Back to the future: White number panel back on guernsey for Showdowns

WHEN Port Adelaide runs out in Showdowns, it will do so with its famed history behind it.

From Showdown XXXVIII on May 3rd, the Power will wear a guernsey that features its traditional white number panel in all future derbies against the Crows.

The front of the ‘Showdown’ guernsey appears the same as the club’s regular home strip – black with white and teal chevrons – but the back has adopted the iconic white number panel featured on its guernsey continuously since 1953 up until its AFL entry in 1997.

It continued wearing a white number panel in the AFL - modified on a black and teal back - until it changed permanently to its current guernsey in 2010.

The guernsey will be available to buy at the Port Store, Queen Street Alberton from 9:00am on Tuesday morning.

Fans can also order the Showdown guernsey online.

Former club captain Warren Tredrea with the white number panel as worn on Power guernseys between 1997 and 2009 [Picture: AFL Media]

The white number panel is as important a part of the traditional Port Adelaide guernsey as the iconic front ‘prison bar’ design, and its fusion onto its popular AFL home jumper will make it even better, Port Adelaide chief executive officer Keith Thomas says.

“This guernsey truly celebrates Port Adelaide’s incredible contribution to football in South Australia as it combines the club’s proud past and our future all in one,” Mr Thomas told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“From behind our strip is identical to the strip worn by our champion teams of the 1950s through until today, while from the front it represents the modern Port Adelaide striving for sustained success on the national stage.

“As a result, we believe there is no better game to wear this guernsey in than a Showdown against our traditional South Australian rivals, the Adelaide Crows.

“This is a special Showdown guernsey and it will only be worn in games against the Crows. Our players can’t wait to wear it and I know our supporters will understand its significance.

“It will evoke some great memories from our SANFL past while at the same time continue to appeal to our modern generation of supporters who associate so closely with our black V-line home guernsey.”