Why did we join the AFL?

[Ford Fairlane]

That Collingwood "bet" has had a couple of variations. I hadn't heard the 3 wins in a row version, the one I heard was that if Port finished ahead of Collignwood for 3 years in a row we could take the B&W. There's even alleged to be a letter signed by Alan McAllister ...

Also on Collingwood, I didn't think they dobbed Port in ... IIRC the other AFL clubs didn't know about the negotiations between the Commission and Port Adelaide. I think the leak came from something as simple as a sighting of club and commission bosses in a prominent lawyer's offices either in Melbourne or Adelaide. Probably Melbourne, because it was the Melbourne media that ran with the story.

But it was Collingwood who whipped up opposition among the poorer AFL clubs, with claims that their existence was threatened by the arrival of Port. We wouldn't have had the backing of the state, we would drip pay our licence fee, the AFL would spring for the cost of our airfares, etc. So the AFL went from having what they thought was the necessary support - a 2/3 majority of clubs, to falling 1 club short at the vote of the clubs. Guess which club tipped the scales to a "No" vote.

Then the old tie network kicked in among the Adelaide Club and Port were wrapped up in court and prevented from negotiating any further with the AFL over admission. So Port couldn't come to an agreement with Collingwood over the guernseys and logo. Meanwhile, with the direct competitor bound up by legal red tape, the SANFL began to negotiate its own entry into the AFL. Pretty much took the deal Port had been offered, right down to redirecting profits back to the SANFL (it was reported that Port had that included in its Heads of Agreement).

They were heady days. I remember the first members meeting where we were filled in on the details. The media weren't allowed in and they were camped outside the clubrooms with microphones on poles sticking thru open windows trying to catch what was being said. We pushed the Kuwait invasion off the front page of the dailies, as well as the lead story on electronic news services. KG tried to create a mob scene at Alberton. Port were pounding sides into the turf on the field as if to make the point it was their right to go into the AFL. Cornesy was talking of civil unrest - I think he envisaged anti-apartheid style protests at any games that were played. Seemed happy enough to coach the crows tho ...

It all seems so much more civilised now, no matter what they say about crowd segregation ...

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Here's a bit of a potted history from Full Points Footy.

Port Adelaide Bid

Without doubt the action which caused the SANFL to reverse its position and accept the AFL’s conditions of entry into a national competition was the rogue behaviour of Port Adelaide, in bidding behind its back to become the AFL’s fifteenth side. Led by gung-ho president Bruce Weber the club won praise from AFL Commission chairman Ross Oakley for the quality of its proposal but was used as a pawn by the AFL to force action by the SANFL.

Its action caused a furore at the local level. Originally engineered by AFL executive commissioner Schwab on 4 July in collusion with former Port general manager Ian McKenzie the Magpies bid to join the AFL was kept secret for nearly a month, even from coach Cahill. When the news broke on 31 July North Adelaide general manager John Condon accused Port of ‘insincerity’. Later Glenelg chairman Craig McIntosh called Port’s move ‘disloyal and treacherous’ and Norwood chairman Nerio Ferraro said ‘the way Port went about undermining the fabric of SA football must be totally condemned and never forgiven’. The issue dominated newspaper headlines for most of the next month with the News playing the class card in its editorial on 1 August.

Solidarity should mean something in Port Adelaide of all places … It is not the decision which is so reprehensible it is the insult. It is the way the organisers of this coup lamentably failed to take their own people into their confidence.

The immediate response by the SANFL was a demand that Port drop its bid.

The following day it told Port it would be thrown out of the SANFL if its bid was successful, and that it would not have its AFL games programmed at Football Park. While some observers considered the ultimatum ‘tough’ the News’ chief football writer Neville Roberts thought the league had acted weakly, expecting that Port should have been disaffiliated or suspended. The one interesting aspect was the financial revelation that Port had negotiated an entry fee of $1.5 million instead of the $4 million usually quoted.

Within the Magpies itself there was also division with club stalwarts such as league director Dave Boyd admitting before an emotional meeting of 2,000 members on 6 August that he had voted against its 7-1 decision to join the AFL; and Geof Motley querying president Weber whether members should have the right to view the heads of agreement deal with the AFL. However, the prevailing mood seemed to be an Us versus Them attitude and a determination to fight on.

