Brad Ebert - Home Again

[Ford Fairlane]

There is so much to enjoy in this article about Brad Ebert and his connection to the Port Adelaide Football Club.

We are Port Adelaide. Indeed.

Brad Ebert's back in the Power fold
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by: Jesper Fjeldstad
From: Sunday Mail (SA)
December 03, 2011 10:00PM

BRAD Ebert sits in the same seat in the old stand at Alberton where he spent much of his childhood.

That is, when he was not following father Craig around or having a kick-and-catch with other kids.

He's back as a player now, after four years at West Coast, but as he takes in the view of the oval on a perfect spring day there's no time for reflection.

Great-uncle Peter Obst, a Magpie legend, is in his ear.

"You've just got to work your guts out," he counsels. "Go in hard for the ball and if you don't get it, stop some other bastard from getting it."

Grandfather Trevor, or "Bubbles" as he is better known, pipes up and it's on, the ribbing and banter that goes on in football families.

And this family is peerless in South Australian football and would challenge for the most decorated in the nation.

Between the Obsts and the Eberts - Brad's maternal and paternal bloodlines - there are more than 1300 games, six Magarey Medals, 21 premierships and eight Port Adelaide best and fairests.

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[Peck]

Jesper? I seem to remember that name from somewhere...

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Who cares about Jesper. This is a great story about how this magnificent football club keeps the flame burning. Tell the world I'm coming home.

 

[PatientMental]

.... Well I'll be damned.

 

[CrimsonRaven]

It's a good article and looks like they took someone on this boards idea of getting all the family together for a photo op.

Mighty footballlers blood runs through this guys veins.

 

[Macca19]

Very good article. Glad hes home.

 

[beenreal]

A good news Port Adelaide story? Especially one from Fester Jellystooge. Must be a slow news day.

Interesting point about 4 years in Perth keeping him isolated from the hoopla about the Ebert/Obst name. Something Brett never was never shielded from.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

The only bit I didn't like was the "deep down they still feel more for the Magpies than the Power..."

Completely unnecessary and as it wasn't a direct quote is this just something Jesper "felt" during the interview? Of course the old boys that played in the prison bars and at Alberton are going to speak fondly of those days but in case Jesper missed it Brad is coming home to play with his cousin at the club their fathers played at, and in Brads case his grandfather.

It's the same club you **** stick.

Having had that whinge, overall a positive article and an enjoyable read.

 

[finbarr]

This is why i always felt it was so important to get him back here.

Now, let's move on to getting rid of this utterly ridiculous father/son situation where we can grab the sons of guys who played for West Adelaide, and have only the sons of guys who played 100+ games for the PAFC in any competition eligible.

 

[Forzaport]

The only bit I didn't like was the "deep down they still feel more for the Magpies than the Power..."

I noticed that as well. Completely unnecessary and only serves as a poor attempt at fracturing the supporter base.

The rest of the article was reasonable and surprisingly feel good, even for Jester.

 

[Quadzilla]

headline should have been

'Brad Ebert back in Port Adelaide fold' ... he never was at the Power ... picky?

Good story ... Jesper took the idea from BF tho'?

 

[tribey]

Also it'd be awesome to see all of the living Eberts and Obsts in their playing guernseys on the front cover of the chAdvertiser.

Promote that man!

 

[edge of reason]

Please excuse my interloping on your board, but I just wanted to say that article in the Sunday Mail was fantastic (what a great pedigree !). Also, why couldn't Port have picked up Brad under the Father / Son rule when his Grandfather played the required 200 games? Is this another case of AFL Victorian bias?

 

[tribey]

^Because its a father-son rule and not grandfather-son rule, obviously.

Brad's father Craig 'only' played approximately 100 league games for Port allowing for the SANFL's tallying of Escort/FAI/Foundation Cup games as the one total in historical records.

 

[edge of reason]

Sorry, my mistake - I thought you could use Grandfathers games too. I seem to remember Geelong being interested in recruiting Primus that way through his Grandfather Reg Hickey.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Sorry, my mistake - I thought you could use Grandfathers games too. I seem to remember Geelong being interested in recruiting Primus that way through his Grandfather Reg Hickey.

They weren't interested in Primus at all hence Bob Davis' issue with Primus not being at Geelong.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

That was a fantastic story and it's great to see Brad back at Alberton.

