Opinion Is the Showdown the Biggest Rivalry?

[mattymac]

dont have foxtel, wish i could of watched me a showdown! instead i had to watch a collingwood/carlton 'blockbuster' snoozfest...turned it off after the 1st quarter. Why cant channel 7 stop circle jerking over victorian team games, dull atmosphere and a sh#t load of empty seats

do yourself a favour and watch the replay on the afl website

 

[rEALdEAL86]

do yourself a favour and watch the replay on the afl website

i watched the highlights vid, not the same as actually watching a live game on tv

good to see adelaide get up, just wished west coast could if done the same in the derby lol

 

[mattymac]

i watched the highlights vid, not the same as actually watching a live game on tv

good to see adelaide get up, just wished west coast could if done the same in the derby lol

For about 3 minutes I thought they were going to then they let me down

 

[Papa G]

Yeah that's a good point - both teams have rarely been at the top at the same time.

But I don't feel as though that's affected the Showdown too much.

The Showdown lost it's way there for a while too.
Port's lean years effected some crowd numbers, but also there was a while when Neil Craig went down the path of deliberately not pumping them up and "it's just another game" path. There was also a period when the Crow cheerleaders in the media like Cornes and KG gave airtime to clowns ringing up saying that there Cousins friends pet dog was molested at a Port game and they were too frightened to go yada yada, and it even got as petty as people not going to an away Showdown because they didn't want to give the other club their money.

 

[rEALdEAL86]

For about 3 minutes I thought they were going to then they let me down

story of my life

 

[ibd77]

Does that make the SANFL Bran Stark?
Always trying to get into our heads and can't stand on his own two feet? .

The SANFL board is like Cersei Lannister. Bitter, spiteful and overly protective.

 

[tribey]

the current rivalry was born in 1990 when your club tried to piss on the SANFL but ended up pissing into the wind and into your own face.

Yeah, that was terrible, jolting the SANFL out of its stasis thereby guaranteeing our promotion to the AFL not 7 years later, instead of sitting on our hands and watching another generation of Bradleys, Wanganeens, Buckleys and McLeods leave us for peanuts.

 

[ibd77]

I think what would really top it off though is a bi-partisan crowd. I understand there would be some work that would need to go into it regardng membership packages, sponsorships and so-on, but it would be great to at least trial it for a year where there is a 50-50 split in the crowd. In a close game it would just be insane. and surley could only build the rivalry further.

Easily done but that will involve cooperation by the two clubs.

Something that rarely occurs due to the hostile relationship.

For the fans, you could alternate bays for each showdown, e.g...

Bays
1,2,3,4, etc...
A,P,A,P - First Showdown
P,A,P,A - Second Showdown

Seats unoccupied in each bay can be offered to other members of the relevant club.

All unsold seats are open to the general public.

Club corporates and functions would still tie in to the home team at the time.

 

[SterlingArcher]

I do think Essendon/Hawthorn is always one incident away fr bubbling over again. But the thing is, Vic club rivalries come and go with the ladder, with big incidents (like Sewell/Lloyd, or line in the sand) and then a couple of years later there is a new Vic rival.

Adelaide/Port is there twice a year every year. No Vic rivalries can quite match the consistent intense dislike.

 

[Dandy_GO]

Yeah, that was terrible, jolting the SANFL out of its stasis thereby guaranteeing our promotion to the AFL not 7 years later, instead of sitting on our hands and watching another generation of Bradleys, Wanganeens, Buckleys and McLeods leave us for peanuts.

While the SANFL are far from saints, holding out for a superior deal was a fair enough move, given the financial state of most Victorian clubs at the time. All the clubs agreed to it. More than one were later approached by the AFL to break that agreement. Only one turned their back on the rest... almost immediately, in fact.

I don't dislike Port as much as many around here, but I can completely understand why many do. The SANFL might have been a pretty dodgy, shitty union to be in, but Port chose to be the scabs.

 

[*PAF]

Dunno, the derby hatred peaked in the mid 00's which was after that. If anything the fact the eagles have been so poor since then has sucked some of the life out of it.

The last 18 derbies are 14-4 in our favour, which makes it hard for half the town to get too excited about them.

That's because we loaned Freo one of our players.

 

[Righteo]

I wish the Freo vs. West Coast rivalry was as intense as the Showdown.

For too long players and coaches threw out the old "it's only a game" line (which it may be), but I feel it hurt the rivalry. I don't really care much about playing Freo because I don't see the players getting up for it, or there being much hype (when I was in Perth), it seemed very forced hype, but the Showdown seems genuine.

Maybe it's a case of Freo being so poor early (not having a go) where it kind of took the wind out of the sails?

For me it's more West Coast fans refusing to admit they hate us since it's "beneath" them, you can't have a true rivalry when one side claims it's just a one-way hate street. The mid to late 00's after every Derby loss West Coast fans would trot out the usual "it's their GF, we don't even care about losing to them lul".

Port and Crows fans hate each other and aren't afraid to admit it, we're holding up our end but to return to a proper hateful rivalry West Coast fans need to stop feigning apathy and get into the spirit again.

