Port Adelaide Power:
Australian Rules team, in the
Australian Football League.
Joined competition: 1997
Colours: Teal, Black and White
Home Ground: Football Park (Training and administrative facilities at
Alberton Oval)
History: Port Adelaide boasts a long and proud history in South Australian football. In their 130-odd years of existance as the Port Adelaide Magpies in South Australia's
SANFL competition, Port have been by far the most successful team. Port have won about 38 premierships, an average of one about every 4 years. In this time, the Magpies missed the finals series just 6 times.
Port's domination of
South Australian football, they've always been the msot hated club in the comp. There are two types of fans in South Australia- Port Fans, and the rest. Port are, in that regard, the
Collingwood of the SANFL.
Port fans can, with some justification, claim to have the most successful team in Australia. The SANFL has always been the second best competiontion in the country, behind the
VFL/
AFL.
In 1990, The AFL approached the SANFL with a proposal for South Australia to enter a team in the national competition. The SANFL turned them down.
Enter Port Adelaide: Port went behind the SANFL's back, and made a bid to enter the comp themselves.
All hell broke loose. The SANFL threatened to kick Port out of the comp, (and a huge portion of its revenue with them, of course...) and the other clubs protested mightily, especially
Norwood, Port's
arch-enemy. Things got ugly for a while, but in the end, the
Adelaide Crows were created as a comprimise.
For this reason, many Port fans have since had an intense hatred for the '
illigitimate bastards' who were, in their eyes, created specifically to block Port from moving on to bigger things.
Skip ahead to 1997. The
AFL wanted a second team from South Australia in its comp. It was decided that an SANFL club would be chosen, and so, Port got its berth almost by default. The irony was that if Norwood had kept quiet 7 years earlier, then it'd have been Norwood to become the second team, after Port Adelaide.
Being as the Magpies emblem was already taken by
Collingwood, Port was forced to come up with a new identity. The Port Adelaide Power was born, as a separate entity to the Port Magpies. At first, many old-time Port fans were taken aback by the modern guernsey design and unusual name, but that quickly passed amidst the euphoria of entering the
big league.
The debut side of 1997 was coached by
'Jack' Cahill, the coach of the Magpies, and a legend of the club. Port's list was a mixture of unkowns from the Port Maggies and former Magpies who'd gone on to play for other AFL clubs, and then returned home when the Power were created. Experts predicted Port would go terribly in their first year, and even the most loyal fans weren't expecting big things.
The Power's very young side suprised everyone, winning a credible 10 of the 22 games. The sweetest victory of the year was the victory over
Adelaide, Port's arch-enemy.
Since then, Port has been middle of the road. Their youthful side was quick and skillful, but lacked experience and true class. This year though, things looked like they were falling together for the new boys. As soon as they can start winning some finals, Port could be premiership contenders.