‘Now is the right time’: Port CEO backs plan to quit SANFL in 146-year split

Port Adelaide CEO Matthew Richardson has responded to news the club is looking to remove itself from the SANFL competition as part of a “no-blame divorce”.

In an open letter to members, Richardson confirmed plans were underway to try and have the Power take part in a national reserves competition.

The CEO claims there are current “inequities” and “compromises” for the four clubs outside the reworked VFL – Port Adelaide, Adelaide, Fremantle and West Coast who are part of the SANFL and WAFL respectively.

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“Our discussion with the AFL is if they are serious about equalisation across the 18 AFL clubs, a second-tier competition has to be a component,” Richardson said.

“All AFL players should have the same platform to play and develop when they are not in the AFL team which is consistent across the competition.

“For a professional sports league with the scale of the AFL now, we must find a better way.”

South Australian footy journalist Theo Doropolous believes Port Adelaide will be out of the SANFL by 2025.

“It was a couple of months ago, Port Adelaide did go to the SANFL and say I think the time has come,” he said on SEN.

“It won’t happen in 2024 … it should happen at some point. I think 2025 is the year Port Adelaide expects to be out of the SANFL and the Crows will go as well.

“They’ve been happy to sit behind the scenes and support Port Adelaide’s cause from afar.”

Richardson said with Tasmania’s looming introduction into the AFL, now was the “right time” for a national reserves competition.

And he made no apologies for the club’s flagged SANFL exit, despite the fact the Power – as the Magpies – have been the most dominant force in the country’s oldest league since its inception in 1877.

“The Port Adelaide Football Club is an AFL club,” he said.

“We have a rich history in the SANFL. This success and the passion of our people saw Port Adelaide earn the opportunity to elevate into the AFL as the only genuine community football club from outside of Victoria which wasn’t either a composite team or relocated Victorian team.

“We are the same Port Adelaide Football Club established in 1870, the fifth oldest club in the AFL behind only Melbourne (1858), Geelong (1859), Carlton (1864) and North Melbourne (1869). We are and always will be incredibly proud of that.

“The Port Adelaide Football Club is now in the AFL and our responsibility is to ensure our players have the best opportunity to perform and develop to ultimately help us achieve our ambitions in the AFL competition.”

Richardson said should plans go ahead for a national reserves competition, he expects to play home games at Alberton Oval and in the club’s traditional prison bars guernsey – which has been a controversial feature each AFL season due to the clash with Collingwood’s playing strip.

The SANFL had issued their own statement this week, confirming Port Adelaide was contracted to playing in the league until 2028.

“The last discussion we had with the AFL mid-year was that an AFL Reserves competition was not a priority,” the statement read.

“We review the licence conditions that apply to the AFL clubs playing in the SANFL on an annual basis to provide all clubs with an opportunity to be competitive.

“The SANFL competition is considered the best outside of the AFL, and as a league we will continue to balance what’s best for football in South Australia.”

Just last month, West Coast flagged its own concerns over the Eagles’ options with outgoing CEO Trevor Nisbett stating the club could abandoned the WAFL for an expanded VFL or full AFL reserves competition.

The VFL currently features a whopping 21 clubs – 11 reserves sides for Gold Coast, Brisbane, the Western Bulldogs (Footscray), Collingwood, Richmond, North Melbourne, Carlton, GWS, Geelong, Essendon and Sydney, plus aligned sides Casey (Melbourne), Box Hill (Hawthorn) and Sandringham (St Kilda).

There are also seven stand-alone sides – Werribee, Williamstown and Port Melbourne who have financial advantages through pokie machines, plus Southport, Frankston, Northern Bullants and Coburg.