Port - Norwood rivalry (and tragedy)

[Gough]

Lol. Not even close.

Carlton would easily be the most supported non SA team in SA. Essendon and Hawthorn probably second and 3rd. 80's success a big driver. Also SA recruitment and following players from your SANFL club across was the other. Colours also played a part.

Richmond turned into s**t in the 80's and they never had any decent SA recruits unlike the 3 listed. Also, Glenelg supporters, due to their love of Stephen Kernahan tended to support Carlton more than Richmond.

Collingwood lost a lot of SA support with Port entering the AFL.

Friend of a friend is as South Australian as Farmer's Union and for some reason as a kid he started supporting Freo. He can't even point to success as a reason.

 

[Power Raid]

Lol. Not even close.

Carlton would easily be the most supported non SA team in SA. Essendon and Hawthorn probably second and 3rd. 80's success a big driver. Also SA recruitment and following players from your SANFL club across was the other. Colours also played a part.

Richmond turned into s**t in the 80's and they never had any decent SA recruits unlike the 3 listed. Also, Glenelg supporters, due to their love of Stephen Kernahan tended to support Carlton more than Richmond.

Collingwood lost a lot of SA support with Port entering the AFL.

100%

motley, kernahan and bradley was a coup for carlton, securing follow on support from otherwise rivals centrals, port and glenelg
wanganeen, greg anderson, kickett for the dons
hawks with platten, jarman etc
the pies black and white connection


That said I'm surprised blight, cornes and ebert didn't create a soft spot for north

 

[Power Raid]

Friend of a friend is as South Australian as Farmer's Union and for some reason as a kid he started supporting Freo. He can't even point to success as a reason.

modra or clive perhaps? their terrible original guernseys?

 

[Papa G]

100%

motley, kernahan and bradley was a coup for carlton, securing follow on support from otherwise rivals centrals, port and glenelg
wanganeen, greg anderson, kickett for the dons
hawks with platten, jarman etc
the pies black and white connection


That said I'm surprised blight, cornes and ebert didn't create a soft spot for north

Nobody went for Woodville, Cornes was a failure at Norf and Ebert only played 1 season.

Norf have a fair bit of support in the West with legends like Cable, Glenndinning, the Krakours starring for them pre Eagles days.

 

[Neese]

I would say Carlton has the largest supporter base in SA - Mark Naley, Kernahan, Motley, Craig Bradley were all huge SA recruits. I certainly was supporting Carlton since the early 80s and didn't stop when Crows and Power came into the VFL.

 

[glengowan]

Port were always the biggest. Norwood had a strong supporter base, but it was smaller than Ports. Port were always the big dog.

Port

Norwood
Sturt
Glenelg

North
Centrals

Torrens
West
South
Woodville

This was the case with 10 teams and certainly Port were always number 1, Norwood not far behind at number 2 and a gap to the next throughout the 20th century.

Prior to Woodville and Central's entry in 1964 (and Sturt's great era of the 60's) - Port, Norwood and Torrens were the biggest 3 clubs. With the Crows moving to Thebarton (Torrens old home ground just to the west of the CBD), Port still at Alberton and Norwood still based on The Parade (just east of the CBD) with brand new clubrooms, if the AFL were to continue to expand, you could make a case for Norwood coming in. They'd have more support than GWS and Gold Coast and probably be on a par with a club like the Western Bulldogs in terms of support in the AFL.

 

[Tigerlaird]

This was the case with 10 teams and certainly Port were always number 1, Norwood not far behind at number 2 and a gap to the next throughout the 20th century.

Prior to Woodville and Central's entry in 1964 (and Sturt's great era of the 60's) - Port, Norwood and Torrens were the biggest 3 clubs. With the Crows moving to Thebarton (Torrens old home ground just to the west of the CBD), Port still at Alberton and Norwood still based on The Parade (just east of the CBD) with brand new clubrooms, if the AFL were to continue to expand, you could make a case for Norwood coming in. They'd have more support than GWS and Gold Coast and probably be on a par with a club like the Western Bulldogs in terms of support in the AFL.

Norwood could enter the AFL but only if it merged with another club.

They wouldn’t be the same as the redlegs in the SANFL however, so I wonder if their arrangement with the SANFL would be like a pre-2014 situation or an AFL reserves situation.

Norwood-South Adelaide could merge to become the "Norwood Panthers" or "NSA Panthers". You'd get the name brand of Norwood and the large fanbase plus the large zoning area of South Adelaide and the unique mascot.

3rd SA franchise would need quite a bit of charity from the AFL to get started however and I doubt that would be popular as people will arguer that investor money would be better used in enhancing and keeping the SANFL alive rather than trying to join the Victorian league.

There’s a contingent of fans within NorwoodFC who are lobbying for the club to make a move for an AFL bid but majority of the fans would rather stay in the SANFL based on what’s been said in Facebook groups and online forums.