Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL Women's)

Port Adelaide Football Club (AFL Women's) is a professional Australian rules football team based in Alberton, South Australia. The team plays in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. The team is part of the Port Adelaide Football Club.

In May 2021, the club was granted a license by the AFL to compete in the league from the start of 2022 season 7. The team play their home games at Alberton Oval, in Alberton, South Australia.

History

Early participation in women's football

The earliest recorded instance of the Port Adelaide Football Club fielding a Women's side was in 1918 for a match played on Alberton Oval to raise funds for the Port Adelaide Workers Memorial against a team representing Thebarton. Port Adelaide was captained by Eileen Reid. In 1951 Port Adelaide awarded Ruby Dewar with life membership at the club, the first SANFL club to bestow the honour upon a woman, with club secretary Bob McLean praising her contribution saying that she had over 29 years "organised probably more than 100 functions for us — balls, dinners, competitions — as convener of the women's social committee." Port Adelaide has given 17 women life membership at the club. On 8 March 2004 Jenny Williams organised a Women's Showdown as a curtain raiser to Port Adelaide's home game at Football Park. The Port Adelaide Women's side won the match 16.5 (101) to Adelaide's 1.1 (7) with Erin Phillips considered a unanimous best on ground. The Port Adelaide Football Club also supported the local Port Adelaide Women's Football Club (nicknamed the Magpies and wearing the "Prison Bar" guernsey) who played in the Adelaide Football League from 2003-2018

2015–present: Initial bids, formation and early years in the league

On 16 December 2015 Erin Phillips entered into an agreement with Port Adelaide to be their marquee AFL Women's (AFLW) signing on the contingency the club received a licence for that competition. However, due to the logistical demands placed on Port Adelaide's administration and staff associated with the club's China program, which sought to ensure the club had sustainable revenue streams, the club was deemed not capable to bid for an AFLW licence for the 2017 AFL Women's season. Subsequently, the Adelaide Crows signed Phillips as a rookie. Port Adelaide turned its attention towards entering a Women's side in the SANFL Women's League (SANFLW) competition but this approach was rejected by the South Australian Football Commission. After this, in 2018 the local Port Adelaide Women's Football Club in the Adelaide Football League was shut down. In May 2021, the AFL Commission announced that the remaining four clubs without AFLW teams would be admitted to the competition by the end of 2023, with the clubs to bid for entry order. Port Adelaide's bid to enter the competition was successful, with the AFL Commission deciding all four clubs would debut in the AFLW in 2022 season 7. On 26 October 2021 Port Adelaide appointed Juliet Haslam as the clubs head of Women's football. On 3 February 2022 Port Adelaide announced Naomi Maidment as the clubs inaugural AFLW list manager. On 17 February 2022 Rachael Sporn was appointed to an Operations Manager role to organise the logistics of running an AFLW program at Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide finished second-last (17th) in their debut season in the competition, celebrating their debut win in the competition at their home ground of Alberton Oval in round 4 against . The team marginally improved to 15th in the 2023 season, and inaugural captain and dual-sports professional Erin Phillips retired from football at the end of the season. The team had a breakout 2024 season, winning 8 games in a row on the way to a maiden finals appearance. They reached a preliminary final, where they were defeated by eventual premiers North Melbourne. The streak included a semi-final victory over Hawthorn, which was notable for being the biggest three-quarter time comeback in AFLW history.

Current squad

In April 2022, former captain and premiership player Lauren Arnell was announced as Port Adelaide's inaugural AFLW coach, and two weeks later, three-time premiership player Erin Phillips, whose father Greg played in 343 games and eight premierships with the club in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), was announced as the club's inaugural AFLW player signing. On the opening day of the expansion signing period in May, Port Adelaide signed Adelaide players Ange Foley and Justine Mules, Brisbane midfielder Maria Moloney, forward Gemma Houghton and twins Laquoiya and Litonya Cockatoo-Motlap, the nieces of former and player Che Cockatoo-Collins. The next day, Port Adelaide signed Phillips, Brisbane defender Indy Tahau and midfielder Ebony O'Dea, while also finalising its AFLW coaching team. In August, Phillips was named Port Adelaide's inaugural AFLW captain.

Club honour roll

Best and fairest

Corporate

Administrative positions

* Chairman: David Koch
* Chief executive: Matthew Richardson
* Football operations: Chris Davies
* Board members:
** Kevin Osborn (deputy chairman)
** Cos Cardone
** Darren Cahill
** Holly Ransom
** Jamie Restas
** Andrew Day
** Kathy Nagle
** Christine Zeitz
** Rob Snowdon

Sponsors

Current major sponsors
* GFG Alliance
*KFC
* MG Motor

References

External links

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Port Adelaide Football Club
AFL Women's clubs
Sports clubs and teams in Adelaide
Australian rules football clubs in South Australia
2021 establishments in Australia