Croweater
Club Legend
I'll admit that I haven't been the most loyal Port Adelaide supporter over the years. I loved the early 2000s when Port dominated, but I unashamedly dropped off when the going got tough. I suppose the value I put on Port Adelaide was based on team performance, and team performance wasn't great.
The past couple of years, coinciding with games being played closer to my home in the inner suburbs, as well as the considerable improvement of team performance, has seen me become interested again. But there is something that I’ve realised about Port Adelaide, something with which I was previously unaware.
Port Adelaide is a club. Not a franchise, not a team; but a club. Its motto is “We exist to win premierships and to make our community proud”. Football and community is the epitomisation of what a football club should be.
About two weeks ago on a Wednesday afternoon, I was driving back to the city after seeing a client out at Osborne, when I saw the Port Club sign on Port Road. I was feeling a little peckish so I thought I’d drop in and have a chicken parmi. While I was wolfing down the pretty tidy offering, I looked around and admired the amount of history showcased in the dining area.
To my surprise, I noticed Travis Boak and Jackson Trengove waltz in there and have a bit of a chat with a couple of what seemed to be regulars. I couldn’t help but think that you wouldn’t see that at West Lakes. You wouldn’t see that at many professional sporting clubs in the world. Two superstar players who play for one of the highest drawing clubs in the fourth highest attended sports league in the world having a chat with old mate from Cheltenham like it was second nature.
You hear of people like Alfie Trebilcock, who has looked after the boys boots for nearly five decades, and is held in such high esteem at Alberton that he’s revered on a similar level to the senior list. People want their ashes scattered on Alberton Oval, such is their passion for the club. Family days, club Q and A's between supporters, players, coaches and administrators, and club-community initiatives highlight the inclusiveness of the club. You take a drive through the Alberton area, and pubs, buildings and homes are donned with Port colours and paraphernalia.
The club means so much to so many people. I had no real understanding about the significance of the relationship between the Port Adelaide community and the Port Adelaide Football Club, but I’m understanding it more and more by attending every game and seeing the passion and love people have for the club.
I do think that more than anything, the reason I didn't properly understand why supporters were so passionate about the club was because I got caught up in the gallimaufry of opinions from the hoi polloi of armchair football commentators on what Port Adelaide is, or what it should aspire to be, and whether or not history should be history. I ended up voicing my own opinions on what Port Adelaide is; opinions which were short-sighted, meritless and pretty offensive to be honest.
I think the point I want to make is that I’ve come to realise that this club is special. In an era of global sports capitalism where money is the only thing that truly matters, Port Adelaide retains what a sporting club should be about. It’s a place where everyone is welcome, where everyone is family. There’s something so indelibly remarkable about that.
Port Adelaide, as a professional sports organisation will undoubtedly expand from traditional borders to be at the forefront of innovation and good fiscal management. But it will always be a big club from the corner of Queen Street and Brougham Place, Alberton, South Australia, that exists to win premierships and to make its community proud.
And that’s a truly wonderful thing.
The past couple of years, coinciding with games being played closer to my home in the inner suburbs, as well as the considerable improvement of team performance, has seen me become interested again. But there is something that I’ve realised about Port Adelaide, something with which I was previously unaware.
Port Adelaide is a club. Not a franchise, not a team; but a club. Its motto is “We exist to win premierships and to make our community proud”. Football and community is the epitomisation of what a football club should be.
About two weeks ago on a Wednesday afternoon, I was driving back to the city after seeing a client out at Osborne, when I saw the Port Club sign on Port Road. I was feeling a little peckish so I thought I’d drop in and have a chicken parmi. While I was wolfing down the pretty tidy offering, I looked around and admired the amount of history showcased in the dining area.
To my surprise, I noticed Travis Boak and Jackson Trengove waltz in there and have a bit of a chat with a couple of what seemed to be regulars. I couldn’t help but think that you wouldn’t see that at West Lakes. You wouldn’t see that at many professional sporting clubs in the world. Two superstar players who play for one of the highest drawing clubs in the fourth highest attended sports league in the world having a chat with old mate from Cheltenham like it was second nature.
You hear of people like Alfie Trebilcock, who has looked after the boys boots for nearly five decades, and is held in such high esteem at Alberton that he’s revered on a similar level to the senior list. People want their ashes scattered on Alberton Oval, such is their passion for the club. Family days, club Q and A's between supporters, players, coaches and administrators, and club-community initiatives highlight the inclusiveness of the club. You take a drive through the Alberton area, and pubs, buildings and homes are donned with Port colours and paraphernalia.
The club means so much to so many people. I had no real understanding about the significance of the relationship between the Port Adelaide community and the Port Adelaide Football Club, but I’m understanding it more and more by attending every game and seeing the passion and love people have for the club.
I do think that more than anything, the reason I didn't properly understand why supporters were so passionate about the club was because I got caught up in the gallimaufry of opinions from the hoi polloi of armchair football commentators on what Port Adelaide is, or what it should aspire to be, and whether or not history should be history. I ended up voicing my own opinions on what Port Adelaide is; opinions which were short-sighted, meritless and pretty offensive to be honest.
I think the point I want to make is that I’ve come to realise that this club is special. In an era of global sports capitalism where money is the only thing that truly matters, Port Adelaide retains what a sporting club should be about. It’s a place where everyone is welcome, where everyone is family. There’s something so indelibly remarkable about that.
Port Adelaide, as a professional sports organisation will undoubtedly expand from traditional borders to be at the forefront of innovation and good fiscal management. But it will always be a big club from the corner of Queen Street and Brougham Place, Alberton, South Australia, that exists to win premierships and to make its community proud.
And that’s a truly wonderful thing.
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