What stopped Port in its tracks was a decision by Justice Olsson in the South Australian Supreme Court to freeze the club’s AFL bid. Olsson’s decision continued an interim injunction granted at the request of Glenelg and with the support of the West Torrens and South Adelaide clubs.

The most obvious outcome from the saga was the league’s entry into the AFL with the Adelaide Football Club thwarting Port’s dream. The SANFL made a surprise bid to join the national competition on 6 August when its directors voted 10-1 (Port against) in favour of a composite team thus stonewalling the Magpies. This was a payback and a way of dealing with black and white arrogance.

During September Port’s bid looked to be over. Unfortunately the AFL did its own stonewalling and Port battled on. Justice Olsson’s injunction was temporary. While the SANFL had announced its intentions one of the conditions of AFL entry was dropping the court case against Port and for the league to meet Port’s legal costs. For its part Port had alleged that the injunction was a breach of the Restraint of Trade provisions of the Trade Practices Act.

On the one hand economics eventually won over ethics and at the end of the season this issue might be seen to have been resolved as a draw although the fine of $8,000 levied on Port by the SANFL disputes and disciplinary committee for not withdrawing its AFL bid seemed puny. Port remained, as always, conscious of the premiership struggle. For the other nine clubs it must have been a painful end to see Port raise the premiership trophy once again on grand final. Furthermore, when the season was over it must have been galling for the other clubs to hear of the Magpies gloating in their annual report:

This premiership was even more meritorious because of the adverse publicity received by the Club from various sections of the public and the media brought about by the Club’s endeavours to join the AFL. Our only aim to join the AFL. was for the betterment of football in South Australia and to ensure our Club’s football future.

As John Elliot might have said: ‘Pig’s arse!’

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

From a post I made in a thread earlier this year, I typed up the relevant chapter from Football Limited. Port-for-AFL 1990

Gary Linnell’s, FOOTBALL LTD The Inside Story of the AFL is a great book that documents the growth of the suburban VFL into the AFL. It’s the best footy book I’ve read and is a great reference source. Seeing as it’s been out of publication for 10 years and the discussion on this thread has been thoughtful and not the usual AFC v PAFC dribble, I thought some of you might appreciate Linnell’s thoughts on how SA entered the national comp. From Chapter 20 “The End of The Cold War”

South Australians saw themselves as underdogs when it came to football and, just like WA, were sick and tired of their best players being lured across the border to play in Melbourne. But while WA would eventually concede defeat and join the expanded VFL in 1987, SA remained defiant. It had not been interested in joining a competition which still boasted the word ‘Victorian’ in its title and it would join on its own terms.

By 1990 they still remained defiant. The AFL was interested in expanding but the SANFL was not interested. The main sticking point was the $4 million licence fee-a fee both West Coast and Brisbane had been forced to pay and which the League considered to be non-negotiable. So, too, did the South Australians, led by their president, Max Basheer, and the club presidents. In May that year, the SANFL reiterated its stance by issuing 10 conditions for entry. Having watched West Coast, Brisbane and Sydney suffer enormous financial problems, it claimed there was no justification for the licence fee. And, while it believed a 12 team national competition was the ideal size, it was prepared to join the a 14 team competition.

Unfortunately, the League was already a 14 club competition. And Unless a club soon folded, and with the Footscray-Fitzroy merger having failed, there was little likelihood the stalemate could be broken. The SANFL declared it would not be prepared to consider joining the AFL until at least the end of 1992.

The commission’s patience had run out with South Australia. Over the years it had been sounded out by several individual SANFL clubs about breaking away to join the Victorians but the talk never progressed past the initial negotiations. Now, it seemed the League was destined to continue without a South presence. Ross Oakley had hope for more but in public statements played down the importance of SA’s rebuff. “It would be nice to have them, but if they don’t come in, so what?” he said.

This was football, after all. And things could change very quickly.

They did about a month after the May declaration and, to no-one’s surprise, Ian Collins and John Adams were in the thick of it. The closely aligned pair flew to Adelaide one day and made a full presentation to the board of Norwood, one of Adelaide’s most prominent and successful clubs. Collins had been told Norwood was interested in the possibility of approaching the AFL with the view to joning. Collins and Adams, long time advocates of a national league, believed they could provide the sort of advice Norwood required.

They had also spoken to Port Adelaide, another club which had also shown leanings toward joining the AFL. The pair floated the possibility of both clubs merging but, as with most football clubs, a strong sense of distrust existed between two of Adelaide’s most influential clubs.

