Certified Legendary Thread China History in the Making

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This thread is going to get even more legendary as people discuss their travel arrangements for China, travel logs, pictures the lot. I'm already starting to make preparations. The minute this game is confirmed I'm taking action.
 
Already have 200,000+ United frequent flier points waiting to be spent on business/first class tickets on China Southern. I'm ready :D
 

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DazzaTys said:
My number plates when I was living in the NT were PORT 04. Some campaigner did $4000 worth of damages with a key. It's okay though, "they hate us cause they ain't us".

But in all seriousness, if this Chinese venture doesn't work so well at least we tried. The sun will come up tomorrow and the mighty PAFC will still be standing.
Click to expand...
 
As it would happen, we're planning a business trip to Guangzhou in 2017 so hopefully I can piggy back a trip to the football while I'm over there.
 
Jack Grange said:
We have business interests in China and Shanghai in particular which is from memory only 1.5 hrs behind us, as in SA time
Click to expand...
That really is awesome. This will be one of THE most watched sporting events in the history of Australian TV - I can't understand why so many people are so negative about it.
 
SgtSchulz said:
SOAK IT IN WITH FULL HD!
Click to expand...

Great video. Shanghai apparently has its own equivalent area to New York's Times Square with massive LED TV Screens for advertising.

Last year Matthew Richardson told me that he had told Lockhart Road that he wont fully happy, until he gets a big WE ARE PORT ADELAIDE all over those screens!. Richo you are a couple of steps closer.
 
Rooch has written one of his finest article about Port in the last 6 years in today's Tsier. It might behind a paywall but open the link it in incognito window in Chrome and you will be able to read it. Its part of his weekly double page spread which includes his reality bites column. The newspaper headline is - Port on board orient express.

Power is conquering China by respecting its Port Adelaide heritage
KEITH Thomas grew up in a Housing Trust home in Campbelltown in the 1960s and ‘70s thinking — as did all Port Adelaide fans — that the furthest his club’s football dreams would take him was Elizabeth. Thomas has, albeit after being grabbed by Port Adelaide’s oldest on-field rival Norwood, watched the Port Adelaide Football Club in the past 35 years chase, lose, regain and almost lose again a national agenda that took its fans as far as Brisbane, Darwin and Perth.

Now it is … Shanghai. China.

And the greatest irony (even lesson) from this personal journey is how Port Adelaide needed to only stay true to the values and image that won over Thomas in the 1960s to ultimately exceed the club founders’ vision from 1870 for Port Adelaide and its people. Thomas arrived at Alberton — in the darkest hours of 2011 when the Port Adelaide Football Club was insolvent and the target of damaging political plays in SA football — with the Power having been brought down to its knees by those who demanded Port Adelaide stop being Port Adelaide. On Saturday, Thomas will return from Shanghai with a multi-million dollar cheque from a man who fell in love with Port Adelaide on first sight — at Adelaide Oval in September during the AFL season-closer against Fremantle.....
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...i/news-story/8336d428466dd1e6b2e92092ea32673f
 

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RussellEbertHandball said:
Great video. Shanghai apparently has its own equivalent area to New York's Times Square with massive LED TV Screens for advertising.

Last year Matthew Richardson told me that he had told Lockhart Road that he wont fully happy, until he gets a big WE ARE PORT ADELAIDE all over those screens!. Richo you are a couple of steps closer.
Click to expand...
Richardson, another saviour and champion of our club.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
Rooch has written one of his finest article about Port in the last 6 years in today's Tsier. It might behind a paywall but open the link it in incognito window in Chrome and you will be able to read it. Its part of his weekly double page spread which includes his reality bites column. The newspaper headline is - Port on board orient express.

Power is conquering China by respecting its Port Adelaide heritage
KEITH Thomas grew up in a Housing Trust home in Campbelltown in the 1960s and ‘70s thinking — as did all Port Adelaide fans — that the furthest his club’s football dreams would take him was Elizabeth. Thomas has, albeit after being grabbed by Port Adelaide’s oldest on-field rival Norwood, watched the Port Adelaide Football Club in the past 35 years chase, lose, regain and almost lose again a national agenda that took its fans as far as Brisbane, Darwin and Perth.

Now it is … Shanghai. China.

