- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Nick Salter and Matthew Broadbent of Port celebrate victory after the AFL Round 16 match between Port Adelaide Power and the West Coast Eagles at AAMI Stadium. The Slattery Media Group
There have been calls for Port Adelaide to wear their ‘Back In Black’ guernseys permanently as a clash strip. But never mind the rare use of it as a clash strip, they should make it their permanent home kit.
Port Adelaide donned the black guernsey with the teal and white V in the weekend’s Round 16 clash with West Coast at AAMI Stadium.
It was part of the club’s annual Planet Teal competition whereby fans are given the opportunity to design a guernsey to be used in an AFL match. The winner this year was a seven-year-old girl and the design has been embraced not only by the fans, but also the players and coaches at Port Adelaide.
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams said after the weekend’s win over the Eagles, “If you polled the players I think they’d want to wear it every week. They love it.
“Port Adelaide back in black I think is something that sits nicely with the club, so it would be fantastic.”
Indeed, Williams, as the son of South Australian great Fos Williams, and also as someone who played in four premiership winning Port Adelaide Magpies’ sides in the SANFL, knows all about the club and it’s traditions.
Williams added, “This one looks like Port Adelaide. It looks tough. It looks hard to beat.
“I know the white one has been a big hit with the kids because you can sign them, they are easy to sign, and that’s important because you need to continually have a relationship with the kids coming through.
“But I think the traditional Port Adelaide people love the black.”
And the traditions of Port Adelaide were in some ways lost by the Power when they made a lot of decisions (which still remain to this day) prior to joining the AFL in 1997. You could argue it has hurt the club’s attempts to capitalize on the Magpies supporter base in Adelaide with fans not identifying with the new franchise.
And there’s no ignoring the fact the Power register the worst home crowds in the AFL year in year out, with an average attendance of just under 25,000 at AAMI Stadium this season despite playing in a two-team city.
But returning to the original point about the guernsey, and it should be noted the Power still to this day wear the strip which was designed back in the mid-90s at their home games at AAMI.
Aesthetically, that uniform seems to be a random assortment of white triangles which are supposed to represent ‘power’ or ‘lightning’ over a black and teal background. When it was designed back in the nineties, it was supposed to be innovative or different, whilst maintaining some elements of the Magpies’ SANFL kit, but the reality is it seems completely random.
Indeed, it seems odd that the Power continue to wear the uniform, especially considering how outdated it is as something created in the nineties trying to be ‘innovative’.
But the kit which the Power wore on the weekend, was something which makes sense.
As the Power slogan goes, the guernsey is ‘Back To Black’, suggesting a relevant return to the traditions of the Magpies and their connotation as the boys in black.
Interestingly, there was a poll on the Adelaide Advertiser website on Monday asking, ‘Should Port adopt the black guernsey as it’s permanent away guernsey?’. The response from over 200 voters was an emphatic 96% for yes. It is clear the uniform is popular.
Last week I wrote as piece published on The Roar about the potential nicknames for the new Gold Coast franchise and how these things should evolve naturally.
Upon consideration of that, you ponder Port Adelaide’s case where the club was labeled the Power and given an ‘innovative’ uniform by people behind the scenes before their inception into the AFL fifteen years ago.
Yet in 2009, a seven-year-old fan has come up with a design which the Port supporters really like. It’s a natural evolution emerging from the supporter base, which the Power management should embrace.
Interestingly, Port Adelaide president Brett Duncanson commented on the topic saying, “We may look at it as our away strip.
“We’ll raise it at management level and see what we think is the best option.”
The best option, in my opinion (as ‘out-there’ as it may seem), is taking it another step and making it the club’s official home kit.
Williams made an interesting point earlier by saying the current clash, or away, kit was a white one which was popular with the kids. Also a clash kit should serve it’s purpose and provide an option as something to wear when two uniforms clash.
Making Port’s ‘Back To Black’ guernsey their away strip, when it’s so similar to their current home strip in terms of colour, is pointless.
So it’s time to discard the old and bring in the new.
And the reality is, as Duncanson openly acknowledged, the ‘Back To Black’ strip ‘is an outstanding design’. Especially in comparison to their current home guernsey.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.