Port Adelaide Football Club

Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the Power, while its reserves men's team competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), where it is nicknamed the Magpies. Since its founding, the club has won an unequalled 36 SANFL premierships and four Championship of Australia titles, in addition to an AFL Premiership in 2004. It has fielded a women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition since 2022 (S7).

Founded in 1870, Port Adelaide is the oldest professional football club in South Australia and was a founding member of the South Australian Football Association, later renamed the SANFL. Port Adelaide has repeatedly asserted itself as a dominant force within South Australian football, going undefeated in all competitions in 1914, and enjoying sustained periods of success under coaches Fos Williams and John Cahill, sharing a combined 19 premierships between them. The club's sustained success in the SANFL eventually led it being granted a licence to compete in the AFL from 1997, becoming the second South Australian based side in the competition after the Adelaide Football Club in 1991. In its time in the AFL, the club has claimed four minor premierships and one premiership. Port Adelaide holds a unique status among AFL clubs, being the only pre-existing non-Victorian club to have entered the AFL from another league. It has an intense rivalry with intra-city opponents Adelaide; the two compete in a twice-yearly fixture known as the Showdown, while historically it enjoyed a long-standing rivalry with fellow SANFL club Norwood. It has played home games in the SANFL, at both senior and reserves level, at its club headquarters of Alberton Oval, since 1880, and the venue is also used for home games in the AFLW and occasional pre-season fixtures in the AFL. In the national competition the club has played home games at Adelaide Oval since the venue's redevelopment concluded in 2014.

Port Adelaide first adopted the colours of black and white in 1902, in a design commonly known as the 'prison bars' guernsey, which the club wears to this day in the SANFL and in home showdown fixtures. Upon entering the AFL in 1997, the colours of teal and silver were added to the club palette and the Power nickname was adopted, to enable differentiation from the Collingwood Football Club, who wear black and white stripes and are nicknamed the Magpies.

Port Adelaide was formed on 12 May 1870 as a joint football and cricket club, created by locals to benefit the growing number of workers associated with the surrounding wharves and industries of Port Adelaide. The first training session of the newly formed club took place two days later. The Port Adelaide Football Club played its first match against a newly established club from North Adelaide called the Young Australian. Prior to 1877, football in South Australia was yet to be formally organised by a single body and as a result there were two main sets of rules in use across the state. In an effort to create a common set of rules, Port Adelaide was invited to join seven other clubs in the formation of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA), the first ever governing body of Australian rules football.

In 1879, the club played reigning Victorian Football Association (VFA) premiers Geelong at Adelaide Oval in what was Port Adelaide's first game against an interstate club. It played its first match outside of South Australia two years later, when it travelled to Victoria to contest a game against the Sale Football Club.

The club won its first premiership in 1884, when it ended Norwood's run of six consecutive premierships. It later contested the SAFA's first grand final in 1889, as Port Adelaide and Norwood had finished the season with equal minor round records. Norwood went on to defeat Port Adelaide by two goals. Port Adelaide won its second SAFA premiership the following year, and went on to be crowned "Champions of Australia" for the first time after defeating VFA premiers South Melbourne.

As the 1890s continued, Australia was affected by a severe depression that forced many players to move interstate to find work. This exodus translated into poor on-field results for the club. By 1896, the club was in crisis and finished last, causing the club's committee to meet with the aim of revitalising the club. The revitalisation had immediate results, helping Port Adelaide win a third premiership in 1897, one of only four occurrences since 1877 where a team won a premiership after finishing last the previous year. Stan Malin won Port Adelaide's first Magarey Medal in 1899.

During the 19th century, the club had nicknames including the Cockledivers, the Seaside Men, the Seasiders and the Magentas. In 1900, Port finished bottom in the six-team competition, which it has not done in any senior league until 2024.