Andrew Jeakings had long dreamed of attending cricket matches in India because of the passion he saw in the crowd. Image: Supplied.

WHAT started with one man’s a bucket list wish has led to a new legion of Port Adelaide supporters across the most populous country in the world.

So just why are Port Adelaide guernseys popping up across India?

You may have spotted the man in the Port Adelaide guernsey on television screens during the ICC Cricket World Cup played in India in 2023.

While Australia went on to win the tournament, Perth native Andrew Jeakings stole a lot of the attention after wearing a range of Power guernseys to the games and being captured by the cameras.

An inaugural AFL member of Port Adelaide with a paver at Alberton Oval and a picket along the fence next to Premiership player and current midfield coach Josh Carr’s, Mr Jeakings had long dreamed of attending cricket matches in India because of the passion he saw in the crowd.

It reminded him of the passion of Port supporters.

He travelled to India with his 21-year-old son Jake and rotated through his guernsey collection because “that’s what Aussies do when they travel”, and immediately drew the attention of the locals.

Andrew Jeakings has been spreading the values of Port Adelaide across the globe. Image: Supplied.

“I was wearing a Port Adelaide jumper (to one game), and a lot of the Indian people were asking me about it,” Mr Jeakings told portadelaidefc.com.au. “So, I started telling them about the history of the club – you know, founded in 1870, a suburban club on the national stage, the community values and being a big family.”

Soon he was attracting a crowd, eager to know more and get hold of a guernsey themselves.

One person who was interested was the head of the Bharat Army – the Indian cricket team supporter group which claims to be the largest supporter group in the world with more than 160,000 registered members and 1.7 million followers.

“There were a number of people who sort of followed us around and kept asking me about Port Adelaide so I told them when I got back to Australia that I would start sending jumpers over to them,” Mr Jeakings said.

“I’ve probably sent close to a dozen so far. I just buy them here and send them over. The only problem is that it takes a while to get to them with some in regional areas and some strange addresses.

“At the end of the day it’s about spreading the word (about Port Adelaide).”

Andrew Jeakings has begun sending jumpers back to India for locals to wear. Image: Supplied.

And it seems the word is getting through.

“One guy contacted me saying I’d inspired him to get back into sport despite having a bung knee, and another said he was proud to now be part of the Port Adelaide family,” he smiled.

“There are a couple of young kids in a village near Delhi who took us back to their village of about six thousand people, who welcomed us during a festival, so I’m now in the process of getting another six jumpers to send to that village alone.

“The overriding message is that these people are so happy to be part of the Port Adelaide family. They see our club as a large village. The values of the club really resonated with them.”

Andrew Jeakings has welcomed hundreds of new members to the Port Adelaide family. Image: Supplied.

Just why Mr Jeakings is so heavily invested in the club, despite living in Perth is another story.

Born in Port Adelaide heartland at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at Woodville to Port supporting parents – a father from Largs North and mother born in Alberton – Mr Jeakings lived on Port Road at Alberton until he was three, and the family moved to a town called Tom Price, a mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia about 1600km north east of Perth.

Despite the distance to Port Adelaide, his connection with the club only grew.

“My Grandad wrapped me up in a Port Adelaide Magpies tea towel when I was born because he was a massive Port supporter – he used to go to the games and stand on the hill – and so there was no escaping it.

“When we grew up at Tom Price, we had our own television network up there that the local company put on, and it came from South Australia, so I grew up watching SANFL on Saturday afternoons.

“Every year I’d go back to Adelaide for Christmas and every year I would get a new Port Adelaide guernsey, and hand mine down to my brothers.

“I’ve still got the first one I had – a woollen one.”

He now runs the West Australian Port Adelaide Supporters Group, which regularly attracts several hundred supporters to its events in Perth.

The group may now have some new members, thanks to a bucket list wish and Mr Jeakings’ generosity.