Motley was joined by family, friends and former teammates at the Adelaide Oval yesterday for a special ceremony and plaque unveiling of the race, which also features the club’s ultimate honourboard of player and supporter names.
It was an easy decision to make according to Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas, who praised Motley for his leadership at the club during its 'golden era' - a time where Port Adelaide set an Australian record of six consecutive premiership victories.
“Geof embodies everything Port Adelaide stands for and he accomplished his many feats right here at Adelaide Oval,” said Mr Thomas.
“Naming the players’ race after him was a simple decision to make.
“Our players understand the contribution he has made to this club and know the significance of running through his race when they go onto the Oval.
“I think our supporters will also love having this place named after Geof because they more than anyone know and respect his achievements for the club.”
Port Adelaide has always wanted to make its community proud and winning premierships are the best way of doing that, according to Motley.
It’s the supporters who Motley credits at his motivation to succeed on the field.
“The best gift that a player can give to the rest of his teammates, to his club, to the supporters and followers of this club, is to share a premiership with them. There’s nothing like it, you can’t describe it,” said Motley.
“The best gift that a player can give to the rest of his teammates, to his club, to the supporters and followers of this club, is to share a premiership with them. There’s nothing like it, you can’t describe it,” said Motley.
"There's nothing like sharing a premiership with your supporters.
“The naming of this players’ race is a very important thing to me and I rate it in comparison with the premiership victory we had in 1959.
“That was very important to me because of the great coach Foster [Williams] was who I took over from as captain/coach that year and we were still able to have achieve success.”
Geof Motley: Port Adelaide champion
Port Adelaide’s current captain Travis Boak and senior coach Ken Hinkley were present to congratulate Motley on Tuesday along with other high profile players to take the field during his career.
The Geof Motley Race will be used for the first time on Saturday afternoon when Port Adelaide plays the Crows in historic first Showdown at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.
500 public tickets will be released via Ticketek at 12:00pm on Wednesday, which are expected to sell quickly.
Don’t risk missing out. Become an Essential Power member today to secure your seat in the Western Stand for the first Showdown at the Adelaide Oval, plus all remaining 10 home games in 2014, at weareportadelaide.com.au.
“The naming of this players’ race is a very important thing to me and I rate it in comparison with the premiership victory we had in 1959.
“That was very important to me because of the great coach Foster [Williams] was who I took over from as captain/coach that year and we were still able to have achieve success.”
Geof Motley: Port Adelaide champion
Port Adelaide’s current captain Travis Boak and senior coach Ken Hinkley were present to congratulate Motley on Tuesday along with other high profile players to take the field during his career.
The Geof Motley Race will be used for the first time on Saturday afternoon when Port Adelaide plays the Crows in historic first Showdown at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval.
500 public tickets will be released via Ticketek at 12:00pm on Wednesday, which are expected to sell quickly.
Don’t risk missing out. Become an Essential Power member today to secure your seat in the Western Stand for the first Showdown at the Adelaide Oval, plus all remaining 10 home games in 2014, at weareportadelaide.com.au.