By 1990 a sense of desperation was beginning to creep into SA football. Crowds had slipped, by late July only 27,380 would turn up to watch a round of five matches on a Saturday as a preference for watching AFL matches continued to climb, and a general feeling that the local competition was in decline was spreading.

It was Port Adelaide that moved first. On 5 July, Alan Schwab received an invitation to be guest speaker at a Port luncheon on 22 August. Schwab, who was in charge at AFL headquarters as Oakley took a short break, agreed. He was told that Port’s president, Bruce Weber, was keen to speak to him. Port might be ready to make the break.

Two days later, on a Saturday morning, the pair met secretly at AFL House and Schwab instantly warmed to Weber and his willingness to compromise in order to get Port into the League. Port was regarded as the Collingwood of SA football back home. It shared a black and white strip and the Magpie motif, along with a rich and controversial history, but it was showing none of the obstinacy and stubbornness its sister club normally displayed in Melbourne.

Two weeks later Weber and a trio of leading Port administrators met Oakley, Schwab, Greg Durham and the League’s consultant on interstate clubs, Barry Capuano, for a four hour meeting that pushed the venture on its way. When the news was broken by Mike Sheahan in The Sunday Age on 29 July that Port Adelaide was poised to join the League, all hell broke loose in Adelaide.

The SANFL had been caught siting on its hands. While it had heard rumours of breakaway clubs before, it had never dared entertain the thought that it might actually happen. No matter the disenchantment might be locally, it had always believed SA clubs were united on one front; the hatred of Victoria. And that, reasoned the SANFL, was enough to put paid to any talk of rebel clubs.

A day after the news broke, the AFL chiefs worked back late into the night. In Oakley’s office on the third floor, Oakley, Schwab, Jeff Browne and several commissioners worked on the wording of a heads of agreement between the League and Port Adelaide. The evening was only lightened by Schwab accidentally dropping pizza all over the floor staining the carpet forever.

The heads of agreement was finally signed by facsimile. Port Adelaide was in. That is, it was unless something significant changed the way of thinking at South Australian headquarters.

----------- he goes on about Webber---------------

Back in Melbourne, a groundswell against the Port inclusion was also growing. Not surprisingly it was lead by Footscray and Collingwood. The commission, sensing the tide turning against it, decided to try to swing the votes of the 10 of the 14 clubs it required by appealing to the same tried and trusted place; the hip pocket. The League had struck a deal with Port where its $4milliion licence fee could be paid over 10 years. Now it was offering the clubs a $2.8 million sweetener. The commission would take out a $2.8 million loan and provide each club with $200,000. The loan would then be serviced by periodic payments of Port’s licence fee.

The leaking of the $2.8 million offer led Oakley to confront the club general managers at a meeting, claiming there was ‘a Judas in the ranks’. But this time, not even cash was going to swing the clubs around. Instead of slapping the commission in the face they simply kept deferring a decision on Port Adelaide until September.

By then, legal action had been undertaken in South Australia by several outraged local clubs to prevent Port from any further negotiations with the League for a month. This gave the SANFL valuable time to refine in terms of entry and lobby the most influential AFL clubs to stall Port’s entry and support of a composite side.

The Port Adelaide issue was creating divisions not only in South Australia, but in Melbourne as well. As Port’s bid began to founder, a copy of correspondence between Ian Collins, John Adams and Norwood was leaked to the press, with implications that Norwood, too, had been planning to break away.

Collins was incensed, as was Norwood. “Alan Schwab leaked some of our papers to the media,’ he would recall. “Norwood then ran scared and accused us of being stooges of the AFL. But they got that wrong.

“John Adams and I have been in the trenches for some time. He’s got a good football brain (and) I was very annoyed with Schwabby. We thought about taking legal action at the time.”

They decided against it. Football was already in enough turmoil. On 19 September 1990, the 14 clubs voted 13-1 to give the commission the power to seal a deal with the SANFL. By early October, a licence agreement was signed and the Adelaide Crows had become the 15th team in the Australian Football League. More significantly, perhaps, the game’s longest running feud was effectively over. South Australians would continue to dislike Victorians. But over time, even that emotion would fade. There was no point blaming the Victorians for everything when you had become one of them.

