Change The Club Song

El_Scorcho

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Aug 21, 2007
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So go out and win then. Changing the branding because we haven't been successful is some strange thinking.

On-field success could mask our branding mistakes, but we could just correct those mistakes as well.

There's a reason we're the only club that regularly have discussions around dropping our nickname.
 
Yeah i'd change it but i'd rebrand us as the Port Adelaide Pirates - as we should have been since we joined the AFL - and then change it to a sea shanty style song as part of that.

Do a full on call and response style sea shanty with the Captain or another heart and soul senior player leading it, with that responsibility handed down as tradition. Hammer would be the obvious song leader at the moment and retiring would see him hand it to someone like Clurey or DBJ.

I'll die on this hill. The Power branding has ultimately been a missed opportunity.

I’d just go the Spongebob theme song
 

backtozero

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 26, 2020
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On-field success could mask our branding mistakes, but we could just correct those mistakes as well.

There's a reason we're the only club that regularly have discussions around dropping our nickname.

And is that because we were forced to change our branding upon entry (and people don't like change)
Or
"Pirates" is just too damn good?

Or could it be in fact that this board is actually just a small segment of the Port Adelaide fan base and the constant need for change is really just a discussion that exists here?

Whatever it is, the ship has sailed.
 

It's direct statements from the club itself that muddy the waters as to our own identity and how we are referred to amongst our own supporters and AFL community as a whole.

Joined Saturday night.

What is it with all these new Collingwood and “Port” supporters joining after the bars episode of Saturday the 8th of May?
 
May 8, 2021
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Cmon Eddie Spaghetti, don't be like that...I was born a Port Adelaide supporter. I can remember the Port Adelaide Magpies players carry the North Adelaide coffin during their lap of honour after the 1989 GF.
I can remember the herculean like effort of Scott Hodges with his tackle on Steven Spehr in the last quarter of the 1994 GF against Woodville West Torrens.
I've also watched us lose in successive weeks by 20+ goals in the Primus era.
 
May 8, 2021
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I'm glad you changed your Avatar Eddie Dingle, I'd hope your old Avatar was of someone famous and not yourself because that face was punchable 🙂
 
Mar 22, 2013
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TBH Pirates sounds way too cheesy to me, If we came into the AFL as pirates I’d probably be a ‘sigh’ Adelaide Crows supporter right now lol. Power is fine, It’s a very subtle nick name and we’ve done a good job recently to take the emphasis of power off of our branding. What matters is our name ‘Port Adelaide Football Club’, Let our nickname remain in the background because it ain’t a big deal IMO. If there is to be a nick name change then let it come organically through the supporter base (somehow), don’t make it an official club matter
 

El_Scorcho

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This is El_Scorcho leading us in the singing of the new ports pirates theme song on the way home from the showdown on Saturday night.



Unironically this. The sea shanty is timeless and a great way for a group of 22 people to sing a song that would be unique in the league.

My cricket club has a call and response song which I had the absolute honour of leading in the grade I played for a big part of my career.


And is that because we were forced to change our branding upon entry (and people don't like change)
Or
"Pirates" is just too damn good?

Or could it be in fact that this board is actually just a small segment of the Port Adelaide fan base and the constant need for change is really just a discussion that exists here?

Whatever it is, the ship has sailed.

I don't think it's just here, personally, but that's just my read on the supporter base. Absolutely some people wouldn't have been happy regardless because we were changing from Magpies, but I think people would have been better engaged with a better identity. Power was deliberately an abstract concept instead of a thing and I think it was a bad, 90s decision. As I said, no other club on this forum has regularly discussions about their identity and whether it's any good.

I've talked about Pirates a lot on here when stuff like this comes up. We were maritime based raiders from another comp known for our raucous crowd, a Jolly Roger is even black and white. I think it was an obvious decision and it didn't need to be cartoonish. You can call yourself the pirates and still keep the branding fairly traditional, but we went cartoonish with Power anyway, with Thunda Power and the Fistbolt Float.
 
Yeah i'd change it but i'd rebrand us as the Port Adelaide Pirates - as we should have been since we joined the AFL - and then change it to a sea shanty style song as part of that.

Do a full on call and response style sea shanty with the Captain or another heart and soul senior player leading it, with that responsibility handed down as tradition. Hammer would be the obvious song leader at the moment and retiring would see him hand it to someone like Clurey or DBJ.

I'll die on this hill. The Power branding has ultimately been a missed opportunity.
If I see Jarrod Walsh dressed like this on gameday, I'll spew.

feathersword+somalia.jpg
 

backtozero

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 26, 2020
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Unironically this. The sea shanty is timeless and a great way for a group of 22 people to sing a song that would be unique in the league.

My cricket club has a call and response song which I had the absolute honour of leading in the grade I played for a big part of my career.




