Club History AFL plan to kill off Port in 2012

[Holden Hillbilly]

Behind paywall in the Australian today:

When Port Adelaide tragic David Koch agreed to become the chairman of his beloved footy club in 2012, he had no idea AFL chiefs had crisis contingency plans to kill off the 146-year-old institution.

Only this year did the Seven Network’s Sunrise host, known as “Kochie” to millions of television viewers, discover the AFL was plotting to relocate the Power to another state should it sink further into the financial mire. “When I was asked to do the job, I said to the AFL ‘I’ll need to be assured of your support and solvency issues going forward’ and they said ‘We’ll back you’,” Koch told The Australian.

“Three months ago, Mike Fitzpatrick (the current AFL chairman) said, ‘To be frank, none of us expected that you could turn it around so we had a plan B to get rid of Port’.

“I said ‘You bastards! … I had all these assurances.’ He said: ‘Ah yes, well we would have honoured them, but just in case you didn’t.’

“It was a huge shock. There was talk of rebranding; of maybe basing the club in the Northern Territory and calling it Central Australia rather than Port Adelaide.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...h/news-story/92a57f9af603113e6696459f4eb956d8

 

[port_adelaide_1870]

If they got rid of or relocated the Port Adelaide football club I would never watch another afl game ever again.

 

[chiwigi]

Fluff piece, wouldn't have happened.

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

Lucky we had kochdog

 

[Jonts]

Would it of been port adelaide? Or a NT team with teal in their colours?

 

[Jason K]

So I hope they are looking at other clubs now we have turned it around?

 

[chiwigi]

It would have been a re branding and a dual location in Adelaide and NT judging by the article.

 

[Portia]

Its pretty much ultimate proof of AFL incompetence. Honestly if the name of the club was ever changed there's no point keeping any presence in SA

 

[Forzaport]

If they got rid of or relocated the Port Adelaide football club I would never watch another afl game ever again.

I'm the same - if Port was to cease to exist as Port, then I'd be done with AFL permanently. I can't begin to imagine the cluster* that SA football would have been if the SANFL *******s had gotten their way with branding a second team Crows lite.

 

[Forzaport]

Still need to add links malcolm, even if it is behind a pay wall.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Behind paywall in the Australian today:

When Port Adelaide tragic David Koch agreed to become the chairman of his beloved footy club in 2012, he had no idea AFL chiefs had crisis contingency plans to kill off the 146-year-old institution.

Only this year did the Seven Network’s Sunrise host, known as “Kochie” to millions of television viewers, discover the AFL was plotting to relocate the Power to another state should it sink further into the financial mire. “When I was asked to do the job, I said to the AFL ‘I’ll need to be assured of your support and solvency issues going forward’ and they said ‘We’ll back you’,” Koch told The Australian.

“Three months ago, Mike Fitzpatrick (the current AFL chairman) said, ‘To be frank, none of us expected that you could turn it around so we had a plan B to get rid of Port’.

“I said ‘You bastards! … I had all these assurances.’ He said: ‘Ah yes, well we would have honoured them, but just in case you didn’t.’

“It was a huge shock. There was talk of rebranding; of maybe basing the club in the Northern Territory and calling it Central Australia rather than Port Adelaide.”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...h/news-story/92a57f9af603113e6696459f4eb956d8

Oh boy. Thank God for Kochie and KT.

 

[Andre]

No shock really and one can't blame the AFL too much. We were s**t on field, bleeding money off-field, fans not turning up and not bringing in TV viewers.

Thank god Demetriou, for all his flaws, could see past the SANFL lies and start to push them to the side.

It hardly needs repeating, but what a ******* incompetent and petty organisation the SANFL is. Run the hypothetical of the PAFC died (and that's what a re-branding would have been), there'd have been a handful of SA games at AAMI that attracted 10k. Central Australia or NT would not appeal to non-crows, non-other clubs, Port hating mythical fans. So the SANFL would have been left with 15 or 16 games instead of 22 at AAMI, no AO to save their bacon, the 'new' club run by the AFL and not propping up the SANFL. They'd have an SANFL short of funds, a stadium they couldn't afford to upgrade, with WA's stadium still on the horizon to show bad their suburban s**t hole is/was. Talk about cutting off the nose, ears and every appendage just to screw over Port.

If ever anyone at the club still had thoughts that the SANFL can be worked with, rather than going to war with, with all guns blazing, this must put them to bed.

 

[badbeats]

If they're going to kill off a club and re-locate elsewhere, why wouldn't they have moved it to Tasmania?

Just shows the AFL really isn't interested in the Tassy market.

 

[Magus]

How much are the GC and GWS franchises costing the league already? Can you imagine them funding a 'Central Australia' franchise on top of those two? Unbelievable.

 

[DazzaTys]

Reading this makes my blood boil that the AFL would be prepared to prop clubs up like GWS, Gold Coast, Melbourne etc yet were willing to kill a club that in less than 10 years had significant success. If any thing my hatred for the SANFL has grown significantly and only reinforces what a bunch of money grabbing campaigners they all are.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Eat a bag Hurley, Whicker etc etc.

