PATIENCE is a virtue. And this is not the first time Port Adelaide Football Club fans have been left to test their patience.
For instance, take the pathway to the AFL ...
1990: Held up - and then stopped - from living the heads of agreement with the AFL to be SA's first entry in the expanding national competition by a Supreme Court injunction in Adelaide.
1995: Delayed from entering the AFL from the original start-up date of 1996 to wait for the merger of the Fitzroy and Brisbane football clubs to open up a 16th licence in 1997.
1997: And just when Port Adelaide fans were lining up at the gates at Alberton Oval to see the club's first official AFL trial game - against Richmond on Friday, February 7 - the opposition is left on the tarmac at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne for seven hours. Two electrical faults on the Ansett Airlines plane could not be fixed in time.
"A good reminder as to why you should not travel the day of a game," says Port Adelaide Football Club inaugural chief executive Brian Cunningham as he recalled the events of the pre-season match put on delay at Alberton Oval.
The call came late on that Friday afternoon.
"The plane had a problem - in the toilets - and it could not fly," said Cunningham. "All we could do was get to the gates to tell the people who were coming into Alberton Oval that the game was not on. And there were a fair few lining up.
"We had to call the media to get the message out that the game was not on - and that it was not a joke that Richmond could not fly.
"And we had to tell the players."
Port Adelaide's inaugural John Cahill Medallist, as club champion, Darren Mead was one of those players.
"I can't remember if I had already made it to Alberton and was getting ready for the game, but I know some (of the players) did rock up to the changerooms and were sent away," Mead recalled.
After seven years of waiting to be introduced as an official AFL team, Port Adelaide was put on hold for 24 hours. Not as bad as the COVID-19 delays for the resumption of AFL Season 2020, but still an enormous (uncontrollable) hit on a club that was determined to make a strong impression on its first official presentation in AFL company.
"Everything was in place .. and the gods did not smile on us," Cunningham said. "All we could do was re-arrange the game for the next day."
So on Saturday, February 8 at 11am, the first AFL-listed Port Adelaide-Richmond pre-season game took to Alberton Oval.
"And it was weird," says Mead, whose plaque for his 50th AFL game features a photograph from the trial against Richmond - a picture of him kicking from defence along the outer wing, wearing the Port Adelaide "lightning bolt" jumper fashioned in pre-season games from 1997 and in victory for two AFL night premierships in 2001 and 2002.
"It had the feeling of an SANFL game more so than an AFL game. It wasn't at Football Park (where Port Adelaide had played pre-season games against Geelong , Collingwood, Essendon and Fremantle while making its case for AFL admission in the early 1990s).
"There were 12 to 13,000 fans, but it felt different with an AFL game at a suburban ground.
"It also was the first time the Port Adelaide fans could see all the (inaugural AFL) squad - and I remember just before we went onto the field we were handed tank tops with stickers carrying our names later being stuck on the back of the tops, so the crowd could recognise us."
Port Adelaide won by a convincing 53 points, 14.6 (90) to 6.1 (37). And, for the record, the scoreline did reflect what was to unfold in Season 1997 as Port Adelaide ranked ninth (missing the top-eight finals on percentage) and Richmond finished 13th.
Mead played in all 22 games of Port Adelaide's inaugural season, a significant achievement considering his troubled lead-up to Season 1997. It was the reward for his extraordinary dedication to his preparation for training and games, in particular with his private training at home - a theme that still pays off today while he works as a personal trainer.
"The year before - against Glenelg at Glenelg Oval - I was sitting on the bench during the last quarter after I had been moving pretty bad from a knock earlier in the game," Mead said. "I remember (team runner) Darrell Cahill saying I didn't need to go back on, but I did.
"When I got out there, I ran right into (Glenelg key forward) Jim West and (Port Adelaide team-mate, full back) Roger Delaney as they were coming onto a contest. I couldn't walk - and I wasn't looking down to see what state my leg was in."
Mead had surgery to clear away bone chips from an ankle - and spent most of Port Adelaide's inaugural pre-season training program putting kilometres into his legs from a fixed bike, either at Alberton or at Fort Largs as fitness coach David Arnfield prepared coach John Cahill's first squad.
"It felt like any other SANFL pre-season, but that probably tells you how 'Arnie" had been preparing us (to higher standards) even before we made it to the AFL," Mead said.