I don't think it's just here, personally, but that's just my read on the supporter base. Absolutely some people wouldn't have been happy regardless because we were changing from Magpies, but I think people would have been better engaged with a better identity. Power was deliberately an abstract concept instead of a thing and I think it was a bad, 90s decision. As I said, no other club on this forum has regularly discussions about their identity and whether it's any good.

I've talked about Pirates a lot on here when stuff like this comes up. We were maritime based raiders from another comp known for our raucous crowd, a Jolly Roger is even black and white. I think it was an obvious decision and it didn't need to be cartoonish. You can call yourself the pirates and still keep the branding fairly traditional, but we went cartoonish with Power anyway, with Thunda Power and the Fistbolt Float.

If we could go back in time i would absolutely have the Raiders style branding but I think we need to live Power now. As others have said, we can edge towards being just branded as Port Adelaide as we have done already and teal as a minimal colour is fine.
 

NoddyHolder

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Mar 2, 2014
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It's direct statements from the club itself that muddy the waters as to our own identity and how we are referred to amongst our own supporters and AFL community as a whole.
This was discussed when the article came out two years ago and it turned out that every club issue guidelines for the media on how they should be referred to. For example Collingwood state that they can be called The 'Pies, but never the Maggies (or the Collywobbles). It was strange (lol) that Port were targeted for it, but nobody else's requests were mentioned.
 

NoddyHolder

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Mar 2, 2014
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TBH Pirates sounds way too cheesy to me, If we came into the AFL as pirates I’d probably be a ‘sigh’ Adelaide Crows supporter right now lol. Power is fine, It’s a very subtle nick name and we’ve done a good job recently to take the emphasis of power off of our branding. What matters is our name ‘Port Adelaide Football Club’, Let our nickname remain in the background because it ain’t a big deal IMO. If there is to be a nick name change then let it come organically through the supporter base (somehow), don’t make it an official club matter
Agree re The Pirates as a nickname. Also Power is no more abstract than The Blues, or Redlegs, or Double Blues that have all been seen as fine nicknames for at least 100 years.
Nothing will ever be able to match the magpies for me as a nickname because that's what I grew up with but I haven't seen a better alternative than the one we have offered as an alternative since.
 
On-field success could mask our branding mistakes, but we could just correct those mistakes as well.

There's a reason we're the only club that regularly have discussions around dropping our nickname.

Is it because it's a poor nickname or is it because we are the only ones to run two concurrently?

If we had been called the Power in the SANFL nobody would be suggesting changing to Pirates.
 
Sep 3, 2002
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Ive never really liked the horn intro but its our song now and we shouldn't change it

However hearing cheer cheer the black and the white at AO on the weekend gave me tingles in my nether regions
We obviously are never going to be Magpies in the AFL, but now we're back as one club ditch Power everywhere. Go back to as close to our Magpies song as possible - just change Honour the Magpies day and by night to Honour Port Adelaide day and by night.
 
Apr 3, 2006
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I called it an identity crisis because there's still a section of people that can't accept teal, can't accept silver cant accept the song, can't accept Power, can't accept chevrons...

None of it has prevented us from gaining support or from appealing to a wide audience. What then makes it weak?

I dont disagree that perhaps it could have been "better" in the beginning but ultimately it's this desire to move away from what we've basically been for 20 years that hurts us.
We had 5 complete jumper changes in the 32 years between our foundation in 1870 and landing with the right branding in 1902 with the bars. Along with 4 nicknames before landing with magpies those being seasiders, seasidemen, mudholians and magentas. There nothing wrong with questioning our image until we get it right.
 

El_Scorcho

Hall of Famer
Aug 21, 2007
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Is it because it's a poor nickname or is it because we are the only ones to run two concurrently?

If we had been called the Power in the SANFL nobody would be suggesting changing to Pirates.

It's both.

We changed it because we had to, but then we changed it to something weak. I know the thinking behind changing it to an abstract concept instead of a "thing" because we didn't want to replace the magpie. I think in retrospect that made the identity harder to engage with and was a mistake, IMO.

If we'd been called the Power in the SANFL we'd theoretically have decades of tradition carrying over and the name would mean something to people.

Otherwise I think our branding has been really strong for the last decade or so, we just have this awkward identity we committed to 25 years ago that wasn't quite the right fit(IMO)
 
It's both.

We changed it because we had to, but then we changed it to something weak. I know the thinking behind changing it to an abstract concept instead of a "thing" because we didn't want to replace the magpie. I think in retrospect that made the identity harder to engage with and was a mistake, IMO.

If we'd been called the Power in the SANFL we'd theoretically have decades of tradition carrying over and the name would mean something to people.

Otherwise I think our branding has been really strong for the last decade or so, we just have this awkward identity we committed to 25 years ago that wasn't quite the right fit(IMO)
We didn’t change it to something weak, we literally picked the strongest term possible 😂. Added to nature’s most powerful action and a big * off fist!

if anything we went too strong 😂😂
That’s where the cringe comes from.
 
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