With a taste of the future national competition, Port Adelaide began to negotiate with the league. Whether it was the verbal crowd of 30-35,000, or the official figure, the crowd was at least bigger than all but four of the 142 SANFL-sanction games, including finals, held in 1989. Many punters desperate to see an AFL club in action against South Australia’s champions were stuck in the turnstiles for much of the first quarter, so instead elected to jump the fences to get into Football Park. What the figure doesn’t indicate is the actual crowd size. There, before an official crowd of 27,743, a talent-laced Cats beat the Magpies by 52 points with a side featuring legendary Gary Ablett senior, and current Port Adelaide SANFL coach Garry Hocking.
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The need to pay exorbitant sums to retain players, above the day-to-day costs of running a club, was crippling many in South Australia, but even though the VFL approached the SANFL to enter a composite side in the late 80s, the decision was made in Adelaide, and ratified again in May 1990, to hold off until at least 1993.Īmid the backdrop of the first half of 1990, Port Adelaide, fresh from vanquishing North Adelaide in the 1989 grand final, hosted Geelong in a pre-season trial game at Football Park. The build upįor almost a decade prior Port Adelaide, like many other South Australian clubs, had lost some of its best talent to the VFL.įor the Magpies, names like Mark and Stephen Williams, Bruce Abernethy, Greg Phillips, Martin Leslie, Greg Anderson and Craig Bradley had all been lured to the cashed-up VFL competition. It was news that would shake South Australian football to the core. Port Adelaide, it had been revealed, was in secret negotiations with the AFL to join the national competition for the 1991 season, as the first team for South Australia, and the only pre-existing club from outside Victoria. St Kilda had won by 75 over the Swans, everyone was gearing up for Hawk Michael Tuck's 400th against the Bears.īut in their paper, news had broken that would fundamentally shift Australian Football from that day on. Over the border, in Victoria, it was a similar situation. The paper was delivered on concrete driveways around the city, telling readers as much. Port Adelaide had won the day before - three in a row, this time by 62 points over West Torrens.ĭespite the rain, it smelled like another premiership year.
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The sun came up, mum and dad ate breakfast, kids went to play footy. Sunday 29 July 1990, was a Sunday like most others in Adelaide. It’s been 25 years since Port Adelaide changed football forever…