Down at Port Adelaide there was a sense of bitterness. The club would, however, rebound. And within a few years it would, however, rebound. And within a few years it would be given the nod to join the League. It would just have to wait until one of the present sides foundered and a new licence was made available. As Port discovered things change very quickly in the game of football.

Copyright Gary Linnell, FOOTBALL LTD The Inside Story of the AFL, published in 1995 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

Thanks, everyone! What great replies. So it really has been Manifest Destiny, with everyone saying "let's do it" along the way.
Thanks also, g.g., for yet more reasons to hate Collingwood (the dobbing and the reneging on the 3-in-a-row bet; the guernseys were already on the list.) And, Toots, I tracked down a copy of the Abernethy book, and it will sit proudly next to "Dynasty" on my bookshelf.

It's a better book by far than "Dynasty". You'll find it doesn't feel like you're wading through waist high sludge when you read it. (Rucci can't write very well at all.)

Great work REB!

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Big Bad Bruce was sacrificed to expedite the process for the second licence tho.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Abba's book is a good read from a "player caught up in crisis" point of view. Unfortunately there are a number of factual errors which took a little bit of the shine off the book for me.

What does stand out from his book, for me, is his negotiations with Big Bob McLean. It didn't matter how good Abba thought he was, how much he thought he was worth, what offers he was getting from other clubs, Big Bob would say " your x years old, you've only played for y number of years therefore, you'll only get paid $z, no more, no less.

Sandola you ask why did we join the AFL? The simple answer is Fos Williams + Big Bob McLean + Jack Cahill. I will elaborate further on this answer later.

 

[portentous]

Let's not forget the financial benefits of joining the AFL. We knew the SANFL was a declining competition, so it made financial sense to get out while the going was good.

BTW I lived in Melbourne during our unsuccessful bid and the rumours I heard were that Norwood and Glenelg played a MAJOR part in 'scaring' Collingwood and then the rest of the clubs into resisting our entry. Collingwood were publicly named as the anti-Port ringleader but Norwood and Glenelg did most of the "behind the scenes" work to create that scenario.

 

[Magpiespower]

Big Bad Bruce was sacrificed to expedite the process for the second licence tho.

That's only part of the reason why he stepped down.

Not exactly sure of the dates, but around the same time, family became his number one priority.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

That's only part of the reason why he stepped down.

Not exactly sure of the dates, but around the same time, family became his number one priority.

He didn't step down, he was voted off the Board, IIRC replaced by Bob Kingston who moved on not long after. Bruce ran for a position. It was a bloodless coup.

 

[Sandola]

It's a better book by far than "Dynasty". You'll find it doesn't feel like you're wading through waist high sludge when you read it. (Rucci can't write very well at all.)

I once publicly trashed "Dynasty" (on these boards) and have felt guilty ever since. But, yes, "sludge" is indeed a euphemism. I've just about given up on footy books. I'm reading "Brotherboys" right now, and it's a great story, but the author just can't do the job. I think publishers must be very cynical about footy books, and reckon they can get away with doing without the usual copy editors, proofreaders, etc, because we footy fans can barely read, or something.

 

[portentous]

I once publicly trashed "Dynasty" (on these boards) and have felt guilty ever since. But, yes, "sludge" is indeed a euphemism. I've just about given up on footy books. I'm reading "Brotherboys" right now, and it's a great story, but the author just can't do the job. I think publishers must be very cynical about footy books, and reckon they can get away with doing without the usual copy editors, proofreaders, etc, because we footy fans can barely read, or something.

"Footy dogs" is a great read though

 

[Sandola]

"Footy dogs" is a great read though

Chad Cornes
Pet Hate: Litterbugs

Dean Brogan
Favourite Pastime: Writing Poetry

Cracks me up!!

 

[Total Power]

Theres a thread on the main board AGAIN debating our tradition, surprise surprise. Why people (specially cows) are so jealous of our heritage?

 

[Magpiespower]

Chad Cornes
Pet Hate: Litterbugs

Dean Brogan
Favourite Pastime: Writing Poetry

Cracks me up!!

Oh dear.

Should have kept that to himself.

Ditto Nathan Brown.

 

[Magpiespower]

He didn't step down, he was voted off the Board, IIRC replaced by Bob Kingston who moved on not long after. Bruce ran for a position. It was a bloodless coup.

Fair enough.

But the second part of my post still holds true.