And the greatest irony (even lesson) from this personal journey is how Port Adelaide needed to only stay true to the values and image that won over Thomas in the 1960s to ultimately exceed the club founders’ vision from 1870 for Port Adelaide and its people. Thomas arrived at Alberton — in the darkest hours of 2011 when the Port Adelaide Football Club was insolvent and the target of damaging political plays in SA football — with the Power having been brought down to its knees by those who demanded Port Adelaide stop being Port Adelaide. On Saturday, Thomas will return from Shanghai with a multi-million dollar cheque from a man who fell in love with Port Adelaide on first sight — at Adelaide Oval in September during the AFL season-closer against Fremantle.....
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport...i/news-story/8336d428466dd1e6b2e92092ea32673f
Click to expand...
Absolutely great article by Rucci
 
There is this paragraph in Rucci's story that deserves its own little story behind it.

Introduced to Thomas by ANZ head of Asian banking, Loretta Lai, Gui was invited to the Power’s clash with the Dockers with an all-access pass — the changerooms before the game, the Geof Motley race as the Port Adelaide players took the field and the boundary perimeter by the Riverbank Stand as the Never Tear Us Apart anthem came off the terraces for the 60 seconds before the first bounce.

This bit from Rucci’s article is instructive to how every Port Adelaide member and supporter- be they reasonably passionate but not stump up for a membership, or casual and just watch our games on TV and buy some merchandise and attend the odd game, can carry a brick each to our club and its officials and hand it over to them so they can build the Great Wall to not only China, but continued success both on and off the field.

Lockhart Road sent me an email in late 2014 asking what my sister knew about a very senior staff member at ANZ bank as the club was going to talk to them about sponsoring maybe Auskick in Hong Kong, footy in Southern China AFL, Team China type stuff after LR insisted to the club, if things were to progress they had to find a sponsor at both ends to do this and he thought ANZ was the best fit. It was something that wasn’t covered by the Official Secrets Act he had signed, so he could talk to me about . I told LR about my sister and the following about ANZ

1. My sister is assistant manager of head office branch on King William St/Waymouth St corner and her and I had over the years talked about the banks push into Asia and China mainly and that she had told me that she has 2 Chinese staff at her branch, but said the branch on Gouger Street in Chinatown is the main one dealing with the Chinese community. They have 11 staff and all are Chinese background except for 1 Malaysian lady. She said the manager (Loretta Lai) gets an annual 3 week all expenses paid trip to China each year for several years now, to drum up business for the bank.

2. About then CEO Mike Smith who was the one who has made the big Asian push for ANZ, but concentrated on China according to my sister and made it central to the banks growth strategy – go to my sisters branch and they have had posters and signs mainly in Chinese and other languages since it opened a 5 or 6 years ago. I told him he was ex British SAS and has said he wont talk about anything he did whilst in there. He is also ex HSBC worked in Asia, Middle East and South America. He was shot in the thigh during his 6 years for HSBC in Argentina as he pissed off the locals with his policies. Told him that from all my dealings over the years, the story is that MI5 and CIA got their people into HSBC as a good way of keeping things in check as well as in the know in the region. I suggested that if the club ever has dealings with Smith as this progresses, to bring in some of our defence industries supporters and serving military and ex military supporters to functions to deal with him.

The person that LR wanted info on from my sister was meeting KT and Richo to talk about our China strategy. She was a very big wig in ANZ. She's based in Melbourne. Her title included a few GM's in it, including corporate banking in SA. She reported directly to CEO Mike Smith and was his chief of staff at one point.

KT and Richo then impressed her at a couple of events but the sponsorship didn't happen, but the relationship with Loretta Lai was established in this negotiation process. We took a step back by not winning the sponsorship, but we took a few forward by meeting the GM and being aware of Ms Lai's high profile position with the Chinese community and ANZ's China strategy and then engaging Ms Lai.

So back to the metaphorical brick, my sister - a long time Port member picked it up and handed it to me, I chiseled it down a little bit, Lockhart Road - can fill you in with more details - then took it, did his adjustments with it and handed it to Richo and KT and it eventually got to Andrew Hunter and he helped place it nicely into position in the wall. Anyone can do little things like take the brick to one of our club officials. You dont have to build the wall, just have to remember that many hands make the work lighter.
 
Should get this down in full context in this thread.