Port Adelaide's first AFL pre-season trial rematched the club with Richmond, 16 years after the teams met at Alberton Oval in the battle of the SANFL and VFL premiers - in a game that introduced Collingwood recruit Russell Johnston to the Port Adelaide fans.
After eight VFL games with Collingwood in 1980, Johnston moved to Alberton as part of the deal to release Port Adelaide premiership midfielder Mark Williams, a future Collingwood captain. It was the start of Johnston's 207-game career that ended with selection as the lead ruckman in the Port Adelaide Football Club's Greatest Team, 1870-2000.
Wearing the No. 29 jumper in his first appearance with Port Adelaide, Johnston made a strong first impression as noted by Glenelg premiership captain Peter Marker's comments on his potential clearance fee during the Channel Seven television coverage of the match.
"Port Adelaide ought to take this chap off; he is going to send his price soaring the way he is playing today," Marker said.
Port Adelaide pushed Richmond to one point in that 1981 trial game - 14.13 (97) to 13.20 (98).
"That was a fantastic game," said Cunningham, Port Adelaide's 1980 premiership captain.
"Richmond had come with all of its betters players - Francis Bourke, Kevin Bartlett. As a team, we felt we were up to anybody going around - we had won the 1979 premiership, set all records in 1980 and were on our way to taking the 1981 flag; so we were a dominant team with no reason to feel inferior to a VFL club.
"(Four-time Magarey Medallist) Russell Ebert was back (after a year with North Melbourne in 1979). We had recruited well, particularly with Russell Johnston becoming a fantastic ruckman.
"It was a memorable day ... as was the one in 1997, after the delay."
From its pioneer days in the 1880s to the campaign for an AFL licence in the 1990s, the Port Adelaide Football Club has put itself on show in more than just the SANFL. There were notable tours of Australia before World War II; the epic lock-out game with the Melbourne Football Club at Norwood Oval in the 1950s when both clubs were powerhouses in the SANFL and VFL respectively; and those statement matches against AFL clubs Geelong and Collingwood at Football Park in the early 1990s. The clash with Collingwood is more notable for both clubs wearing black-and-white jumpers.
Port Adelaide's promotion of Australian football beyond SANFL boundaries is recalled in the Archives Collection. Marking the club’s 150th year, the collection chronicles the Port Adelaide Football Club's story from a pioneer sporting club in 1870 to one that never stopped reaching for greatness regardless of the challenges (as noted with the club's move to China).
The limited-edition Archives Collection gives members and supporters rare insight into the club's storied history, as the Port Adelaide Football Club history committee, along with key staff, have worked tirelessly to capture the club's rich history.
The collection gives never before seen access to the moments in time that made Port Adelaide Australia's most-decorated football club. It includes rare photographs, profiles of star players from the club’s 150-year history, and unseen lift out memorabilia including replica player medals, premiership cards, Fos Williams’ coaching notes and so much more.
All of Port Adelaide's True Believers can also be a part of this incredible piece of the club's history, with a special section within the book dedicated to the passionate supporters that have shared the club's journey from the wharves of Port Adelaide to the national stage.
For a limited time upload a photo to be featured in this special section, making the collection the perfect gift to commemorate the club's special place in your life.
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FIVE TO REMEMBER
Five Port Adelaide-Richmond clashes
1) 2014 AFL elimination final, Port Adelaide 20.12 (132) d Richmond 11.9 (75) at Adelaide Oval.
Let's do this point by memorable point. First AFL final at Adelaide Oval. Controversy when the AFL decides Port Adelaide must change to a "clash" jumper, despite being higher ranked than Richmond. Port Adelaide wins the appeal to wear the club's famous bars - but has to rush orders for the guernsey from Fiji. Richmond captain Trent Cotchin, on taking the advice of key forward Jack Riewoldt, opts to kick against the wind after winning the toss. Port Adelaide blitzes in the first term, scoring eight goals to one. At one stage, 24 minutes into the second term, Port Adelaide leads 12.5 (77) to 1.2 (8). Hamish Hartlett riding a heavy bump to win possession and sets up a chain that starts with Justin Westhoff, goes to Robbie Gray and ends with Jay Schulz kicking a second-quarter goal at the northern end. And Channel Seven commentator Dennis Cometti notes, the Port Adelaide black-and-white jumper as one of the finest in Australian football's wardrobe. To quote his counterpart, Bruce McAvaney, it does not get much better than this.
