IT is 25 years to the day since the Port Adelaide Football Club received its sub-license to compete in football’s national competition - the AFL.

On 13 December 1994, Port Adelaide won the rights to the second South Australian AFL sub-licence, which would see the club’s name elevated to the national stage.

Port Adelaide successfully won the tender over bids from a Norwood-Sturt merger proposal and the “Cartel” bid made up of Woodville-West Torrens, West Adelaide, North Adelaide and Central District, with an independently-appointed SANFL commission backing the club because of its detailed proposal and significant on-field success.

At the time, the Magpies had won a remarkable 32 SANFL premierships, and was the most successful football team in history.

It would go on to win the next two consecutive premierships - making it three in a row - before eventually entering the AFL competition.

While the club received the sub-license in 1994, it wasn’t until the 1997 AFL Premiership Season it was allowed to compete in the AFL when a merger between Fitzroy and the Brisbane Lions at the end of 1996 allowed Port Adelaide to become the AFL’s 16^th team.