40 years of dominance: Gavin Wanganeen remembers Football Park
In a portadelaidefc.com.au exclusive, club great and inaugural AFL captain Gavin Wanganeen shares his memories of Football Park.
It was always a great pleasure running out onto AAMI Stadium every second weekend during the footy season.The surface was always perfect - never hard or soft, even after heavy rain the surface was great. I believe it was the best surface for football in Australia - we were spoilt.
I have so many fond memories at AAMI Stadium. I can remember playing for the Port Magpies in an U/15 Samboy Cup Grand Final against North Adelaide - it was close all day and I managed to kicked a goal after the siren to win.
Tredders remembers 2004
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Who could ever forget the Power's historic first win against Geelong in Round 3 in '97?
To see the excitement and relief on the boys faces at the final siren was a great memory, we were given no chance by outsiders but from within our closed doors at Alberton we knew that our first win was always close.
Winning the very first Showdown against the Crows was also an unbelievable achievement.
The excitement and energy this game generated around Adelaide was unprecedented, and the extra media coverage locally made it a huge game for the state.
Not only did our win secure our place as a worthy rival to the only other South Australian team, but justified our ascent into the Australian Football League from the SANFL.
We played a true Port Adelaide style game - hard at the footy all day.
It was a proud day for our club, we had finally arrived!
However, the 2004 preliminary final win would have to be my greatest memory.
After 2 years of dominance and no grand final success, this game had so much riding on it.
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Going into the game we were strong favourites, but the Saints had other ideas and jumped us early keeping their lead late into the final quarter.
Roger James kept us in the game and we all finally started to contribute.
I was able to kick two goals in the last quarter, the second one from deep in the right forward pocket (the most important goal I have ever kicked) with only a minute to go.
Russell Ebert remembers 1977
It helped seal the win and so did Shaun Burgoyne's smother a few seconds later.
Unforgettable memories!
Goodbye Footy Park/AAMI Stadium - thanks for the memories!