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Port Adelaide chairman David Koch was interviewed before the Showdown and the age-old question of the prison bars guernsey was raised yet again.
This is a debate that will rumble on for years to come and I see no end in sight.
The argument over the colours and jumper design stems from when a second South Australian franchise entered the AFL.
The controversy over Port Adelaide entering the national competition is a separate issue, history shows that the Adelaide Football Club was formed in 1990 and Port Adelaide entered the competition in 1997.
When Port was awarded the second AFL licence the existence of Collingwood meant that responsibility fell on the newer organisation to change to prevent a clash.
As a result Port Adelaide added the colours teal and silver to the historic black and white, changed their nickname to the Power and composed a new song.
As I have mentioned before this drove a wedge between the supporters of Port Adelaide.
There are two main theories behind what actually happened in that period, therefore creating two distinct histories for the Power.
A version that is often championed by non-Port Adelaide folk is that the AFL team was formed in 1996, it has no history, and it is a completely separate entity to the SANFL version of Port ‘Magpies’.
I understand that some of the powerbrokers (pun intended) at Alberton deliberately distanced themselves from the Magpies as in order to gain support from South Australians who historically hated the SANFL version of Port Adelaide.
However as soon as you call a club Port Adelaide you are going to draw that parallel automatically.
If you really wanted to prevent the Port Adelaide brand being associated with the ‘new’ club then it had to be completely removed from the Alberton club.
The other major theory, which I subscribe to, is that PAFC transitioned from the SANFL to the AFL, taking with them the history and honours from their 137 years.
This obviously would mean that there would be a gap in the SANFL and let’s be honest, a local competition without the Magpies is like an Australian burger without egg. With that the SANFL club was born.
Over the past couple of years this argument has been somewhat settled and the club is at a point where Port Adelaide is two teams.
Sharing the history of a proud organisation under one banner.
This leaves the question of the stripping of the AFL version of their iconic colours, logo, nickname and song.
When I started looking into the history of Port Adelaide and their entrance into the AFL the whole process baffled me.
I grew up in England and most of my opinion on this comes from watching sport there, predominately soccer (this is an AFL piece, I’m not getting into the whole soccer versus football argument).
First off the rank is the guernsey. I’m a Liverpool fan and looking at the EPL table there are six other teams that wear red or a variant of it.
That means that seven teams clash with kit designs. The idea that a club can monopolise a colour scheme is frankly ludicrous to me.
Liverpool was founded in 1892 and their home kit consists of a red shirt, Manchester United, who also wear a red shirt, were founded as Newton Heath FC in 1878.
Using the Collingwood model United has every right to demand that Liverpool don’t wear red when they play at Anfield (Liverpool’s home ground).
Collingwood and particularly the marketing side of the club have missed a trick here. If you buy a Collingwood jumper you can be confident that it isn’t going out of fashion any time soon.
EPL clubs will famously change their kit every couple of years. The home kits retain the club colours, but the away kit is carte blanche for the designers. It has led to some stinkers but people buy them.
The bigger soccer clubs will usually have three and sometimes four variations on a kit. Fans purchase each and every version, which puts more money into the coffers of the club.
Collingwood could realistically release a new clash guernsey every two years and sell a lot of them.
The decision to steadfastly refuse to change, and even force North Melbourne to relinquish their right to wear their home jumper is one that, while traditionally proud, loses the club an income.
Also I’m pretty sure the majority of AFL fans would love to see Port supporters behind prison bars.
The guernsey question is, to my mind, the only issue that causes problems. The other icons of Alberton shouldn’t raise an eyebrow. Nicknames for sports clubs should be organic.
As far as I’m concerned I’m a Port Adelaide Football Club fan. The club has been called numerous things over the past years the Cockledivers, the Seaside Men, the Seasiders and the Magentas.
They settled on the Magpies in 1902, and changed to the Power in 1996. What the link between Port Adelaide and power is I’m not sure.
I would like to see any new clubs that enter the AFL just have their club name and let the nickname come naturally. However there is a trend that clubs have to come in a pre-packaged pret-a-manger corporate bundle.
The difference between the Port Adelaide Magpies logo and the Collingwood logo is sufficient for there to be no confusion and if the Notre Dame Victory March starts playing at the end of a Port versus Sydney game a quick glance at the scoreboard should clear up any confusion.
There seems to be too much interference from the AFL on matters that really should grow from the fans. Club colours, songs and logos should change and evolve.
Sporting clubs are not a corporate identity. They are a community. A community that should have the right to be represented as they see fit.
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