jersey.

Some even camped overnight to make sure they didn’t miss out on the 1200 guernseys that went on sale on Friday morning.

Port Adelaide fans line up to buy the Prison Bar jumper. Photo: Channel 7.

Prison Bar guernseys are already on sale at Port Adelaide. Photo: Channel 7.

While Port Adelaide will only wear the heritage strip once this season, many fans are expected to don the jersey at all their games.

The development comes after former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire took aim at Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson, who recently said the club would be able to sell a few of its heritage jumpers now, before saying: “This isn’t about money.”

“Now I won‘t say he’s lying, but I wouldn’t say he is telling the truth,” McGuire said.

McGuire, who stepped down as Collingwood boss in 2021, believes the decision to allow Port Adelaide to wear its heritage jumper will see the Power wear the ‘Prison Bars’ more often.

For now the agreement is just for this season but Port Adelaide president David Koch is hopeful of continuing “our positive discussions with Collingwood in regards to wearing our black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey again next year and beyond”.

The announcement ended years of stalemate between Port and Collingwood, and McGuire and Koch.

Collingwood repeatedly pushed back on the Power’s requests and called for them to wear the heritage jumper with teal stripes as a compromise.

McGuire, who was Collingwood president before stepping down in 2021, isn’t impressed with his club’s decision to “sell the (Magpies) jumper in that regard”.

Port Adelaide will be allowed to wear their traditional prison bar guernsey in round 3 for the showdown against Adelaide. Picture Simon Cross

Connor Rozee in the Prison Bar strip at training. Picture Dean Martin

Collingwood repeatedly pushed back on the Power’s requests and called for them to wear the heritage jumper with teal stripes as a compromise.

Speaking on 3AW’s Eddie and Jimmy podcast, McGuire said “the toothpaste is out of the tube”, arguing Port Adelaide will soon by wearing the ‘Prison Bars’ jersey more often than once a year.

McGuire claimed the statements released by Port Adelaide and Collingwood about their Round 2 clash shows new Magpies president Jeff Browne decided to effectively sell the rights for Port to wear the jersey in a financial “transaction”.

“I think the toothpaste is out of the tube and they’ll be wearing it at their home games going forward, both their Showdown game and probably they’ll come up with another one,” McGuire said.

“Good luck to them (Port Adelaide). I would have thought black-and-teal was a good compromise.”

In a final dig, McGuire urged the Power to “drop the Prison Bars reference”.

“I think it‘s a really bad reference in the current lifestyle that we’re all in,” he said.

Originally published as Port Adelaide’s contentious ‘Prison Bar’ guernsey sparks fan frenzy