THE group responsible for securing Port Adelaide’s entry into the AFL has been recognised with inclusion in the club’s Hall of Fame.

In a special induction at the club’s Hall of Fame and Season Launch event at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday night, members of the Board and Management Team which worked tirelessly to secure Port Adelaide’s AFL licence in 1994 and prepared for its entry into the national competition were elevated alongside four past players.

To be eligible for induction into the PAFC Hall of Fame, a nominee must be a Life Member and have rendered significant and important service to the Club on and/or off the field.  Candidates are judged on the basis of their overall impact on the club and or Australian football, and the Life Member and Awards committee was unanimous in its support for this particular group of 12 men to be recognised.

Among the group honoured were former club presidents Bruce Weber and Greg Boulton, and former CEO Brian Cunningham, who played significant roles between 1990 and 1996 in securing the club’s AFL licence and preparing for its entry into the competition.

The other directors recognised were Jim Nitschke, Barry Wilson, Geoff Monteleone, David Judd (who each served from 1990-1996), Phil Hoffmann (1991-1996), Frank Hayter, Ian McLachlan (1992-1996), Robert Hoey (1990-1991; 1994-1996) and Tony Hobby (1994-1996).

The nomination committee felt the group of people named had contributed significantly to the club achieving its goal of entering the AFL competition and each warranted induction to the Hall of Fame in recognition of the vision, hard work, loyalty and absolute devotion to the club.

Representing the group, Boulton and Cunningham spoke of the difficult times between 1990 and 1994 in particular when the club made its two AFL bids, and the club was loathed across the state.

But Cunningham said the hard work of the group being recognised was vindicated when the club made its way onto the national stage and played its first AFL game against Collingwood at the MCG.

“It was a shocking time,” Cunningham said. “The way our footy club was treated in trying to get into the AFL in 1990 and the following of that for the next couple of years was really poor.

“Greg and I would go to meetings and nobody would talk to us. They’d stand up and say they hated our guts.

“(That first AFL game in 1997) was just a fantastic day, it was the MCG and it was our club. (It was amazing) seeing the side run onto the MCG and playing in the best competition in Australia – which was what the club was always about, it was always winning at the highest competition.”