 

[noddy]

You was just a pawn used as leverage by the AFL to force the SANFL to participate in some form or another to join their league.

Really the AFL couldn't lose.

Still leaves taste of contempt in the mouth of most SA footy followers toward Webber & PA for that disgraceful moment of treachery in our states history.

 

[Jumbo]

Still leaves taste of contempt in the mouth of most SA footy followers toward Webber & PA for that disgraceful moment of treachery in our states history.

A tad dramatic here Noddy. In the SANFL i'm a Sturt supporter and was 100% behind Port entering the AFL by whatever means due to being the most deserving club. (no-one can really argue that)
I think you'll find it's all the Crows supporters who make lots out of Ports attempt to gain the first licence due to an in built hatred of all things Port, the topic is normally irrelevent.

 

[Sandola]

Oh dear.

Should have kept that to himself.

Ditto Nathan Brown.

Yeh. I'm just thinking (hoping) he's spoofing N. Brown. Or trying to get girls, or something. (Which is what Brown was probably doing.)

 

[Malibu#27]

You was just a pawn used as leverage by the AFL to force the SANFL to participate in some form or another to join their league.

Really the AFL couldn't lose.

Still leaves taste of contempt in the mouth of most SA footy followers toward Webber & PA for that disgraceful moment of treachery in our states history.

Treachery/Vision ... call it what you want, if it wasn't for Ports brave decision, SA footy would still be living in the dark ages.

And for anyone with a bad taste in their mouth ... theres always an option to spit.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

You was just a pawn used as leverage by the AFL to force the SANFL to participate in some form or another to join their league.

Really the AFL couldn't lose.

Still leaves taste of contempt in the mouth of most SA footy followers toward Webber & PA for that disgraceful moment of treachery in our states history.

It's funny, cos I always thought the crows were just a pawn used as leverage by the AFL to get Port into the competition. "OK we'll let them have their precious team for all South Australians in, as long as we get the real club in we want next time round". Fortunately Schwab and Oakley were men of vision ...

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

FF that Full Points footy link to Bernard Whimpress' paper is bloody fascinating. I have never heard before that Port had negotiated a $1.5m licence fee and not a $4m fee. You said that you attended a members meeting in August 1990. I know that wharfie 1870 and 1 or 2 others attended that meeting. Was there any hint that the fee was less than $4m or have any of you heard this before reading it the article?? It's amazing that 15 years later this fact is revealed.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I really can't recall any mention of $1.5M ... I've always thought it was to be the $4M but repaid over 10 years as stated in the Linnell book. My eyes tend to glaze over when financial figures are recited tho ...

 

[Magpiespower]

What hurt us most in 1990 was that our balance sheet showed assets of only $27,000.

I think within a few short years we'd got it up to around the $2m mark.

 

[Powerstufff]

What hurt us most in 1990 was that our balance sheet showed assets of only $27,000.

I think within a few short years we'd got it up to around the $2m mark.

I've heard something like that before, I think in a radio interview involving Bucky Cunningham a few years ago. Basically it came over that we were not considered to have leveraged our SANFL on-field success into comparable financial success. The admin group that came in post 1990 busted their buns in many ways, but one was to develop a decent bank balance prior to our second bid.
However I hadn't heard our finances affected our 1990 bid, though it wouldn't be surprising. I mean the chance to join came pretty well out of nowhere. In hindsight if we had got in back then could we have stayed solvent?

 

[tribey]

1997....Port president and Collingwood president, continuing to row over the colors, make a bet that whichever team is the first to win 3 in a row against the other will be forever allowed to own the black/white colors. They shake hands. In 1998, Port is on the cusp of winning 3 in a row. Collingwood in this match fight very very hard to win at all costs, but fall by 1 point (proving how serious they took this bet). However, Port wins 3 in a row. But true to form, Collingwood president backs out of the bet.

I remember the bet/'gentleman's agreement' between McAllister and Boulton/Bucky[?] being that Collingwood would forfeit the Magpie emblem or Port would forfeit any claims to it if one side finished above the other on the Premiership table for three consecutive seasons.

Port duly did this at the first possible opportunity:

1997: Port 10-1-11 (9th) > Collingwood 10-0-12 (10th)
1998: Port 9-1-12 (10th) > Collingwood 7-0-15 (14th)
1999: Port 12-0-10 (7th) > Collingwood 4-0-18 (16th)

And Collingwood duly reneged.