The Port Adelaide Football Club will be wearing its traditional Prison Bar guernsey in next week’s Showdown to re-launch its 150th anniversary. The Club will also seek approval to wear the iconic guernsey in all Showdowns moving forward.
Port Adelaide chairman David Koch believes its simply the right thing to do and will ask the AFL to make the decision.
“What we are asking for is not unreasonable and any fair-minded person would understand that.
“We are simply asking the AFL to approve Port Adelaide to wear our iconic guernsey in South Australia against our local rivals, the Adelaide Crows.
“We aren’t asking to wear it every week, or every home game, or against Collingwood. All we are asking is to wear it in Adelaide against our South Australian rivals.
“Let me be clear on this. We are not asking to be the Magpies in the AFL or to use that emblem or logo in any way. All we are asking is to wear a guernsey that has been adored by our people since 1902.
“This is a guernsey of great significance to Port Adelaide, South Australian football and ultimately Australian football.
“The guernsey represents everything that has made Port Adelaide the club it is today on the national stage. It’s the success and heritage that lies within the guernsey that propelled Port Adelaide onto the national stage. That can never be forgotten. It can’t be boxed up and packed away. It needs to honoured and celebrated on the national stage.
“This is our people’s jumper and they deserve to see it in the AFL. The last time we wore it was in 2014, and before that we had worn it on three occasions in various forms. That’s four times in twenty three years.
“There is an existing agreement in place from 2007 between Port Adelaide, Collingwood and the AFL that states clearly Port Adelaide has permission to wear the black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in all home AFL Heritage Rounds thereafter. Ironically, Heritage Rounds ceased to exist from that point. We will argue that Showdowns now represent the heritage of South Australian football and we should therefore be granted permission to wear it on an ongoing basis.
“In a year like no other when we’ve seen the importance of family, community and heritage we believe any decision not to allow us to wear this guernsey in Showdowns would be nothing short of mean spirited.
“One of the charters of the AFL is to protect and celebrate the heritage of our great game. We think wearing our black-and-white Prison Bar guernsey in Showdowns does just that.”