What stood out for me, was why hasn't Port Adelaide pre 1997 and both divisions of the club post 1996 used Bubbles Obst more in marketing the club to its wider supporter base? Sure the rusted on supporters who live close to Alberton know what a character he is, but the rest of us have only had glimpses of him over the last few decades.

If Port are going to use Brad in some marketing, then I hope they bring Bubbles along for the campaign.

 

[Andre]

The only bit I didn't like was the "deep down they still feel more for the Magpies than the Power..."

Yeah, the sly dig to try and send the subliminal message PAFC Magpies pre-1997 is not the same PAFC club as today.
Ignoring that subtle as a brick through a window line the rest of the article was a good read. Certainly reinforcing that one of the items the club should be addressing off-field is giving up the right to all non-PAFC father/sons in return for 100 game PAFC players, whether 100 in the SANFL, AFL or a combination of.

 

[Power freak 2008]

Yeah I saw that dig from Jesper. Pretty childish. They loved the Magpies more but the lure of Alberton was enough to bring Brad home. It was almost as if he was contradicting his own article. If there wasn't much connection than why write an article about a home coming?

 

[240volt]

That was a fantastic story and it's great to see Brad back at Alberton.

What stood out for me, was why hasn't Port Adelaide pre 1997 and both divisions of the club post 1996 used Bubbles Obst more in marketing the club to its wider supporter base? Sure the rusted on supporters who live close to Alberton know what a character he is, but the rest of us have only had glimpses of him over the last few decades.

If Port are going to use Brad in some marketing, then I hope they bring Bubbles along for the campaign.

I can just remember when Bubbles won the Medal ....great story that he was at the Royal show at the time and was told by someone he had won and Bubbles thought it was some kind of joke.'

Him and Brenton Adcock will always stand out to me as the last of the great back pocket players.
The clashes of the highly skilled Sturt and the never say die Port of the 60s and early 70s will always be special to anyone who was around at that time.
The real Port Adelaide has been lost over time,it would be great if we could get back some scene of our true identity.

 

[b0ydman]

I noticed that as well. Completely unnecessary and only serves as a poor attempt at fracturing the supporter base.

The rest of the article was reasonable and surprisingly feel good, even for Jester.

To be fair, when your family has been a part of a club, AND they are sitting in the stand, and they have 6 Magareys and 15,000 games etc, the article IS as much about them

If Greg or Russ Boyd's kids entered the draft and Dave sat there in the stands with them in 10 years (not going to happen but just giving the example) the story would as much be about the Magpies experience

Great article all the same

You can take the boy out of the club.....

 

[PatientMental]

You can't take the bias out of the journalist!

(am I doing this right?)

 

[Eddie Dingle]

To be fair, when your family has been a part of a club, AND they are sitting in the stand, and they have 6 Magareys and 15,000 games etc, the article IS as much about them

If Greg or Russ Boyd's kids entered the draft and Dave sat there in the stands with them in 10 years (not going to happen but just giving the example) the story would as much be about the Magpies experience

Great article all the same

You can take the boy out of the club.....

The point is, it's the same ****ing club. The Port Adelaide Football Club. We know the Obst's, Boyd's etc played before we were in the AFL and so do the the "journos", as was pointed out above, it as a not so subtle attempt to continue the divide in the supporter base that the OneClub initiative has worked so hard to resolve.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

As it stands it is two teams, one club. Felchy wrote that he has been traded back to the club, but specifically that two of the older players identify more with one team than the other. That is unavoidable at times.

If he set out to write a line to distract sections of the Port supporting base away from a great story about a famous name's homecoming then he has succeeded. I doubt he's that smart, but that distracting comment is given way too much oxygen.

We have a thread for bitching about journos. It's a shame to see this terrific homecoming story, which really says something about the OnePort campaign of the club and is the type of publicity the club is trying to generate to embrace the entire Port community being derailed by Port supporters.

In a way such comments are even a positive because it says whether you feel more for the Magpies or the Power you still come back to one club - the Port Adelaide Football Club. And over 90% of Port supporters support both teams, one club.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

All fair and valid points Ford.

In a lot of these "discussions" we are all effectively agreeing and mostly saying the same thing. Having said that, As the Magpies we played well enough to get into the AFL and the Power continue on that tradition.

Ah **** it you know what I am going to say and I know we agree.

I just get shitty when these weak gutted ****s hiding behind the loosely termed job title of "Journalist" can take these pot shots and sit back and s****** as we get more and more pissed off.

I'm like that bloke that went to the fancy dress party naked and with his old fella in a bowl of yellow muck.

****ing Discustard.