I’d like preface this text by stating I don’t assist Port Adelaide or Collingwood.
In truth, I’m not notably keen on both staff. But I couldn’t assist however be sucked into the debate concerning the extremely comparable strip each golf equipment historically wore, and who has the rights to it at present.
Once once more this week, Port Adelaide expressed their want to put on their well-known ‘prison bars’ black-and-white strip, and as soon as once more, though there was no probability of a conflict with Adelaide, they had been denied.
Even as a impartial who shouldn’t be notably keen on Port Adelaide, this contemptuous therapy of their want to attach with their lengthy and superb historical past doesn’t sit effectively with me.
Already, I do know some followers will probably be diving for the “they knew they couldn’t use it when they joined the AFL, the modern Port Adelaide’s strip is teal, this Port Adelaide is not that Port Adelaide”.
We have heard it all earlier than. To these individuals, I say this: you might be proper.
Port Adelaide made agreements to hitch the nationwide competitors. They sacrificed a important a part of their id to problem the finest groups in the land.
And in the eyes of the legislation, each Collingwood and the AFL have each proper to carry them to these agreements. I’ve not heard even the most virulent Port Adelaide official or supporter state in any other case.
But is it actually okay to cover behind partitions made from solicitors and authorized paperwork? Is that who Collingwood need to be, and how they need different golf equipment to understand them – a membership that shirks from a contest? A membership that’s afraid?
I’m right here to state an alternate that offers each golf equipment a probability to alter the narrative from whingers versus scaredy-cats: let the groups type it out in a marquee conflict on the field. Let each assembly between Port Adelaide and Collingwood grow to be The Great Australian Bar Fight.
The premise is straightforward: each time the groups meet, the winner earns the proper to put on their black-and-white strip for their residence video games till the subsequent assembly. When they play collectively, the carry-over champion wears their black-and-white strip, no matter who the residence staff is.
Should Port and Collingwood settle their variations on the field? (Photo by James Elsby/AFL Photos by way of Getty Images)
The match might be billed as one thing to rival Showdowns, Derbies and even Anzac Day as an occasion on the AFL calendar.
If something, it has the potential to be even greater than these different matches, as a result of there’s something tangible at stake that’s, I’m certain, even greater than 4 factors in the minds of many supporters, gamers and membership officers.
Of course, this may require Collingwood to be ready to danger their unique grip on their beloved black-and-white strip. They have each proper, in a authorized sense, to say, “Bugger off, it’s ours and we are keeping it!”
However, a authorized proper could be very completely different from a ethical one. The recreation all of us love provides us a mechanism to arbitrate disputes in a fairer manner than any mere court docket of legislation.
There is a field of play, a aim to attain, 22 versus 22 and a 100-minute time restrict. May the finest staff win; the most deserving reaps their simply reward. Best of all, if the consequence doesn’t go your manner, there may be all the time the subsequent match-up.
While this requires Collingwood to take a danger, there can be advantages, as effectively. A middling recreation in opposition to an interstate rival would grow to be certainly one of the most vital home-and-away contests of the season.
Both the gate and viewing figures would nearly definitely go up. It can be an excuse for each golf equipment to faucet into their historical past and group; I can simply think about the greats of each golf equipment down in the rooms earlier than a recreation, exhorting the new era on to even better efforts.
And when, in the fullness of time, Collingwood lose a bar struggle recreation, it will give them an excuse to market a new jumper to their diehard followers with the deepest pockets.
And after a interval of loss, think about the scenes as triumphant gamers make their manner into the rooms, take off the substitute strip and put on their beloved black-and-white stripes to belt out good outdated Collingwood perpetually!
Against all these arguments, the solely important counterarguments from the Collingwood Football Club and the AFL can be that they don’t seem to be obligated to make any modifications to the present authorized settlement. That smacks of cowardice.
The nice Australian Bar Fight has the makings of certainly one of the best home-and away-games of the season.
As a impartial, it is the kind of recreation, with one thing extra than simply delight and 4 factors in the line, that I might genuinely stay up for seeing.
Both golf equipment achieve an unbelievable marquee match-up, after which they get to earn their bragging rights they then show proudly each residence recreation for the subsequent a number of weeks. The supporters of every membership can really feel that the strip has been earned by advantage slightly than a court docket.
The broadcasters get extra viewers. Port Adelaide get to maneuver away from endlessly complaining about being denied their rights and heritage, and Collingwood get to flip the narrative from being terrified cry-babies who name their lawyer to being a daring membership ready to reply Port Adelaide’s problem.
While Collingwood will ultimately have to just accept a future with out their black-and-white stripes for no less than quick intervals, the positive aspects far outweigh the losses.
If you, like me, suppose that is a contest that you just wish to see, then be a part of me in beginning conversations about the subject. Share this text on supporter and membership pages.
Let’s let the massive boys know that that is the contest that we’re all itching to see!