 

[estibador]

For me it's more West Coast fans refusing to admit they hate us since it's "beneath" them...

Appears it's beneath them to beat us too...

 

[nameless]

For me it's more West Coast fans refusing to admit they hate us since it's "beneath" them, you can't have a true rivalry when one side claims it's just a one-way hate street. The mid to late 00's after every Derby loss West Coast fans would trot out the usual "it's their GF, we don't even care about losing to them lul".

Port and Crows fans hate each other and aren't afraid to admit it, we're holding up our end but to return to a proper hateful rivalry West Coast fans need to stop feigning apathy and get into the spirit again.

Haha true - I admit I was cheering for Freo in the Grand Final last year (although I wasn't overly upset when you lost), that's a good point actually.

But I think the hate is lacking because when you see how the players go about it on the field it just doesn't feel any different to another team. Both teams were pretty flat on the weekend and certainly didn't step up the intensity for the clash, so I guess I don't step up the hate for the opposition.

 

[ep2018]

Tell that to the hordes of Freo fans supporting us in 2006 GF.

 

[estibador]

Tell that to the hordes of Freo fans supporting us in 2006 GF.

I will... next time I see them while I'm dancing with the fairies from the bottom of my garden while riding on my unicorn.

 

[ep2018]

I will... next time I see them while I'm dancing with the fairies from the bottom of my garden while riding on my unicorn.

Most likely were angry at Sydney for knocking them out the week before.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Aaah, "Showdown"!

Sorry, I read it as "Snowtown".

 

[Power Raid]

Don't think we quite have the same mass/volume? of hatred, undoubtably many supporters hate each other's guts, but quite often there's also some respect and friendship between supporters; based purely on what I've read on big footy the hatred seems more intense in SA

1) Adelaide is a fish bowl and very inward focused
2) it's culture is very insecure and as a result feels the need to prove something
3) The Crows were created not because of wanting AFL representation rather out of spite to stop Port joining the AFL. As a result the Crows never forgave Port for their audacity and has fueled an immense rivalry.

I just wish the showdowns were Port vs Norwood (being granted an AFL licence) rather than the Crows. The other 8 teams that made up the Crows were quite pathetic.

 

[sigur]

Yeah, that was terrible, jolting the SANFL out of its stasis thereby guaranteeing our promotion to the AFL not 7 years later, instead of sitting on our hands and watching another generation of Bradleys, Wanganeens, Buckleys and McLeods leave us for peanuts.

Port got 98 games out of Bradley, including a premiership, and then negotiated a transfer to Carlton for $60,000 (150,000 in 2014 dollars). If Bradley played now you would be lucky to get 10 Sanfl league games out him before being drafted and a max of $40,000 in a non negotiable transfer. Some peanuts!

 

[tribey]

Port got 98 games out of Bradley, including a premiership, and then negotiated a transfer to Carlton for $60,000 (150,000 in 2014 dollars). If Bradley played now you would be lucky to get 10 Sanfl league games out him before being drafted and a max of $40,000 in a non negotiable transfer. Some peanuts!

$60,000 clearance for one of the greatest wingmen of all time, who gave Carlton a further 375 games' service?

Peanuts.

 

[sigur]

$60,000 clearance for one of the greatest wingmen of all time, who gave Carlton a further 375 games' service?

Peanuts.

Yep, but still 4 times more than you would get for him now, and you would get a few years of service out of him before he left.

 

[tribey]

Yep, but still 4 times more than you would get for him now, and you would get a few years of service out of him before he left.

Yeah, if we'd remained underlings in the Australian football layer cake.

Now, we're among the apex destinations and if we're fortunate enough, get to re-recruit or retain our homegrown starlets - Wanganeen, Tredrea, Burgoynes, Pickett, Wakelin, Brad Ebert and so on. Losing a highly-rated product such as Thompson or Didak doesn't hurt as much when you can get Cornes or Wingard on the other end.

As far as final straws go, watching Martin Leslie - the premier CHB in the competition in the prime of his career - walk to Skase's Bears at the end of 1988 was a pretty good one.

 

[Dirty Bird]

I've wondered about this for derbies too now that we've also pretty much sold out our membership. Whether they could do something whereby half the members get the first derby and the other half the second, and vice versa for the opposition.

As long as they split the oval down the middle instead of sprinkling people around anywhere - nothing worse than getting stuck in a bay that's half full of eagles supporters.

I suggested this a few years ago (about when AO got announced) and I put up threads on at least the Port, Dockers and Eagles boards. Maybe Crows board too.

Opinion was split a few ways.

Some wanted 50/50 for atmosphere
Some wanted 95/5 for safety
The majority did want straight down the middle. However, there was some worrying about how vicious it would be on that meeting point.

The most annoying part in the whole discussion I had was on the Port board. In my example I had Adelaide southern half, Port northern half, then all I have to deal with for the rest of the thread is them demanding either a) they get the southern end (greater capacity), or b) emulate 05 semi final with 2 bays Crows, 2 bays Port etc.

It was an example, didn't have to blow up a suggestion because you don't like the example.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Hmmmm, found the thread on the Port board, maybe I was a little bit of a campaigner and deserved the shit I got from the Port fans.