IN 2011, I sat at Footy Park in West Lakes and saw Port Adelaide make history against the Gold Coast Suns, becoming the first club ever to lose to the expansion team in a three-point heartbreaker.

We were the self-confessed ‘laughing stock of the competition,’ a tag that seemed impossible to shake given our well-documented financial woes.

Fast-forward six years and I’ve seen us again make history against the Suns, this time in a much less soul-destroying way.

China was never a travel destination I had in mind; it was always far too big and far too foreign.

For an example of how the fear of the unknown has shaped our views on the economic giant, look no further than the derision and scepticism of the wider AFL community towards Port Adelaide’s China strategy. 

We were told we wouldn’t be able to breathe over there, and that nuclear war would break out just in time to send us scurrying home with the world collapsing around us.

The fans I travelled with and I soon discovered that, yes, you can breathe in China, and even a simple xie xie (thank you) and a lot of pointing at menus is enough to get yourself a meal.

We heeded advice to avoid tap water, but when bottles are 40c Australian it hardly broke the bank.

The sheer size of Shanghai is breathtaking, yet a stroll down Nanjing Road has the feel of Rundle Mall on game day when you’re constantly passing groups clad in the black, white and teal.

While my trip was relatively drama-free, others’ can only be described as hectic.

Several members of our Cheer Squad spent their first night stranded in Guangzhou after a typhoon closed the airport!

Stranded Cheer Squad member Stephen Shelton told me the group of 20 or so fans waited in line until 3.00am to find out when they would be reaching Shanghai, before spending the night in the airport. Stephen, a first-time international traveller, said the experience definitely didn’t put him off.

And fellow stranded passenger Mike Brown said this travel adventure gained them notoriety once they finally made their way to their Shanghai accommodation.

"The day we eventually got here, people were saying to us ‘are you part of the 20?"

"You’re the guys who got stuck in the airport!"

Stories of such Port Adelaide camaraderie were not uncommon at the footy-dominated Charms Hotel. Home or away, we stick together.

Cheer Squad president Ian Wilson and Dave Shelley, who were also stranded in Guangzhou, were eventually greeted in Shanghai with the challenge of putting together the very first AFL run-through banner in Shanghai.

The joint banner required six metal poles that took a day to locate, and a security escort for the team of four who put it together the morning of the game.

As baffling as our great game day tradition was to our Chinese hosts, security guards were taking selfies with banner crew by the time it took the field.

As for the game, we all know how that went.

As great as Westhoff’s little miracle was, being at the game was the ultimate highlight. The sound system blared non-stop classic Australian rock, starting an impromptu AC/DC singalong.

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra achieved the dream combination of Chinese drumming and the didjeridu, and the AFL China Club Team received a rock-star welcome.

When the first bars of our team song were played in place of the Australian National Anthem, the cheers could have rivalled 50k at Adelaide Oval.

I strongly recommend this as a new pre-game routine for finals, because when the other Australian anthem was eventually played, it was the loudest and most passionate I have ever heard.

As the final siren sounded, it was clear the players and sponsors loved it as much as we did.

We sang endless renditions of the club song, filmed and even conducted by Chinese VIPs who make their way onto the field post-game, one of whom had clearly rehearsed the second verse.

The players, seemingly unfazed by the warm, humid conditions, made sure to cover the whole ground in their celebrations with us.

It’s worth reflecting on the enormity of the ‘crisis club’ from 2011 achieving such an enormous task.

It’s a testament to the culture of our club that we’ve gone from empty bays at West Lakes to 5000 fans making an international pilgrimage in the time it took Ollie Wines to make vice-captain.

My friend and fellow traveller Caitlin Smith summed up the club’s journey up best.

"You don’t survive by being mediocre, you don’t survive by being average and doing the same old thing… you survive by pushing the boundaries of what is AFL, which we did back in ’97 and we’re doing again."

For next year, many of us are more than keen to make a return trip. Some are already planning for 2018, while others say they’d happily do five in a row.

As for me, I came for the historic first game with absolutely no intention of returning, but since the second day of my trip I’ve been brainstorming how to fund the next one!

An idea like this wouldn’t be Port Adelaide if it didn’t face doubts and criticism at every turn, but hectic as it was, Shanghai 2017 was one of the greatest things I have ever done, and one of the greatest things I have ever seen this club do.

Rachel McDonald is a Bachelor of Media student and converted her whole family to Port Adelaide when she was five.

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