 

[Doctor Feel]

Lol, still would have supported a central aus team over any other one though.

That said, this is all just what if. If we had gotten any worse the truth is they totally had a right to shift us. Because of our uniquely awful conditions compounded by stadium deals, media crusade, SANFL etc. We were haemorrhageing more money than any other club.

We also had no state government support unlike vic clubs. Our debt levels were and still are enourmous. We were staring down the barrell with good reason - but the reason for us staring down the barrel is what is the travesty.

 

[I Dont Care]

There's always a Port in sPort, always will be

 

[Ant Bear]

The Brett Duncanson years will be remembered as one of the darkest periods of our great club.

 

[OneGreatClub]

The Brett Duncanson years will be remembered as one of the darkest periods of our great club.

The down times make the up times even more glorious

 

[Us against the rest]

No shock really and one can't blame the AFL too much. We were s**t on field, bleeding money off-field, fans not turning up and not bringing in TV viewers.

Thank god Demetriou, for all his flaws, could see past the SANFL lies and start to push them to the side.

It hardly needs repeating, but what a ******* incompetent and petty organisation the SANFL is. Run the hypothetical of the PAFC died (and that's what a re-branding would have been), there'd have been a handful of SA games at AAMI that attracted 10k. Central Australia or NT would not appeal to non-crows, non-other clubs, Port hating mythical fans. So the SANFL would have been left with 15 or 16 games instead of 22 at AAMI, no AO to save their bacon, the 'new' club run by the AFL and not propping up the SANFL. They'd have an SANFL short of funds, a stadium they couldn't afford to upgrade, with WA's stadium still on the horizon to show bad their suburban s**t hole is/was. Talk about cutting off the nose, ears and every appendage just to screw over Port.

If ever anyone at the club still had thoughts that the SANFL can be worked with, rather than going to war with, with all guns blazing, this must put them to bed.

This is true but mostly due to the fact that when we entered the AFL we never had a crop of State players, or a blank cheque like the the Cows. It was always going to be the case, when they slapped their franchise together ahead of a club side. Face it if you were not a Port fan in the SANFL you were a Crows fan, that means membership bums on seats and ultimately revenue in their coffers. Old ground i know but not letting a club side in and allowing it to establish itself with members 1st hurt us bad. It should have always been Port followed up by another proud SA club in Norwood. They can stick their plastic franchise and their thickle supporters where the sun don't shine as far as i am concerned, Port Adelaide is SA footy, just some people in the state are slow on the uptake.

 

[Us against the rest]

Lol, still would have supported a central aus team over any other one though.

That said, this is all just what if. If we had gotten any worse the truth is they totally had a right to shift us. Because of our uniquely awful conditions compounded by stadium deals, media crusade, SANFL etc. We were haemorrhageing more money than any other club.

We also had no state government support unlike vic clubs. Our debt levels were and still are enourmous. We were staring down the barrell with good reason - but the reason for us staring down the barrel is what is the travesty.

Spot on.

 

[Steve Dore]

How much are the GC and GWS franchises costing the league already? Can you imagine them funding a 'Central Australia' franchise on top of those two? Unbelievable.

This is why I take this whole thing with a large grain of salt but if true it highlights, as Portia posted above, the incompetence of the AFL.

The AFL's plan is for two teams in each state mainland state so relocating Port's license to a new team in the NT makes no sense.
If an established club like the PAFC can't be financially self sufficient how is a startup in the NT ever going to be.

 

[Andre]

This is true but mostly due to the fact that when we entered the AFL we never had a crop of State players, or a blank cheque like the the Cows. It was always going to be the case, when they slapped their franchise together ahead of a club side. Face it if you were not a Port fan in the SANFL you were a Crows fan, that means membership bums on seats and ultimately revenue in their coffers. Old ground i know but not letting a club side in and allowing it to establish itself with members 1st hurt us bad. It should have always been Port followed up by another proud SA club in Norwood. They can stick their plastic franchise and their thickle supporters where the sun don't shine as far as i am concerned, Port Adelaide is SA footy, just some people in the state are slow on the uptake.

If the AFL had let Port get the second license, rather than it be the SANFL and us sub-licensed we wouldn't have had a lot of the issues. That was a major stuff up on their part. The SACA was right in the middle of still hating the SANFL at that point. We could have played them off against each other for a better stadium deal at either AAMI or be SA side based at AO. *, if you want to go alternate histories, if we'd gotten the second SA license directly and being based at AO from the start we'd have within 10 years been the biggest supported club in the state. The SANFL wouldn't have had the leverage to come to AO as an equal party and the Crows would have been stuck at the rotting concrete bowl, whilst with both Cricket and Port AO would have gotten the money. Not to the degree it has now, but still enough to make it better.

Now I love AO as it is now, but given the option to go back and have it like that, I'd take it 10 times out of 10 without pausing.

 

[actiongreggars]

How's Brisbane faring at the moment.