..., Gui was invited to the Power’s clash with the Dockers with an all-access pass — the changerooms before the game, the Geof Motley race as the Port Adelaide players took the field and the boundary perimeter by the Riverbank Stand as the Never Tear Us Apart anthem came off the terraces for the 60 seconds before the first bounce. “I saw people who were engaged (with their football club),” Gui told The Advertiser in Shanghai this week. “And I was engaged too. I have stayed engaged ever since.” So much so that Gui this week signed a three-year deal that puts at least $3 million into Port Adelaide’s coffers. He says he wants no “commercial return” on his much-needed sponsorship money — not even a logo on the Power jumper.
Click to expand...

and
Gui just wants to be part of Port Adelaide — that true Port Adelaide that has stopped listening to those who say the club can never grow without abandoning its traditional roots at Alberton. He is taking Port Adelaide to China — to his Shanghai. And he insists that Port Adelaide remain Port Adelaide. There are those who mock the Power for having 1870 — the club’s foundation date — on the back of the players’ jumpers. Gui admires it — and the dynasty built at Alberton since 1870. “I like the history of the Port Adelaide Football Club. Australia is a young country — and Port Adelaide has been part of that short history for a long time. That means something special,” Gui says.

He admires how supporting Port Adelaide follows family lines. “I saw three generations of Port Adelaide supporters at Adelaide Oval — grandfathers, fathers, sons and daughters; I saw families going together to a Port Adelaide game,” Gui says.

“I saw a game that is so exciting, so different but so much of so many other sports. So fast, so strong, so exciting. And I want all this in China.”

Gui wants Port Adelaide — and all it represents — in China.
Click to expand...
 
stokholme said:
Seriously, if we get enough people on here seriously interested in making the trip to China for the game, a meet-up should definitely be in order.

Imagine coming back and posting pictures of our time there in this very thread? Would be an amazing experience for the board.
Click to expand...

I'm seriously thinking this trip is gonna happen! Right now it's a definite.. Just gotta convince the wife and kids it's not for them!
 
W
RussellEbertHandball said:
There is this paragraph in Rucci's story that deserves its own little story behind it.

Introduced to Thomas by ANZ head of Asian banking, Loretta Lai, Gui was invited to the Power’s clash with the Dockers with an all-access pass — the changerooms before the game, the Geof Motley race as the Port Adelaide players took the field and the boundary perimeter by the Riverbank Stand as the Never Tear Us Apart anthem came off the terraces for the 60 seconds before the first bounce.

This bit from Rucci’s article is instructive to how every Port Adelaide member and supporter- be they reasonably passionate but not stump up for a membership, or casual and just watch our games on TV and buy some merchandise and attend the odd game, can carry a brick each to our club and its officials and hand it over to them so they can build the Great Wall to not only China, but continued success both on and off the field.

Lockhart Road sent me an email in late 2014 asking what my sister knew about a very senior staff member at ANZ bank as the club was going to talk to them about sponsoring maybe Auskick in Hong Kong, footy in Southern China AFL, Team China type stuff after LR insisted to the club, if things were to progress they had to find a sponsor at both ends to do this and he thought ANZ was the best fit. It was something that wasn’t covered by the Official Secrets Act he had signed, so he could talk to me about . I told LR about my sister and the following about ANZ

1. My sister is assistant manager of head office branch on King William St/Waymouth St corner and her and I had over the years talked about the banks push into Asia and China mainly and that she had told me that she has 2 Chinese staff at her branch, but said the branch on Gouger Street in Chinatown is the main one dealing with the Chinese community. They have 11 staff and all are Chinese background except for 1 Malaysian lady. She said the manager (Loretta Lai) gets an annual 3 week all expenses paid trip to China each year for several years now, to drum up business for the bank.

2. About then CEO Mike Smith who was the one who has made the big Asian push for ANZ, but concentrated on China according to my sister and made it central to the banks growth strategy – go to my sisters branch and they have had posters and signs mainly in Chinese and other languages since it opened a 5 or 6 years ago. I told him he was ex British SAS and has said he wont talk about anything he did whilst in there. He is also ex HSBC worked in Asia, Middle East and South America. He was shot in the thigh during his 6 years for HSBC in Argentina as he pissed off the locals with his policies. Told him that from all my dealings over the years, the story is that MI5 and CIA got their people into HSBC as a good way of keeping things in check as well as in the know in the region. I suggested that if the club ever has dealings with Smith as this progresses, to bring in some of our defence industries supporters and serving military and ex military supporters to functions to deal with him.

The person that LR wanted info on from my sister was meeting KT and Richo to talk about our China strategy. She was a very big wig in ANZ. She's based in Melbourne. Her title included a few GM's in it, including corporate banking in SA. She reported directly to CEO Mike Smith and was his chief of staff at one point.

KT and Richo then impressed her at a couple of events but the sponsorship didn't happen, but the relationship with Loretta Lai was established in this negotiation process. We took a step back by not winning the sponsorship, but we took a few forward by meeting the GM and being aware of Ms Lai's high profile position with the Chinese community and ANZ's China strategy and then engaging Ms Lai.