2) 2002 Wizard Cup pre-season grand final, Port Adelaide 10.11 (71) d Richmond 9.8 (62) at Docklands.
Port Adelaide successfully defended its first AFL pre-season title (won emphatically against Brisbane at Football Park in 2001) with a strong display against Richmond at what was then titled "Colonial Stadium" in the Melbourne Docklands. And that trophy that looks like a satellite dish or a giant wok made it to Alberton ... while taking the Port Adelaide Football Club's record in the AFL night series to two wins from three grand final appearances in four years. Port Adelaide wingman Nick Stevens won the Michael Tuck Medal as best-afield in the grand final, joining Adam Kingsley as the 2001 winner against the Lions. One report in the final - future Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick - by both the field and emergency umpires - for allegedly tripping.
3) Round 8, 2009: Port Adelaide 14.18 (102) d Richmond 15.9 (99) at Football Park.
Warren Tredrea’s epic destruction of Carlton at Princes Park at Round 7, 1998 has a sequel! This one is of 11 marks and seven goals in a 20-disposal display, including the winner against a Richmond team that included Brownlow Medallist Ben Cousins - and needed a new coach after the post-game sacking of Terry Wallace. Tredrea put the game in Port Adelaide’s hands with 4.2 in the first term to give his team a nine-point lead at quarter-time. It was 18 at half-time and 13 (71-58) at time-on of the third term when Richmond reacted. Robin Nahas has Richmond 99-90 in front at the 26th minute of the last term. Last-gasp goals from Daniel Motlop and Tredrea set up the dramatic three-point win in another chapter of testy Port Adelaide-Richmond battles.
4) End of 2012, the draw: Port Adelaide 16.10 (106) drew with Richmond 16.10 (106) at the MCG.
It is the end of the "darkest chapter" - and with the game hitting time-on, Shaun Grigg puts Richmond 105-93 in front. With less than two minutes to play, Richmond leads 106-99. Justin Westhoff's long kick along the MCC members' wing takes (as Channel Seven commentator Bruce McAvaney called it) a "good bounce" to fall into Matthew Broadbent's hands, allowing for a calm pass to the unmarked Aaron Young who scores from 25 metres directly in front with 72 seconds to play. After letting the ball go inside Richmond's forward 50 from the reset, Port Adelaide captain Dom Cassisi scrambled a behind with 19 seconds to play to record his second most-famous late kick (after the matchwinner at Kardinia Park against Geelong in 2007). Video review of Brad Ebert's "behind" just before time-on in the first term might have been interesting.
5) Battle of the premiers, 1981: Richmond 13.20 (98) d Port Adelaide 14.13 (97) at Alberton Oval.
In a throwback to when the Victorian premiers would travel to Adelaide to challenge its SA counterpart for the Champions of Australia title from the late 1800s to the start of World War I, this match at Alberton Oval underlined just how powerful Port Adelaide was while putting together its three-peat run of SANFL premierships in 1979, 1980 and 1981. This match - played in the 1981 pre-season - was tight by the quarter-by-quarter scores: Port Adelaide by two points at the first break; Richmond by five points at half-time; Richmond by 13 points at the last change; and finally Richmond by one point after Port Adelaide charged with a four-goal rush in the last six minutes. Richmond turned up with 16 of its 20 premiership players. Port Adelaide unveiled Collingwood recruit Russell Johnston, the future premiership captain and lead ruckman in the club's Greatest Team from 1870-2000.
Footnote
1997 pre-season, Port Adelaide v Richmond at Alberton Oval and Port Lincoln.
Two pre-season games against Richmond in the lead-up to Port Adelaide's inaugural AFL season entered the history books for the bizarre and the most-significant reasons. At Alberton, Port Adelaide had to wait almost 24 hours to play its first AFL trial game after the Richmond team was delayed in Melbourne with aircraft faults. At Port Lincoln, in the practice match after both clubs had been knocked out of the Ansett Cup, inaugural Port Adelaide captain Gavin Wanganeen was reported - and later suspended - for making contact with a field umpire. The honour of leading Port Adelaide in its first AFL premiership match, at the MCG against Collingwood, came to vice-captain Brayden Lyle.