So back to the metaphorical brick, my sister - a long time Port member picked it up and handed it to me, I chiseled it down a little bit, Lockhart Road - can fill you in with more details - then took it, did his adjustments with it and handed it to Richo and KT and it eventually got to Andrew Hunter and he helped place it nicely into position in the wall. Anyone can do little things like take the brick to one of our club officials. You dont have to build the wall, just have to remember that many hands make the work lighter.
Click to expand...
Wow, the metaphorical brick:) How important it is and how all the efforts have come together to this end. This analogy would be a great way to get members involved toward the China strategy too, to help to build that wall. Amazing. The book will have to be written one day too, I hope you are working on it.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
There is this paragraph in Rucci's story that deserves its own little story behind it.

Introduced to Thomas by ANZ head of Asian banking, Loretta Lai, Gui was invited to the Power’s clash with the Dockers with an all-access pass — the changerooms before the game, the Geof Motley race as the Port Adelaide players took the field and the boundary perimeter by the Riverbank Stand as the Never Tear Us Apart anthem came off the terraces for the 60 seconds before the first bounce.

This bit from Rucci’s article is instructive to how every Port Adelaide member and supporter- be they reasonably passionate but not stump up for a membership, or casual and just watch our games on TV and buy some merchandise and attend the odd game, can carry a brick each to our club and its officials and hand it over to them so they can build the Great Wall to not only China, but continued success both on and off the field.

Lockhart Road sent me an email in late 2014 asking what my sister knew about a very senior staff member at ANZ bank as the club was going to talk to them about sponsoring maybe Auskick in Hong Kong, footy in Southern China AFL, Team China type stuff after LR insisted to the club, if things were to progress they had to find a sponsor at both ends to do this and he thought ANZ was the best fit. It was something that wasn’t covered by the Official Secrets Act he had signed, so he could talk to me about . I told LR about my sister and the following about ANZ

1. My sister is assistant manager of head office branch on King William St/Waymouth St corner and her and I had over the years talked about the banks push into Asia and China mainly and that she had told me that she has 2 Chinese staff at her branch, but said the branch on Gouger Street in Chinatown is the main one dealing with the Chinese community. They have 11 staff and all are Chinese background except for 1 Malaysian lady. She said the manager (Loretta Lai) gets an annual 3 week all expenses paid trip to China each year for several years now, to drum up business for the bank.

2. About then CEO Mike Smith who was the one who has made the big Asian push for ANZ, but concentrated on China according to my sister and made it central to the banks growth strategy – go to my sisters branch and they have had posters and signs mainly in Chinese and other languages since it opened a 5 or 6 years ago. I told him he was ex British SAS and has said he wont talk about anything he did whilst in there. He is also ex HSBC worked in Asia, Middle East and South America. He was shot in the thigh during his 6 years for HSBC in Argentina as he pissed off the locals with his policies. Told him that from all my dealings over the years, the story is that MI5 and CIA got their people into HSBC as a good way of keeping things in check as well as in the know in the region. I suggested that if the club ever has dealings with Smith as this progresses, to bring in some of our defence industries supporters and serving military and ex military supporters to functions to deal with him.

The person that LR wanted info on from my sister was meeting KT and Richo to talk about our China strategy. She was a very big wig in ANZ. She's based in Melbourne. Her title included a few GM's in it, including corporate banking in SA. She reported directly to CEO Mike Smith and was his chief of staff at one point.

KT and Richo then impressed her at a couple of events but the sponsorship didn't happen, but the relationship with Loretta Lai was established in this negotiation process. We took a step back by not winning the sponsorship, but we took a few forward by meeting the GM and being aware of Ms Lai's high profile position with the Chinese community and ANZ's China strategy and then engaging Ms Lai.

So back to the metaphorical brick, my sister - a long time Port member picked it up and handed it to me, I chiseled it down a little bit, Lockhart Road - can fill you in with more details - then took it, did his adjustments with it and handed it to Richo and KT and it eventually got to Andrew Hunter and he helped place it nicely into position in the wall. Anyone can do little things like take the brick to one of our club officials. You dont have to build the wall, just have to remember that many hands make the work lighter.
Click to expand...

Just on Mike Smith, I found this article very interesting - so many parallels with our club's thinking (and the short-sightedness of so many) - I especially liked this para about Smith's response to his critics:

"Smith is having none of it and points out that the bank has built an offshore business that it would not have had if it played safe and stuck to its knitting in Australia and New Zealand." :D
 
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